Throughout the seventeen years of my live, I have had the privilege of meeting many people who have , inone way or another, influenced my life greatly. However, there is one particular person whose name will always be etched in my memory, because it was her steadfast companionship that helped me through an extremely trying and difficult period in my life, thereby changing my outlook on forever. Her name was Lorraine, but unfortunately, she succumbed to leukemia over a year ago, when she was just fifteen.
When I first met Lorraine, my life was a mass of upheavals and chaos. It was only a year since my parents had divorced, and my father was already making plans to wed his office secretary, Helen -a piece of news that I definitely did not take kindly to. My parents' permanent estrangement had hurt me beyond measure, as they were the very centre of my life. It was hard enough to lose my mother, and the very thought of having a stranger in the house whom I'd have to address as ‘Mummy’ was more than I could bear. As a result, I changed from a loquacious, outgoing and extrovert personality into a silent, withdrawn teenager, spending my time wallowing in self-pity when I wasn't engaged in throwing temper tantrums and generally giving my stepmother a really tough time.
Then, Lorraine came into the picture. I'll never forget the first time we met in school. She was a year older than I and a prefect, and she'd arrived at my class with a message for my teacher, just when I was cooling my heels in the corridor outside the room as a punishment for having behaved in an appallingly insubordinate manner once too often. As she entered the room, she shot me a quizzical look, and when she came out five minutes later, she paused beside me.
"Hi, kid," she greeted me in a cheerful, offhand fashion. "What’ve you done to earn yourself this punishment?"
I felt like demanding what business it was of hers to ask me such a question, but as I met her steady, sympathetic gaze, I changed my mind.
"I was rude to my teacher," I mumbled.
"Then you deserve what you've got," Lorraine said briskly. She peered closely at me. "You look awfully unhappy," she remarked. "Anything wrong?"
"Oh, Just zip up your mouth and leave me alone!" I suddenly flared. She gave me another of thosequizzical looks, but she said nothing further and walked away, much to my relief. I hoped fervently that I'd never meet her again.
My hope didn't come true, however, because the very next day, she waltzed up to where I was sitting alone in the canteen and started a cheerful conversation, to which I replied mostly in monosyllables. I really couldn't fathom why she seemed to have taken such a violent fancy to me, when I wasn't doing anything at all to encourage her. I began avoiding her whenever I saw her, even from a distance, but somehow, she always managed to catch hold of me and I never could escape her eagle eyes.
Slowly but surely, though, I began thawing out under the warmth of her personal character. Lorraine seemed to understand when I needed company, and when I wished to be alone. Being the tactful person that she was, she eventually learnt how to handle me the right way. After a few tantrums on my part, I found myself beginning to confide all my problems to her. I told her all about my parents' divorce, how I loathed my stepmother and my father for remarrying, and how unhappy I was in general.
"Why don't you give Helen a chance?" Lorraine suggested at one point. "From all that you've said, I gather that she does love you very much. Why not let bygones be bygones, and accept her into your life?"
"No fear!" I retorted. "I hate her, and I don't even feel like living anymore right now. I want both my parents back with me, and Helen will never have a place in my life! You can be sure of that!"
Lorraine wisely said nothing more then, but she never gave up trying to reconcile me with my father and stepmother, and to make my outlook on life more positive. She gave me a good many pep talks, the sympathy, understanding and encouragement that I needed so badly, and most of all, her friendship and love.
As Lorraine became stricken with leukemia not long after, she was forced to leave school and move to another country to seek the best medical aid her parents could find. Therefore, she was unable to witness my final reconciliation with my father and stepmother. Though I never told her so, all her encouraging words and "pearls of wisdom" had had a deep effect on me, and I realized, soon after she left, that I had two choices : to make up with my family and be happy, or to hold on to this anger and resentment forever in my heart and never know another moment of true joy and peace. It didn't take me long to choose the former, and I certainly felt a great sense of relief after I'd made that choice.
Though Lorraine was unable to rejoice with me personally, she did mail me a short note, written from her bed, that will always be a treasured possession with me.
Dearest Lisa,
You'll never know how happy i was to hear that you've finally forgiven your parents and are now such a changed person. My prayer is that you will always remember how important it is to love and to forgive. Anger won't get you anywhere, but forgiveness surely will. I love you.
Lorraine
I only wish I could thank Lorraine from the bottom of my heart for helping me to release my hurt and resentment, and for changing my negative outlook on life so completely. I am confident, however, that she does know of my gratitude, up in Heaven, and someday, when we meet there, I'll be able to tell her so personally.
Vocabulary
estrangement : to cause especially people in a family to become unfriendly towards each other (家庭成员)疏远
loquacious : liking to talk a lot 多话的
extrovert : a person who likes to spend time in activities with other people 性格外向的
tantrums : a sudden attack of childish bad temper or anger 孩子脾气大发作
quizzical : a smile or a look suggesting that one is asking a question without saying anything or that one is
laughing at the other person 疑问的，揶揄的
monosyllables : having one syllable 单音节的
No comments:
Post a Comment