The image is from https://www.gwangming.com.tw/free-362.html.

The original text is in Chinese from https://www.gwangming.com.tw/free-362.html. I love the story, so I translate it to English to share with you here.

It happened at a resort in Phuket island, where I worked as an interpreter in English and Chinese.

One day, I was in the lobby when I suddenly saw a Japanese staff member comforting a frightened Australian child. The child was about four years old, and was crying and exhausted.

After asking why, I found out that the Japanese staff had carelessly left the kid alone on the tennis court after the children’s tennis class. As there were many children in the class that day, it had been all too easy to overlook one.

When the staff member realized that they were one child short, she ran out to the tennis court and brought back the child, who was crying in shock due to her experience.

Soon, her mother came back only to see her baby crying her eyes out.

Now, if you were the mother, what would you do? Would you scold the staff member or protest directly to her supervisor? Or would you become so angry that you would remove your kids from the club membership and never come back again?

The child’s mother could have done any of those things. She could have vented her emotions, and insisted on receiving compensation for the incident.

However, she did neither!

Instead, she did something that impressed me. I saw her crouch down to comfort her four-year-old. She told her calmly:

“It’s all right, the sister was very nervous and upset because she couldn’t find you. She didn’t mean for this to happen. Now you must kiss the sister’s cheek to comfort her, because she is still very upset.”

Then I saw the four-year-old child stand on her tiptoes and kiss the cheek of the worker squatting beside her. The child gently told her: “Don’t be afraid, it’s all right!”

The worker burst into tears; she was clearly very moved. She had not expected to encounter such a level of empathy from these clients.

Comments:

I salute this wise and respectful mother who goes to such lengths to teach her kid compassion. Not only did she console the terrified worker, but she also helped her daughter turn a bad experience into a lesson on forgiveness. This will leave her daughter with a better memory of this day rather than allowing her to dwell on her accidental abandonment. Forgiveness is often the key to moving on from a bad experience.

《柔和》的故事
這事發生在普吉島的渡假村，那時我在那裡擔任中英文的翻譯人員。

有一天，我在大廳裡，突然看見一位滿臉歉意的日本工作人員，安慰著一位大約四歲的西方小孩，飽受驚嚇的小孩已經哭得精疲力盡了。

問明原因之後，我才知道，原來這位日本工作人員，因為那天小孩較多，一時疏忽，在兒童網球課結束後，少算了一位，將這位澳洲小孩留在網球場。

等到她發現人數不對時，才趕快跑到網球場，將這位小孩帶回來，小孩因為一個人在偏遠的網球場，飽受驚嚇，哭得浠浬嘩啦的。

現在澳洲媽媽出現了，看著自己的小孩哭得慘兮兮的。

如果你是這位媽媽，你會怎麼做？

是痛罵那位工作人員一頓？

還是直接向主管抗議？

或是很生氣的將小孩帶離開，再也不參加『兒童俱樂部』了？

她的確可以這樣做，發洩她的情緒，讓她的孩子得到最好的補償。

但都不是！

她做了一個行為讓我印象深刻，

我親眼看見這位媽媽，蹲下來安慰四歲的小孩，並且很理性的告訴他：

『已經沒事了，那位日本姊姊因為找不到妳而非常的緊張難過，她不是故意的，現在你必須親親那位日本姊姊的臉頰，安慰她一下！』

當下我只見那位四歲的小孩，墊起腳跟，親親蹲在他身旁的日本工作人員的臉頰，並且輕輕的告訴她：『不要害怕，已經沒事了！』

那位滿臉歉意的日本工作人員當場哭了出來，

想必她是非常感動，沒有預期到是這個結果吧！

我相信，就是要這樣的教育，才能養出寬容、體貼的孩子吧！

體貼別人，也等於體貼了自己的心。

有句成語叫「理直氣壯」，但也有句話叫「理直氣和」，做人理直氣壯容易，但是理直氣和卻是困難。

尤其現代少子化的時代裡，每個子女都是父母掌心上的明珠，碰到這樣的事件沒鬧上新聞算是客氣的了，又有多少父母能和文章中的媽媽一樣，不但沒有責怪對方，反而還讓小孩子過去安慰對方？