红丝带

Everyone wants a blue ribbon. Blue. First place. The best. Even kindergarteners want that blue ribbon. In sports, I was never a blue-ribbon person. In a race I was always last. In baseball I was as likely to get hit on the head as to drop the ball. In basketball I was fine as long as there weren’t nine other players on the court with me. Where I got my horrible sports ability, I don’t know, but I got it. And I got it early.

During the spring of my kindergarten year, our class had a fieldtrip to a park in a town about 20 miles away. Making that drive now is no big deal, but when you’re six and you’ve lived in a town of 300 all your life, going to a town of a couple thousand is a very big deal. Nonetheless, looking back now, I don’t remember much of that day. I’m sure we ate our little sack lunches, played on the swings, slid down the slide — typical six-year-old stuff. Then it was time for the races.

These no ordinary races. Some parent had come up with the idea to have the picnic kind of races, like pass the potato under your neck and hold an egg on a spoon while you run to the other side. I don’t remember too much about these, but there was one race that will forever be lodged in my memory — the three-legged race.

The parents decided not to use potato sacks for this particular race. Instead, they tied our feet together. One lucky little boy got me for a partner. Now what you have to know about this little boy is that he was the second most athletic boy in our class. I’m sure he knew he was in trouble the second they laced his foot to mine. As for me, I was mortified. This guy was a winner. He almost always won, and I knew that, with me, he didn’t have a chance

However, apparently he didn’t realize that as deeply as I did at the time. He laced his arm with mine, the gun sounded, and we were off to the other side. Couples were falling and stumbling all around us, but we stayed on our feet and made it to the other side. Unbelievably when we turned around and headed back for home, we were in the lead! Only one other couple even had a chance, and they were a good several yards behind us.

Then only feet from the finish line, disaster struck. I tripped and fell. We were close enough that my partner could have easily dragged me across the finish line and won. He could have, but he didn’t. Instead, he stopped, reached down, and helped me up — just as the other couple crossed the finish line.

I still remember that moment, and I still have that little red ribbon. When we graduated 13 years later, I stood on that stage and gave the Valedictory address to that same group of students, none of whom even remembered that moment anymore. So, I told them about that little boy who had made a split-second decision that helping a friend up was more important than winning a blue ribbon. In my speech I told them that I wouldn’t tell which of the guys sitting there on that stage was the little boy although he was up there with me. I wouldn’t tell because in truth at one time or another all of them had been that little boy — helping me up when I fell, taking time out from their pursuit of their own goals to help a fellow person in need.

And I told them why I’ve kept that ribbon. You see to me, that ribbon is a reminder that you don’t have to be a winner in the eyes of the world to be a winner to those closest to you. The world may judge you a failure or a success, but those closest to you will know the truth. That’s important to remember as we travel through this life.

You may not have a red ribbon to prove it, but I sincerely hope you have at least a few friends who remember you for taking time out from your pursuit of that blue ribbon to help them. I’m thinking those will be the ones that really count — I know it’s the one that counted the most to me.

每个人都想要一个蓝丝带。蓝色。第一。最好的。连上幼稚园的孩子都想要一个蓝丝带。在体育方面，我不是一个够拥有蓝丝带的人。赛跑时，总跑倒数第一；打垒球时，打着头的几率和丢球的几率一样高；打篮球时，只要球场上没有其他九个人，我打得还不错。我如此糟糕的体育能力是怎么得道的，我不知道，但是应该是从很早的时候。

在我上幼稚园的那年春天，我们班举行了一场田径赛，终点是在一个城镇的公园，距此有二十多英里远。现在开车去那儿不是大问题，但当你才六岁，一辈子都住在一个有三百人的城镇里，去一个有两千多人的城镇里确实是一个大问题。然而，现在回想起来，那些日子我差不多都忘记了。可以肯定一点的是，我们就吃一点午饭，然后就荡秋千，滑滑梯——都是六岁孩子的游戏。之后就快到比赛的时间了。

这些不平常的竞赛。有些父母想出了一些点子，举行一个野餐式的竞赛，比如在你跑到另一个方的时候，把土豆从你脖子后传递给他人，勺子里放个鸡蛋。这些我记得不太清楚了，但有一个比赛我将永远不能忘记——三腿比赛。

父母们决定在这次比赛中不用土豆袋。他们把我们的脚绑在一起。一个小男孩有我做伴，他真幸运。现在关于这个小男孩你要知道的是，在体育方面他是我们班里的第二名。我确定的是他遇到麻烦了，他们把那个小男孩的脚捆在我的脚上。至于我，可遭殃了。这个家伙是个赢家，他几乎总是赢，可是我明白，和我在一起他就没有机会了。

然而，看上去，这个时候他并没有我领悟得那么深。他把他的胳膊绑在我胳膊上，鸣枪后，我们跑想另一边。在我们旁边，一对对选手要么摔倒了要么被绊倒了，但我们俩脚步稳妥跑道了终点。难以想象的是，当我们转身回家的时候，我们俩在最前面！只有一对有超越我们的机会，他们只在我们身后几码远。

在脚快到终点线的那有时刻，厄运发生了，我被绊倒了。我们离得很近，他本可以轻而易举地把我拉过终点线的。他本可以，可他并没有那么做，相反，他停下来，伸手把我扶起来——正好另一对穿过了终点线。

我仍记得那个时刻，现在还有那个红丝带。毕业十三年后，我站在舞台上，向同一组的学生做告别发言，他们之中已没有一个人记得那一时刻了。因此，我告诉他们：男孩刹那间做出决定去把朋友扶起来，那比赢一个蓝丝带还有意义。在演讲时，我对他们说，就算他和我一起站在这里，我也不能分清哪位是当年的那个小男孩。我不能分清，事实上是因为当时，或者其他人都曾经是那位小男孩，把我扶起来，帮助一个需要帮助的伙伴，却浪费了时间放弃了他们自己的目标。

同时，我还告诉他们为什么我一直保存着这个丝带。向我这看，这个丝带是一个提醒，你没有必要在世人的眼里是一个成功者，在你最亲密的人眼里要是个成功者。这个世界可以判给你成功或者失败，但是只有你最亲近的人知道真相。记住它，这在我们一生中都很重要。

你可能没有红丝带来证明这，但是，我真心地希望你至少有这么几个朋友，就是放弃了赢得蓝丝带的机会去帮助你并且还在想念你的那些朋友。我认为那些朋友才是真正有价值的朋友——我知道他对我来说非常重要。