Just Stay 留下来

The next time when someone needs you ...
 just be there.  Stay.

Have a Great Day and Bless You in some little way or another today.

Just Stay
 
A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

"Your son is here," she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.  Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

留下来

当年轻的陆战队员走进医院的门厅时，夜色已深。护士把疲惫不堪却心急如焚的军人带到了病床边。

“你的儿子来了。”护士轻轻地告诉老人，接着又重复了许多遍，直到老人睁开眼睛。老人被注射了大剂量镇静剂，恍惚间发现身穿海军陆战队制服的年轻人站在氧气罩外面，于是向他伸出手。

年轻的陆战队员马上用他那有力的手握住了老人。护士拿来了椅子，陆战队员在床边坐了下来。

医院的夜是漫长的。漫漫长夜中，年轻人就一直坐在灯光昏暗的病房中，执着老人的手，向他传递着希望和力量。护士几次让年轻人休息活动一下，他都谢绝了。

每次护士来到病房时，年轻的军人都坐在那儿，时而喃喃地对老人说几句。对她的到来和医院夜里的一应声响都浑然不觉——无论是医务人员换班时相互的叮嘱不是其他病人的呻吟抑或是鼾声。而老人却始终缄口不语，只是紧紧地握着儿子的手。

黎明来临前，老人去了。年轻的陆战队员从床边挪开已经被老人握得麻木的手，然后去通知了护士。护士去料理老人后事的工夫，年轻人点了支烟——这还是他来到医院后的第一支烟。

料理完老人后，护士回到了办公室，年轻人还等在那里。她正要说些节哀之类的劝慰之辞时，年轻人打断了她：“这人是谁？”年轻人问。

“他是你父亲啊！”护士很诧异。

“不，他不是我父亲。”年轻人很平静，“以前我从没见过他。”

“那我带你见到他时，你怎么不说呢？”

“我当时就明白了，这是个误会，但是，我也知道——他需要我。所以我留下了。”