【李家同】我的故事專欄(17)
Going Home

張貼日期：2021/07/27

     When I was a professor, I often had chances to go to Europe to attend academic conferences.  Once, I was traveling in a train and found the person beside me spoke English.  He was very friendly and we chatted happily.  In the train, there were some youngsters who appeared to be very happy.  The person beside seemed also to share their happiness.  Yet he suddenly uttered a rather philosophical sentence.  He said, “It is a real blessing if someone dies in happiness.”.  I could vaguely understand what he meant, but I still asked him to explain it more clearly.  So, he told me the following story.

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     I was British.  During the Second World War, I joined the army and was fighting in Germany.  There was a short pause during a battle.  Suddenly I saw a soldier staggering towards our base.  From his uniform, I was sure that he was German.  Why would a German soldier walk towards a British army base?  He was obviously badly injured.  As he was closer to me, I noticed that his brain was injured and he was totally blind.  I went up to him and tried to help him.  He collapsed into my arms.

     As he fell into my arms, a smile suddenly appeared in his face.  He spoke in a low voice, “father” in German.  I learned German when I was in college.  Therefore, I answered, “Yes, my son.”  His then asked, “How is Mother?”.  I said, again in German, “She is OK.”  He passed away in my arms peacefully.

     Apparently, the German was injured so badly that he thought he was going home and he knew that his father was waiting for him.

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     After I heard his story, I asked him, “Were you profoundly influenced by this incident?”   He smiled and told me to see his white collar which is only worn by Catholic priests and Protestants ministers.  He said, “Now, everyone calls me father.”

這則故事要用英文寫，因為”father”這個字有兩個意思，”爸爸”和”神父”。如果用中文，最後一段就寫不出來了。還有一點，white collar是基督教牧師和天主教神父戴的，他們不打領帶。只有神職人員會戴這種衣領。