文字难度：★★
Some years ago I took on an assignment in a southern county to work with people on public welfare. What I wanted to do was show that everybody has the capacity to be self-sufficient, and all we have to do is to activate them. I asked the county to pick a group of people who were on public welfare, people from different racial groups and different family constellations. I would then see them as a group for three hours every Friday. I also asked for a little 1)petty cash to work with, as I needed it.
几年前，我被委派到南部的一个镇去指导依靠公共福利金生活的人。我想要告诉他们的是，每个人都有能力自给自足。我们所要做的就是激励他们行动起来。我要求镇里挑选一批依靠公共福利金生活的人，他们必须是来自不同种族，有着不同的家庭出身。然后，我会在每周五和他们这批人待上三个小时。我同时也要求在我需要时能获得一小笔资金的支持。
The first thing I said after I shook hands with everybody was, “I would like to know what your dreams are.” Everyone looked at me as if I were kind of 2)wacky.
“Dreams? We don’t have dreams.”
I said, “Well, when you were a kid what happened? Wasn’t there something you wanted to do?”
One woman said to me, “I don’t know what you can do with dreams. The rats are eating up my kids.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s terrible. No, of course, you are very much involved with the rats and your kids. How can that be helped?”
“Well, I could use a new 3)screen door because there are holes in my screen door.”
I asked, “Is there anybody around here who knows how to fix a screen door?”
There was a man in the group, and he said, “A long time ago I used to do things like that, but now I have a terribly bad back, but I’ll try.”
I told him I had some money if he would go to the store, buy some 4)screening, and go and fix the lady’s screen door.
“Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes, I’ll try.”
The next week, when the group was seated, I said to the woman, “Well is your screen door fixed?”
“Oh, yes,” she said.
“Then we can start dreaming, can’t we?” She sort of smiled at me. I said to the man who did the work, “How do you feel?”
He said, “Well, you know, it’s a very funny thing. I’m beginning to feel a lot better.” That helped the group to begin to dream. These seemingly small successes allowed the group to see that dreams were not 5)insane. These small steps began to get people to see and feel that something really could happen.
I began to ask other people about their dreams. One woman shared that she always wanted to be a secre-tary. I said, “Well, what stands in your way?” (That’s always my next question.)
She said, “I have six kids, and I don’t have anyone to take care of them while I’m away.”
“Let’s find out,” I said.
“Is there anybody in this group who would take care of six kids for a day or two a week while this woman gets some training here at the community college?”
One woman said, “I got kids, too, but I could do that.”
“Let’s do it,” I said. A plan was created and the woman went to school.
我和这批人一一握手后问的第一个问题是：“我想知道你们的梦想是什么？”每个人都用一种异样的眼光看着我，仿佛我是怪物。
“梦想？我们没有梦想。”
我说：“那么，当你们还是个孩子的时候呢？没有什么你想要做的事吗？”
一位女士告诉我：“我不知道有梦想又能怎样。老鼠就要吞掉我的孩子了。”
“哦，”我说，“那真糟。你老想着老鼠和你的孩子，那梦想当然没什么用。怎样才能帮到你呢？”
“这个……我也许需要一扇新的纱门。因为我的纱门有很多洞。”
我问：“这里有人知道怎么安装纱门吗？”
这批人里有个男人，他说：“很久以前，我常常做那样的工作，但现在我的背痛得厉害，不过我会试试。”
我告诉他我有些钱，问他能否去商店买些网眼纱，然后去帮那位女士安装纱门。
“你觉得你能做吗？”
“嗯，我会试试。”
一周后，整批人坐好后，我对那位女士说：“你的纱门安装好了吗？”
“哦，是的。”她说。
“那么我们可以开始梦想了，不是吗？”她对我笑了笑。我对那个安装纱门的男人说：“你感觉如何？”
他说：“噢，你知道，这是件很有趣的事。我开始感觉好多了。”那使得整批人开始梦想起来了。这些看上去微不足道的成功使得整批人领会到，梦想并不愚蠢。这些小小的步骤开始让人们看见并感受到有些东西真的会发生。
我开始询问其他人的梦想。一位女士分享道，她一直想成为一名秘书。我说：“那么是什么阻碍你实现梦想呢？”（这总是我接着要问的问题）。
她说：“我有六个孩子。当我不在家时，我找不到人去照顾他们。”
“让我们来看看有没有解决办法。”我说。
“这个组里有人每周能在这位女士在社区学院这里接受培训的一两天里照顾一下她的六个孩子吗？”
一位女士说道：“我也有孩子，但我可以帮忙照看。”
“就这么办。”我说。于是一个计划出炉了，那位女士去上课了。
Everyone found something. The man who put in the screen door became a 6)handyman. The woman who took in the children became a licensed foster care guardian. In 12 weeks I had all these people off public welfare. I’ve not only done that once, I’ve done it many times.
每个人都领悟到了一些东西。那个帮忙安装纱门的男人成为了一名杂物工。那个帮忙照看孩子的女人成为了一名持有许可证的寄养服务师。十二周后，我使得这批人都不再依靠公共福利金生活。这样的事，我不只成功了一次，而是已经成功了好多次。
