回归童真

袁堂欣

Sarah came running in， “Look what I found.” Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy， crumbling long object that caused me to jump. It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes.

“Isnt it beautiful？” said my wide-eyed seven-year-old. I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it was not really that beautiful， but I have learned never to appear nonchalant or jaded with children. They see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.

“Why does it do this？” Sarah asked. “Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves，” I explained. “Why do they need to renew themselves？” Sarah asked. I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal. She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves， and said that by peeling away those layers one by one， we see the underlying original beneath.

“We often need to shed our skins， those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with，” I said to my now absorbed daughter. “We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too stiff and crinkly for him， and he probably doesnt think he looks as smart in it as he once did.” As we talked， I knew that she began to comprehend， albeit slightly， that we need to take a good look at ourselves， and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off.

I hoped she would remember this. That often， in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cloak ourselves year after year， we need to start examining these layers. We need to gently peel some away， as we recognize them to be worthless， unnecessary， or flawed； or at best， store the discarded ones as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit.

萨拉跑进来：“看我发现了什么。”我正在看报，一条长长的有些破烂的东西出现在报纸上方，把我吓得跳了起来。是一条蛇蜕的皮，我们的花园里有很多蛇。

“它难道不漂亮吗？”我那七岁的小女儿眨巴着大眼睛问道。我盯着那条蛇皮，自忖它实在算不上漂亮，但我知道决不能对孩子冷淡抑或厌烦。孩子们在接受相关教育之前，他们只会看到世上事物的美好一面。

萨拉问：“蛇为什么要蜕皮？”我解释说：“蛇因为要获得新生，所以才蜕皮。”萨拉问：“蛇为什么要获得新生？”我忽然记起许多年前报上的一篇文章，作者表述了她对新生的看法。她用糊在墙上的一层层的纸来形容我们如何将真实的自我隐藏起来，一层层地剥去那些纸，我们便会发现藏在纸下面的纯真。

我告诉此时全神贯注的女儿：“我们常常要‘蜕皮，更换我们穿的衣服或外在的装扮。我们长大了，有些东西不想要了，有些不需要了。这条蛇不再需要这张皮了。可能是它觉得这张皮又硬又皱，在身上不像以前那么漂亮。”谈话间，我知道尽管萨拉似懂非懂，但理解到我们需要好好审视自我，想想要留下什么，摒弃什么。

我希望她能记住这个。为了找寻年复一年被社会和环境所掩盖的真实的自我，我们需要审视这一层层的纸，一旦认识到它们毫无价值，不再需要或者有缺陷，需要轻轻剥去一些，最好是将那些舍弃的东西尘封起来，作为激励我们更加活力四射、更加精神饱满地前进的纪念品。endprint