IN winter， I often walk in a nearby park during lunchtime. The park is quiet， as few have the time to enjoy the winter sun on a weekday. The two people that often break my 1）solitude are a middle-aged father with his little daughter. She’s in her school uniform， pigtailed hair with red ribbons tied neatly around the ends. The father looks like he has all the time in the world—he refuses to hurry along the jogging path； instead he matches his pace with that of the little girl. Sometimes when I see them， they’re eating oranges. Sometimes they’re 2）lolling lazily in the sun， laughing and chatting.

Since I walk solo， I often have little better to do than 3）speculate about people I pass. How does the man find time in the middle of the day to play in the sunny park with his daughter？ He certainly doesn’t look unemployed. What sort of job must he have that gives him the flexibility to walk in the park in the middle of the day？

A few days ago， the child caught me looking at them and smiled at me. I smiled back. Yesterday， I threw a ball that had strayed from them in my direction. And today， we finally sat on the rocks and had a little chat.

“You must enjoy the park very much to come here so often，” I said.

The father nodded. “We love coming here…there’s no park near where we live and little Guddi enjoys playing here while we wait for her mother to get free from work，” he said.

The child’s school was next door， as was his place of work， a private business where he was an accountant.

I couldn’t help myself. I just had to ask.

“How，” I asked curiously， “do you manage to leave your office every day in the middle of the day？”

The story that the father， Satyendra Dubey， told me showed me how， if we dig underneath the surface， even ordinary people’s lives can seem quite extraordinary.

“I used to be no different from any of those thousands of office workers 4）scurrying to work every morning in buses，” he began.

His wife （a teacher at a government school） and he 5）were comfortably off but rarely managed time off for leisure. Their daily routine consisted of dropping their child at school， going to work， picking her up from daycare and going to bed exhausted.

One morning， on his way to work， Dubey was hit by a bus. “I awoke in the hospital， unaware of the extent of my injuries， afraid I was going to die，” he said. “As I waited in that cold room for my wife to reach me， a terrifying thought crossed my mind. ‘How would my daughter， then only four， remember me if I died that day？ Would she think of me as a 6）stern man who worked very hard？ Or more 7）uncharitably， as a father who had little time for her？’”

As he lay there， racked by pain， he realized that his child would probably not have many memories of just “being” with her father.

Dubey made a full recovery from his accident， but something in him had changed. “I started having recurring dreams about floating high up in the air， watching people like myself turn into little ants scurrying mindlessly from office to home，” he said. “High above them， I could see that few of them were actually enjoying any bits of their lives. They seemed too busy trying to go from one day to the next！” he reflected. In the queit of the night when he lay awake after one such dream， he 8）resolved to be different.

The day he went back to work， Dubey used the excuse of his recent accident to take some time off at lunch. He picked up his daughter from school and took her to the park. The child was hesitant； she’d never seen this strange side to her dad.

At first the father and daughter didn’t quite know what to do with each other. Then， slowly， they evolved a set of shared activities they enjoyed together. “We talk， play， laugh and sometimes just sit silently. Our time together in the park is the best part of the day for me！” he said. “Now， when my wife finishes work early afternoon and comes to take Guddi home， I feel quite 9）bereft. And then， I return to the office.”

“Is it easy，” I asked， “to take time off every day？”

He smiled. “My co-workers work much longer hours than I do. I know they’ll probably get better postings and promotions. But are these things really important in the larger scheme of things？ I’m happy I stopped to think about this instead of blindly going on and on…”

It was actually a very small change he’d made to his life， he said， but it amazed him every day to see the difference it made to his life. “It brings me so much joy that I can’t believe why others haven’t thought of doing the same thing，” he said simply.

I got up to 10）resume my long-forgetten walk， unexpectedly happy after hearing his story. When I passed them again that day， they were having a race. Just as he was about to win， Dubey noticed that Guddi’s energy was 11）flagging a little. Immediately， he bent to tie his shoelaces while the child triumphantly sailed past the finish line， laughing gleefully. As she lay down on the grass next to him， I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about the man who’d dropped out of the race， only to see how much nicer a slow walk in the sun was.

冬天，我經(jīng)常在午休時(shí)到附近的一個(gè)公園散步。公園里很安靜，很少人在工作日里有時(shí)間享受冬日的陽光。打破我獨(dú)處的是一位中年父親和他年幼的女兒。她穿著校服，梳著辮子，紅色絲帶整齊地纏繞在辮子上。父親看起來似乎擁有無窮無盡的時(shí)間——他拒絕在慢跑道上匆忙行走，反而跟隨著小女孩的步伐。有時(shí)，我看到他們在吃橙子；有時(shí)，則懶洋洋地躺坐在陽光下談天說笑。

由于我獨(dú)自一人散步，所以除了推測我遇到的人的身份外，我通常沒什么更有建設(shè)性的事情可做。這個(gè)男人怎么會(huì)有時(shí)間在中午陪女兒在陽光明媚的公園里玩耍呢？他看起來一點(diǎn)兒也不像無業(yè)游民。什么樣的工作讓他能有時(shí)間在中午到公園散步呢？

幾天前，小女孩注意到我在看他們，并對我笑了笑。我也回以微笑。昨天，他們的球飛到了我這邊，我?guī)兔θ恿嘶厝?。而今天，我們終于得以一起坐在石頭上閑聊幾句。

“你們很常過來這里，肯定很喜歡這個(gè)公園吧，”我說道。

父親點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭。“我們喜歡過來這里……我們住的地方附近沒有公園，小古蒂喜歡在這里邊玩邊等她媽媽下班，”他說道。

小女孩的學(xué)校就在隔壁，他工作的地方也在附近，他是一家私人公司的會(huì)計(jì)。

我忍不住了。我必須問出口。

“你怎么，”我好奇地問道，“能夠每天中午都離開辦公室呢？”

那位父親，薩特延德拉·杜貝告訴我的故事表明，如果我們深入挖掘，即便是平凡人也可能有著不平凡的故事。

“我以前也和其他千千萬萬的白領(lǐng)一樣，每天早上趕公交上班，”他開始說道。

雖然他的妻子（一所公立學(xué)校的老師）和他的收入很高，但他們卻鮮少有放假休息的時(shí)間。他們每天的日程就是送孩子上學(xué)、上班、把她從托兒所接回來，然后筋疲力盡地上床睡覺。

一天早上，在上班的路上，杜貝被一輛公共汽車撞倒。“我在醫(yī)院里醒來，不清楚自己的受傷程度，害怕自己快要死了，”他說道?！爱?dāng)我在那間冰冷的病房等待我妻子時(shí)，我腦海里閃過一個(gè)可怕的想法?！绻夷翘焖懒?，那么在我女兒記憶中的我會(huì)是個(gè)什么樣的人？她當(dāng)時(shí)只有4歲。她會(huì)不會(huì)認(rèn)為我是個(gè)死板的工作狂？或者更糟糕，她會(huì)認(rèn)為我是個(gè)沒有時(shí)間陪她的父親？”

當(dāng)他躺在那里，忍受著痛苦的侵襲時(shí)，他意識到他的孩子可能沒有多少與父親共處的回憶。

杜貝在車禍后完全恢復(fù)了健康，但他的想法發(fā)生了變化。“我開始重復(fù)做著同一個(gè)夢：我高高地漂浮在空中，看著像我一樣的人變得像螞蟻一樣小，他們漫不經(jīng)心地在辦公室與家之間奔走，”他說道?！案╊麄儯铱梢钥吹剿麄兒苌偃苏嬲矚g自己的生活。他們每一天都過得太過匆忙！”他反思道。在那個(gè)安靜的夜晚從這樣的夢中醒來后，他決定要有所改變。

在杜貝重返崗位的那天，他以那次車禍為由申請獲得一定的午休時(shí)間。他把女兒從學(xué)校接出來，帶到公園去。小女孩有所遲疑；她從未見過她爸爸這樣奇怪的一面。

起初，父親和女兒并不知道該如何與對方相處。然后，慢慢地，他們想出了一些兩人都喜歡的活動(dòng)?！拔覀円黄鹆奶臁⑼嫠?、大笑，有時(shí)就只是靜靜地坐著。我們在公園里的時(shí)間是我在一天當(dāng)中最快樂的時(shí)光！”他說道?！叭缃瘢康较挛缥移拮咏Y(jié)束工作，過來把古蒂帶回家時(shí)，我都感到若有所失。在這之后，我就返回辦公室?！?/p>

“這容易做到嗎，”我問道，“每天請假一段時(shí)間？”

他微笑道，“我同事的工作時(shí)間比我長得多。我知道他們可能會(huì)獲得更好的職位和晉升機(jī)會(huì)。但從整體而言，這些東西真的重要嗎？我很高興我停了下來思考這一點(diǎn)，而不是盲目地不斷前行……”

事實(shí)上，他的生活只不過做出了一個(gè)小小的改變，他說，但這卻讓他的生活每天都發(fā)生令人驚訝的新變化。“這給我?guī)砹藰O大的快樂，我想不明白為什么其他人沒有想過要這樣做，”他如此說道。

聽完他的故事后，我感到了意想不到的快樂，起身繼續(xù)那早已被我忘在腦后的散步。那天，當(dāng)我再次經(jīng)過他們身邊時(shí)，他們正在賽跑。當(dāng)杜貝快要贏得勝利時(shí)，他發(fā)現(xiàn)古蒂有點(diǎn)兒蔫了，便馬上彎下身子綁鞋帶，而小女孩則歡欣鼓舞地沖向終點(diǎn)線，開心大笑。當(dāng)她躺在他身邊的草地上時(shí)，我不禁微笑起來。我想到，這個(gè)男人放棄了比賽，只為了一看那陽光下的慢行有多美。