U

[encoding:gb2312] [ti:u1] [0:0]欢迎访问 我爱音乐 [00:02.91]A Good Heart to Lean on [00:14.46]When I was growing up, [00:18.84]I was embarrassed to be seen with my father. [00:20.61]He was severely crippled and very short, [00:24.32]and when we would walk together, [00:27.05] his hand on my arm for balance, [00:29.81] people would stare. [00:31.98] I would inwardly squirm at the un-wanted attention. [00:35.71]If he ever noticed or was bothered, [00:38.79] he never let on. [00:40.85]It was difficult to coordinate our steps —— [00:44.73] his halting, mine impatient —— [00:47.90]and because of that, we didn't say much as we went along. [00:49.54] But as we started out, [00:55.38]he always said, [00:57.06] "You set the pace. I will try to adjust to you. " [01:02.02]Our usual walk was to or from the subway, [01:06.45]which was how he got to work. [01:08.94]He went to work sick, [01:11.23]and despite nasty weather. [01:13.34]He almost never missed a day, [01:15.62]and would make it to the office even if others could not. [01:19.76]A matter of pride. [01:22.34]When snow or ice was on the ground, [01:28.29]it was impossible for him to walk, [01:29.98]even with help. [01:31.88]At such times my sisters or I would pull him through the streets of Brooklyn, [01:37.61]NY, on a child's sleigh to the sub-way entrance. [01:41.41]Once there, [01:45.01]he would cling to the handrail until he reached [01:46.51]the lower steps that the warmer tunnel air kept ice-free. [01:51.36]In Manhattan the subway station was the basement of his office building, [01:57.93]and he would not have to go outside again until [02:00.88] we met him in Brooklyn' on his way home. [02:05.63]When I think of it now, [02:08.79] I marvel at how much courage it must have taken [02:11.08]for a grown man to subject himself to such indignity and stress. [02:18.73]And at how he did it —— without bitterness or complaint . [02:21.82]He never talked about himself as an object of pity, [02:26.83]nor did he show any envy of the more fortunate or able. [02:31.27]What he looked for in others was a "good heart", [02:34.79] and if he found one, the owner was good enough for him. [02:38.70]Now that I am older, [02:43.38]I believe that is a proper standard by which to judge people, [02:47.95] even though I still don' t know precisely what a "good heart" is. [02:53.45]But I know the times I don’t have one myself. [02:57.06]Unable to engage in many activities, [03:01.69] my father still tried to participate in some way. [03:07.02]When a local sandlot baseball team found itself |without a manager, [03:10.93] he kept it going. [03:14.13]He was a knowledgeable baseball fan and often took me [03:16.61] to Ebbets Field to see the Brooklyn Dodgers play. [03:20.56] He liked to go to dances and parties, where he could have [03:24.00]a good time just sitting and watching. [03:29.35]On one memorable occasion a fight broke out at a beach party, [03:34.54] with everyone punching and shoving. He wasn't content to sit and watch, [03:41.39] but he couldn't stand unaided on the soft sand. [03:47.25] In frustration he began to shout, [03:48.23]"I' ll fight anyone who will tit down with me!" [03:51.80]Nobody did. [04:00.72] But the next day people kidded him by saying it was [04:05.34]the first time any fighter was urged to take a dive even before the bout began. [04:09.63]I now know he participated in some things vicariously through me, [04:15.89]his only son. [04:20.21]When I played ball (poorly), he "played" too. [04:22.03] When I joined the Navy he "joined" too. And when I came home on leave, [04:27.69]he saw to it that " I visited his office. Introducing me, he was really saying, [04:33.96] "This is my son, but it is also me, and I could have done this, too, [04:40.31] if things had been different." Those words were never said aloud. [04:41.49]He has been gone many years now, but I think of him often. [04:49.07]I wonder if he sensed my reluctance to be seen