Have you ever， at any one time， had the feeling that life is bad， real bad， and you wish you were in another situation? You find life make things difficult for you， work sucks， life sucks， everything seems to go wrong.

Read the following story， and it may change your views about life:

After a conversation with one of my friends， he told me despite taking 2 jobs， he brings back barely¹ above 1，000 dollars per month， he is happy as he is.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India... That happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback.

He said that right in front of his very eyes， he saw an Indian mother chop² off her child's right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother's eyes， the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted³ him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty， had the child's hand been infected⁴? No， it was done for two simple words -- TO BEG! The desperate mother deliberately⁵ caused the child to be handicapped⁶ so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.

Taken aback by the scene， he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half way. And almost instantly， a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand， robbing bits from one another -- the natural reaction of hunger.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body， have a job， have a family， have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice， have the chance to be clothed， have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of.

Ｎow I begin to think and feel it， too! Was my life really that bad? Perhaps no， I should not feel bad at all. What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are， think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets. \"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want， it is the realization of how much you already have. \"

注釋：

1 barely adv．僅僅

2 chop v．砍，切

3 hauntv．纏??；纏繞

4 infect v. 感染

5 deliberatelyadv．故意地

6 handicap v.障礙；使殘廢

你曾有過這樣的感受嗎？生活太糟糕，簡(jiǎn)直是糟透了，你希望自己能換個(gè)環(huán)境。你覺得生命是痛苦的，工作不順，活得無趣，所有事似乎都不順利。

那么請(qǐng)你讀讀以下這則故事，它可能會(huì)令你改變對(duì)人生的看法：

我和一位朋友傾談，他說自己雖然做兩份工作，但每月的收入僅稍逾1000元，盡管如此，他還是很開心。

他解釋說，這一切都是因?yàn)閿?shù)年前他在印度所目睹的一個(gè)事件，當(dāng)時(shí)他因?yàn)橐淮沃卮蟮拇煺郏那榈吐?，所以去印度散心?/p>

他說他親眼看到一個(gè)印度婦人用割肉刀將她兒子的右手切下。那婦人無助的眼神和那四歲的稚童痛苦的叫聲，至今仍令他難以釋懷。

你可能會(huì)問：為什么那母親要這樣做？是否她的小孩太頑皮，或是他的手受到了感染？都不是！原來只是為了最簡(jiǎn)單的原因——”乞討”！那絕望的母親特意把孩子弄成殘廢，使他可以在街上乞討！

我的朋友嚇呆了，他那吃了一半的面包掉到了地上，馬上就有五六個(gè)小孩沖上來，爭(zhēng)搶著這片沾滿砂石的面包，這是人們面對(duì)饑餓時(shí)的自然反應(yīng)。

他開始對(duì)自己說他是多么的幸運(yùn)——他有一個(gè)完整的軀體、有一份工作、有家庭、有機(jī)會(huì)抱怨食品的好與壞、有機(jī)會(huì)穿衣服、有機(jī)會(huì)擁有很多這些人沒有的東西。

他的話讓我感受頗深，我的生活真那么糟嗎？也許……不，我根本不該覺得過得不好。那么，你呢？或者下一次你覺得自己活得不好的時(shí)候，想想那個(gè)為了乞討而失去了一只手的小孩吧！“滿足感不是來自于得到你想要的東西，而是意識(shí)到你已經(jīng)擁有了許多?！?/p>