那年中秋颱風夜…謝謝陌生人伸援
杰拉華颱風提早轉向，不僅國人可以賞明月度中秋，更讓筆者鬆了一口氣。因為二期稻目前正值抽穗期，如果颱風進來，這一季的辛苦與晚冬的收成，就全泡湯了。
My comments: So far this year, several typhoons, including Typhoon Jelawat, have skipped Taiwan and headed for other places like Okinawa.
記得有一年，颱風在中秋節登陸，筆者有一批農產品，客戶要求必須當晚送到，雖有颱風，也只好硬著頭皮送貨。出門前，兒子說要陪我去，但中秋夜難得有同學邀他烤肉，所以就沒讓他隨行。
腳踏車後座載滿以紙箱包裝的農產品，最忌淋雨潮濕，誰料騎至半路，突下起大雨，急忙靠邊取出雨具遮蔽。風狂雨驟，折騰了半天都快精疲力盡，瀕臨放棄之際，身旁突然閃出兩條人影。「來！我們來幫你忙。」風雨中雖聽得不是很清楚，但由動作上我完全能夠感受到他們的善意。
My comments: At such a moment, the words "Let us give you a hand" were the most beautiful music to the ears.
在這對年輕夫婦冒雨幫忙下，總算完成了鋪蓋帆布的工作。躲進騎樓藉由燈光照射，我才發現他們雖穿了雨衣，卻仍是全身濕透，深感歉意下，除了表示感謝還是感謝。
臨跨上腳踏車前，我鼓足勇氣，想以一點小意思來感謝他們出手幫忙，沒想到他們不但沒接受，我反而拗不過年輕夫婦的誠意，吃了一個月餅，飲了好幾口清香的好茶。
再次上路，雖然全身濕漉漉的，但路上一點兒也不覺得冷，倒覺得一股熱烘烘的暖流，不斷的由心底深處往上竄燒。雖因工作關係，無法和家人共享中秋團圓，但我卻過了一個溫馨難忘的中秋夜。
又值中秋佳節，期待家家戶戶月圓人團圓，清風明月伴爾眠，明朝醒時又是燦爛一天。
********** The following is a story from Reader's Digest about human kindness.
Gypsy in My Soul
Roaming the street of a large European city taught me generosity can travel a long way.
Last year, I travelled to Berlin and stayed in the city’s picturesque Charlottenburg district, only a 30-sceond walk from Germany’s biggest shopping boulevard, Kurfurstendamm.
But this clean, beautiful area of Berlin isn’t so comfortable and exciting for all, as I learnt very movingly on my third day there.
In the afternoon, as I loitered around the shops near my hotel, I saw a poor gypsy woman in her late teens or early 20s sitting on the footpath outside the subway station. She looked tired and forlorn, and her eyes were fixed firmly on the ground. A chirpy, smiling young toddler played at her feet, oblivious to her mother’s sadness.
Nearby was a tourist shop. As I began walking back to my hotel, a young woman who worked there came out of the shop and, clutching some food, went over to the young mother. She greeted her, beamed at the child and handed over the food.
The shop assistant smiled and talked with the young mother while happily responding tothe toddler’s giggles and playful touches. A smile, the first I had seen,flashed across the gypsy woman’s face. Bidding them farewell, the shop assistant beamed once more at the child, waved her hand and walked back to her shop.
I don’t know if the young shop assistant knew the woman well, or if this was a purely random, isolated act to help someone in need. For me, though, it did not matter. Here was something that could be appreciated no matter what language you speak.
Although I expected lessons in European culture while I was overseas, that day I learnt a lesson in human kindness.
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