I inherited¹ a Dendrobium orchid and didn't know a thing about them， so I was concerned when a \"lump\" formed on one of the thick ugly stems. I thought it must have a disease and ignored it， thinking that if it died I would throw it away.

So imagine my surprise as the \"lump\" on my orchid got bigger， until one morning it turned into a sort of bunch of grapes and in no time at all the whole \"disfiguration²\" became a gorgeous³ cascading⁴ show of yellow mini orchids. It was breathtaking and quite a lesson to me.

We sometimes view people who are \"different\" in the way that I looked at the orchid: We don't understand why they are the way they are. I teach in government schools and often come across children who behave strangely. As I get to know them and \"bond\" with them， I learn why they do what they do.

When we do this， we will see people in a totally different light one that redefines what it means to be ugly or different or weird⁵ or strange -- just like I now see in my orchids!

注釋

1. inherit v. 繼承；接管

2. disfigurationn. 畸形物

3. gorgeousadj．華麗的，燦爛的

4. cascading adj．如瀑布般垂下的

5. weird adj．超自然的；怪異的

人家送了我一株石斛蘭，不過我對它一無所知，因此當我發(fā)現(xiàn)它粗大的枝干上腫起了一塊，不禁有些擔心。我以為它一定得了一種什么疾病，于是未加理睬，心想如果它死了我就把它丟了。

所以，當那株蘭花漸漸長大，直至某日清晨，我忽然發(fā)現(xiàn)它的腫塊已經變咸了一串葡萄狀的花苞，整塊的“畸形物”都變成了一串黃燦燦幼小的蘭花流蘇，你便可以想象我有多驚訝。這簡直令人嘆為觀止，也著實給我上了一課。

有時候，我們會像我對待蘭花一樣看待一些與我們“有所不同”的人：我們不明白他們?yōu)槭裁词悄菢拥?。我在一些公立學校授課，經常會遇到一些行為怪異的學生。隨著我逐漸了解他們并且和他們的交往進一步加深之后，我終于明白他們?yōu)槭裁磿菢幼觥?/p>

當我們這么做時，我們將能夠從一個完全不同的角度看待他人——從這個角度出發(fā)，我們對丑陋、差異、怪異或者奇異都有了新的定義——正如我現(xiàn)在對待蘭花的態(tài)度。