I teach economics at UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.
His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: "Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," I said. "I choose to be cheerful."
"Let me give you an example," I continued. "In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.
"As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the Provost's office asked me what had happened.'This is my lucky day,' I replied, smiling.
"'Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?' She was puzzled.'What do you mean?'
'I live 17 miles from here.' I replied.'My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn't. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient fashion.'
The secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class." So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn't the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student's observation that I was cheerful.
An Indian wise man once said,"Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." I suppose it must be so.
行勝於言
我在內華達大學拉斯維加斯分校教經濟學，每週上三次課。上週一，在剛開始上課的時候，我興致勃勃地問學生們週末過得怎麼樣。一個男生説，他的週末不太愉快。然後，他又問我為何我總能保持那麼快樂的心情。
他的問題使我想起了一句不知在哪裏讀過的話：“每天早上，當你起牀的時候，你可以選擇如何面對一天的生活。”我説：“我選擇快樂。”
“我給你們舉個例子吧，”我繼續説道，“除了在這兒上課，我還在亨德森市的一所社區大學任教，那兒離我家有17英里的高速公路。一天，我駕車前往那所學校，駛離高速公路後，我轉入了校園區。
在只差400多米就到學校的時候，我的汽車拋錨了。我只好把指示燈打亮，然後抓起課本直奔學校。”
“我一到學校就馬上打電話給汽車協會，讓他們在我下課後開輛拖車到我的汽車拋錨處。院長辦公室的祕書問我發生了什麼事。’今天我真走運。’我笑着答道。”
“‘你的車壞了，你還説今天走運？’她一臉的困惑。‘你什麼意思啊？’”
“我回答道：‘我住在離這兒17英里的'地方。其實我的車有可能在高速公路上的任何一個地方就壞掉了的，但慶幸的是，沒有。相反，汽車是在離開了高速公路後才拋錨，而且步行就可到學校。這是一個比較理想的拋錨位置，我還趕得及上課，還能夠安排拖車在課後來處理。如果我的汽車是註定了要在今天拋錨的，那在這個位置拋錨已經是非常省勁兒了。’”
“那個祕書聽得目瞪口呆地，然後她笑了。我也衝她笑了一下，便上課去了。”這就是我的故事。
我掃視了一下拉斯維加斯分校我經濟學課堂上的這六十張面孔。雖然是在大清早，但沒有一個學生在打盹兒。不知道為什麼，他們好象被我的故事觸動了。也許觸動他們的並不是故事本身。其實，從一開始有學生髮現我興致高昂的時候，他們便已經被我的快樂感染了。
一位印度智者曾説過：“你為人行事的本身，比你的語言更具有説服力。”我認為這的確是真理。
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