傾聽是一劑良藥

LISTENING IS THE POWERFUL MEDICINE

It was Sunday. I had one last patient to see. I approached her room in a hurry and stood at the doorway. She was an elderly woman, sitting on the edge of the bed, struggling to put socks on her swollen feet. I spoke quickly to the nurse and scanned her chart, noting that she was in stable condition.

I leaned on the bed, looking down at her. She asked if I could help her to put on her socks. Instead, I said, “How are you feeling? Your blood sugar and blood pressure were high, but they’re better today. The nurse mentioned you’re anxious to see your son, who’s visiting you today. It’s nice to have a family visit from far away. I bet you really look forward to seeing him.”

She stopped me with a stern, commanding voice. “Sit down, Doctor. This is my story, not your story.”

I was surprised and embarrassed. I sat down. I helped her with the socks. She began to tell me that her only son lived near to her house, but she had not seen him for five years. She believed that the stress of this had contributed greatly to her health problems. After hearing her story and putting on her socks, I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. She shook her head and smiled. All she wanted me to do was listen.

Each story is different. Some are detailed, and some are vague. Some are true, some others not. Yet all those things do not really matter. What matters to the storyteller is that the story is heard —without interruption, assumption or judgment.

【日積月累】

◇swollen adj. 膨脹的，漲起的，浮腫的

◇stern adj. 嚴厲的，堅定的，嚴格的

◇assumption n. 設想，假定

【參考譯文】

傾聽是一劑良藥

那天是星期天。我還剩一位病人要去查看。我疾步來到她的病房，站在門口。她是位老婦人，正坐在床邊，試圖把襪子套進腫脹的腳上。我快速地和護士說了幾句，掃了下她的病歷，發現她狀況很穩定。

我靠近床邊，低頭看著她。她問我能不能幫她穿襪子。而我卻說：“你覺得怎么樣？你的血液里的含糖量和血壓都高，但是今天比平常要好。護士說今天你兒子要來看望你，你有點緊張。有家人那么大老遠跑過來看你真好。我猜你一定很期待看到他。”

她用嚴厲命令的語氣打斷了我：“坐下，醫生。這是我的故事，不是你的。”

我既意外又尷尬。我坐下來幫她穿襪子。她告訴我她唯一的兒子住得離家很近，但她有5年沒有見過他了。她想這件事帶來的壓力是造成她健康出狀況的主要原因。聽完她的故事，幫她穿上襪子后，我問還能為她做點什么。她搖搖頭，笑了。她需要我做的就是坐下來傾聽。

每個故事都不同。有些很詳細，有些很簡略。有些真實，有些虛構。但這都不重要。對于講故事人來說重要的是有人聽——而且不插嘴、不臆想、不判斷。

【人生啟迪】

現在的人們多以自我為中心，開口閉口都是“我”。很多時候我們在與別人交談的時候只是為了找個傾瀉的出口，而當別人開口時，耳朵就自動閉合了。把“我”先放一邊吧，用心聽聽別人的話。你不知道有多少人多么感激有你在傾聽。