A saying comes to mind: being kind is harder than being smart. Intelligence is a gift, while kindness is a choice.
This is a rare sunny Sunday in western Sichuan, father, mother and daughter met to go to the park for tea. Daughter just graduated from college was lucky enough to be hired by a good unit, the family is very happy, decided to take advantage of the good sunshine, first to the park to drink a cup of tea, and then go eat a hot pot to celebrate.
The park was filled with people who were sunburnt, and as the long-accumulated cloud overhead was penetrated by the sun, everyone’s mind became more transparent and cheerful, and everywhere you can hear happy and excited laughter.
It was hard to find a seat under a yellow jue tree, make tea, mother brought their own fruit, melon seeds out. The sun shines brightly on the newly replaced yellow jue, and the light breeze slowly swings from this greenery like a wooden paddle across a clear lake, rippling the whole world with green shadows floating, beautiful and unusual, such as a quiet and warm painting.
At that moment, a dry figure crashed into the painting, and the family turned around uncomfortably to see a dark, thin old man smiling at them with an embarrassed face, and asked them in an incomprehensible foreign accent if they polished their shoes.
He was wearing a dirty old military uniform, his white hair was strewn with dust and other unidentifiable suspended matter, and his eyes were cloudy and yellow. I don’t know if it’s because of the sun’s exposure or too long without a bath, the deep black skin is stiff and dull, crisscrossed with countless scratches of the years. His hands, full of deep black openings and scars, carrying a plastic pocket different from the local shoemaker’s small wooden box, the pocket tear. The pocket was patched up with a dark rheumatic plaster, as was his neck with the same plaster, which looked strange and even absurd.
The daughter looked at her own feet after the discount is still worth 500 yuan shoes, and then look at the old man in front of him, can not help but stick out his tongue. A chill. Her mother, although not sticking out her tongue, but the expression is similar to her.
On the contrary, the father sitting opposite began to untie his shoes, take off his shoes, and put his feet into the slippers put over by the old man, and the daughter deeply suspected that the shoes might have come from a garbage can somewhere. Nearly screamed out.
The old man took the shoes and went to the side to wipe himself. My daughter watched him clumsily polishing his shoes with great fear and said, “Dad, I think your shoes are ruined! I bet he can’t clean them! They’re even dirtier than they were before!
Mother echoed her voice. She said: “The sun is coming out of the west today, how dare you hire someone to polish your shoes? Don’t you usually do it yourself? If you want to polish them, you have to choose someone who is better at it!
The father laughed and said, “I’m not looking for a good polisher, I’m looking for this cobbler who can’t polish clean.
The mother and daughter each made a booing sound when he said this.
Father said: you know what? Look at that old man, obviously a raw hand, at this age still out, there must be a compelling reason. Work for sure no one wants, reach out to beg, certainly embarrassed, I patronize him, at least let him not as a beggar, what is wrong with this? A dollar can buy four buns, enough for him to eat a day.
The mother and daughter feel justified, especially the daughter, since childhood, I have seen my father do similar things, and thus will not say anything. Encouraged by her father’s bland smile, she even had the urge to take a risk with her own shoes under her feet. But looking at the old man’s slippers, she couldn’t break through the barrier, so she whispered to her father and quietly left.
The old man finished polishing his shoes and sent them over. Sure enough, the top of the flowery green as covered with a layer of motor oil. Father looked, smiled and said: it seems, you have not learned how to polish shoes, why not I teach you!
The old man was embarrassed and smiled. Then he nodded his head and said yes. I could see that he had a strong desire to improve his skills.
My father started by washing the shoes, pouring on the oil, to waxing to polishing, meticulously, both finely and slowly, using his own shoes to demonstrate to the old man, and then, taking the shoes off his wife’s feet, let him practice again. While rubbing, the old man was embarrassed to say: I have never even worn leather shoes in my life, let alone how to serve it.
Not long after, the daughter came back, holding two pairs of new slippers, one pair was Pleasant Goat, and the other was Robot Cat. Very good smile.
The daughter handed the shoes to the old man and said, “Here you go, now I can ask you to polish my shoes.
The old man used the newly learned craft, solemnly and seriously to her shoes clean, during which the girl also gave the old man a lot of consumer psychology, and the impact of clean clothes table, clean hair and face on customers. The old man wiped one side, the other side seems to have understood the response. He finally understood the reason why he had no business these days.
The day was a rare sunny day in western Sichuan, the wind was light, the sun was warm, and all the people seemed very friendly. The old man shining his shoes was happy, a family of three drinking tea was happy, and even I was happy after peeking in the side for half a day.
I believe more than ever: kindness, indeed, is not something earth-shattering.
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