让座

Ｂｉｌｌ　Ｃａｒｒｅｌｌ

译/刘宇婷

有一天，在二战刚刚结束的日本，身为驻日美军的我和两个战友一起乘坐火车。落座之后，我发现一个奇怪的现象——车上所有的座位都被男人霸占着，而负着背包和孩子的女人们则抓着头顶上的吊环，摇摇晃晃地保持着平衡。

这时，一个日本老太太拎着几个沉重的包裹上了车，我连忙起身给她让座。不料，还没等她动弹，一个小伙子就挤过来抢先坐了下去。我不假思索地抓住那小子的衣领，把他拎了起来，然后扶着老太太的臂肘，引她坐到座位上。

这个小小的插曲更增添了我心中的不平之气。我如法炮制径直抓起离我最近的男人，强迫他把座位让给了一名妇女。我们三个人你看着我，我看着你，都咧嘴乐了，然后不约而同地向第三个男人走去。可是他不待我们靠近便一跃而起。

突然，又有一个人站了起来，接着一个又一个，直到火车上所有的男人都站了起来，而所有的女人都坐了下去。每个人都表现得仿佛男人给女人让座是世界上最天经地义的事。没有人说话。一位高龄老者甚至把座位让给了一个小姑娘。

40多年过去了，当我在东京北部的一名基督教友家做客时，在火车上发生的那一幕早已被我淡忘。为了消磨时间，我聊起了自己在二战时的经历，心想这也许是个有趣的话题。这位日本女士插言道，在战争接近尾声时，日本政府为了鼓舞士气，警告国民说，如果美国人占领了日本，他们会强奸所有的妇女！“但是有一天，”她说，“三个美国兵上了一列火车，让所有的男人都站起来给女人让座。于是我们明白了，我们根本不必惧怕美国人。”

她的话令我瞠目结舌。

毫无疑问，我就是那三个“闹事”的美国兵之一，对我来说，那是一场近乎任性的“胡作非为”，然而它却给人们带来了如此深远的影响……

One day in Japan, during the early days of the occupation following World War II, two of my friends and I boarded a train. After I sat down, I noticed that only the men were seated. All the women with all their baggage and babies on their backs were attempting to keep their balance by hanging onto the overhead straps.

When an older woman boarded with several heavy packages, I started to give her my seat. But before she could move, a young man pushed his way in and took the seat. Without thinking, I just grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him to his feet. Then I took the womans elbow and directed her to sit down.

As we say , I was “on a roll” and I simply reached for the next man.I assisted him to his feet also and gave his seat to a woman. We three looked at each other, grinned, and all together started for number three. But he did not wait, and jump to his feet,

Suddenly another stood up, then another and another, until every man on the train was standing and every woman was seated. Everyone acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world. No one spoke. One very old man gave his seat to a little girl.

Forty years later,the event on the train was far from my thoughts as we visited the home of a Christian lady in the northern part of Tokyo. To pass the time， I thought it might be interesting to tell some of our experiences from the great War. She explained that as the war was ending, the Japanese government, trying to sustain the will to fight, warned that if Americans invaded Japan they would rape all the women. “But one day,” she said, “three Americans got on a train and made all the men stand up and let the women sit down. We knew then that we had nothing to fear from the Americans.”

I was dumbfounded.

I felt certain I had been one of the perpetrators. Perhaps he was the one I had pulled to his feet. It had been almost a prank on my part. Yet it still affects people to this day.

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