温馨夜读 PART2 12 The Underestimated Power Of Kindness 被轻视的友善之力（在线收听）

[ti:]

[ar:]

[al:]

[by:]

[00:00.80]The Underestimated Power Of Kindness 被轻视的友善之力

[00:05.61]It was a bright Saturday morning in the late fall.

[00:09.11]I had stopped at a cafe' to enjoy a cup of coffee and scan the morning newspaper.

[00:15.45]Suddenly, I felt a hand on the back of my jacket and heard someone say,

[00:20.81]“Hey Steve! How ya doin'?”

[00:23.00]Looking up, I saw a boy wearing a mechanic's uniform

[00:27.70]worn by employees of the gasoline station next to the cafe.

[00:31.64]He looked familiar, but, at first, I was unable to recall where we had met.

[00:37.00]He also held a cup of coffee, so I asked him to join me.

[00:41.27]Very soon, his story—and probably my coffee—began to thaw out my memory.

[00:47.50]Five years earlier, he had been traveling home late on a February night.

[00:53.41]He still had several of his friends with him.

[00:56.14]A ferocious blizzard had arrived that afternoon,

[01:00.09]and by midnight, the snowdrifts were getting deep.

[01:03.25]He recalled hitting a drift just down the road from my house.

[01:08.06]He had walked to my house for help.

[01:10.91]I had taken my pickup and a towing rope

[01:13.98]and pulled his car out of the snowdrift and up to the highway

[01:17.91]where maintenance trucks had cleaned away the snow.

[01:20.65]This has been a common occurrence here during the winter.

[01:24.59]I cannot count the times someone has also pulled my car from a snowdrift.

[01:29.50]However, it was an unforgettable experience for him.

[01:33.22]He was only eighteen at the time, and he described how frightened he had been.

[01:38.47]One would not want to be stuck all night in a storm like that one.

[01:42.52]Within a couple of hours, my pickup would not have made it to the highway.

[01:46.78]His memory of our unexpected meeting in a snowstorm brightened my entire day.

[01:52.03]Leo Buscaglia wrote, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile,

[01:59.26]a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,

[02:05.38]all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

[02:08.72]Such simple actions can indeed have an underestimated power.

[02:13.32]Many people desperately need kind words, smiles, and listening ears.

[02:18.89]They need ears that will hear without judging and respond without possessing.

[02:24.46]One simple kindness at the right moment can change the direction of a life

[02:29.83]and shine a light of hope when all light seems to have gone out.

[02:33.98]Sometimes it has the power to save a life.