勇敢的气
The Brave Breath

One midnight, a little girl woke up to pass water. She by herself got up and down her bed, walked to the bedroom door and opened it. She looked outside and walked back, for it was so dark in the hall that she feared.

Her mother said, “Don’tbe afraid, honey. Take courage.”

“What’s courage?”she asked, runningto her mother’s bed.

“Courage is the brave breath.” her mother answered.

“Mum, do you have courage?”

“Certainly.”

The girl held out her little hands, saying, “Mum, blow some of your breath of courage to me.”

After her mother blew out two mouthfuls of breath into her little cold palms, the little girl clenched her fists nervously, afraid that the “breath of courage” would run away.Then with her fists clenched, she strode out of the bedroom toward the bathroom with nothing to fear.

Her mother said to herself, “It will be nice if someone can blow some kind of ‘breath’to me, which I can grip in my hands too when I feelfrightened, lost or depressed.”

In fact, on most occasions, what we are frightened of is nothing but the fear that we fabricate. Who we should defeat is nobody but ourselves.

半夜，女儿要上厕所，她一个人爬下床去，走到卧室门口，开门看了看，又折回来。门厅太黑，她害怕了。

母亲说：“宝贝，别害怕，鼓起勇气。”

“勇气是什么？”她跑到母亲的床前，问母亲。

“就是勇敢的气。”母亲回答。

“妈妈，你有勇气吗？”

“我当然有了。”

女儿就伸出她的小手来：“妈妈，那你就把你的勇敢的气给我吹点吧。”

母亲对着她冰凉的小手心儿吹了两口，她紧张兮兮地攥紧拳头，生怕“勇敢的气”跑掉了。然后，女儿就那么攥着拳头，大踏步地，无所畏惧地走出了卧房，上厕所去了。

母亲心想，谁也能给我吹点什么“气”就好了，让我也能攥在手心里——在我害怕或茫然或沮丧的时候。

其实，很多时候，我们害怕的不是别的，是自己内心凭空产生的恐惧。我们要战胜的也不是别人，正是我们自己。