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Freedom and Restraint

自由与束缚

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites.

Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and

dancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check .

Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They

shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow ,

facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they

seemed to say, “Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!”They soared beautifully even as they

fought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose.“Free at

last, ”it seemed to say, “Free to fly with the wind.”

Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It

fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against

a dead bush.“Free at last,” free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the

ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.

How much like kites we sometimes are! Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions, rules

to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to

the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the

heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the command and never rise high enough to get

our tails off the ground.

Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe

注 under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.

在一个多风的春日，我观看一伙年轻人利用风放风筝玩。各种形状不同、大小不一、

五颜六色的风筝满天飞，就像美丽的小鸟穿梭飞行或翩翩起舞。大风一阵阵冲着风筝吹的

时候，总有一根线绳控制着风筝。

这些风筝非但没有被风吹走，反而顶风上升，直达高空。风筝摇摆着，拉扯着，但是

线绳和显得拖累的尾巴控制着风筝，使它们仰面向上，逆风飘动。当风筝在线绳上挣扎抖

动的时候，它们仿佛在说：“放了我，放了我！我要自由！”即使在和线绳的控制抗争的时

候，风筝也是姿态飘逸，翩然爬升。最后，有一只风筝摆脱了控制。“终于自由啦，”它似

乎在说，“终于可以自由地随风翱翔。”

可是，摆脱了束缚的风筝，只能任由无情的风摆布。它形态难看地抖动着落在地上，

掉在一堆乱草丛中，线绳挂在一棵枯死的灌木上。“终于自由啦。”自由到无力地躺在尘土

中，自由到无助地任由风把它在地上吹来吹去，自由到撞上第一个障碍物就搁浅，毫无生

气。

有时我们多么像风筝啊！上帝给我们逆境和限制，给我们生长和获取力量要遵守的规

矩。束缚对于反作用的风力是必不可少的应对力量。我们有人强烈地抵制这些规则，结果

怎么也不能升腾达到本应达到的高度。我们接受部分指令，结果从来没有腾飞到足够的高

度，让尾巴飞离地面。

让我们每个人都飞得很高很高吧！要知道，