这几天一直在路上，见缝插针地把这本THE INSANITY of GOD读到了三分之一，其中一个小孩子的微笑给我印象深刻。
作者前往索马里战区，试图帮助被战乱蹂躏得破烂不堪的当地社区。他走进收容院的一个房间，看到那些所谓的病床只是一些床架，上面还有一些海绵，别的一无所有。一个瘦得皮包骨的小孩坐在那里，呆若木鸡，这个三岁的小孩体重只有20磅，像雕塑一样的坐在那里一动不动，甚至眼皮都不眨一下，好像抬一下眼都会浪费体力。他走进那个小孩，这时候小孩突然给了他一个微笑。他感到非常震惊，这笑容从何而来？
其实小孩子出生没几天就会微笑，我记着儿子出生不久，在睡觉的时候突然露出笑容，我惊喜的告诉老婆，她说她也注意到了孩子的微笑。这种微笑是天然的，不是社会习得的。
基督教认为人是照着神的形象被造的，这意味着人的本性中有某种“神圣的印记”。
微笑是一种和平、喜乐、善意的象征，在婴儿那里自然而然地流露出来，正反映了上帝创造人时所赋予的本初之善。婴儿的微笑没有伪饰，是纯洁、无罪的象征，正如耶稣所说：“让小孩子到我这里来，不要禁止他们，因为在天国的，正是这样的人。”
也许这种解释比生物学的解释或者社会学的解释更有说服力。
记得刚来澳洲的时候住在马克家里，他比我大好几岁，可是仍然单身。他想找个中国的女朋友，聊到这些话题的时候他居然还会脸红。我当时来澳洲不久，以为这是因为肤色的原因造成的，他们情绪变化的时候，比如脸红的时候比亚洲人更容易看出来。后来接触的人多了，发现很多六七十岁的人有时候也会脸红。他们与生俱来的这种天然的神性没有被后天的社会彻底磨损掉。
有时候幼稚并不可笑，可笑的是不再幼稚。
作者后来还想回访一下那个给他微笑的三岁的小孩，很遗憾，知情人告诉他那个小孩已经不幸离世了。他很“庆幸”没有看到那个孩子离开的样子，所以脑海中的记忆永远是那个孩子的微笑。
A Child’s Smile
I’ve been on the road these days, squeezing in time here and there to read The Insanity of God. I’ve made it through about a third of the book, and one scene — a child’s smile — left a deep impression on me.
The author traveled to war-torn Somalia, hoping to help local communities devastated by conflict. He entered a room in a shelter, only to find that what passed for hospital beds were just bare frames with bits of sponge — nothing more. In that room sat a skeletal little girl, motionless and expressionless. She was three years old but weighed only 20 pounds, sitting like a statue, not even blinking, as if lifting her eyelids would consume too much energy. As the author approached, the girl suddenly gave him a smile. The author was stunned. Where did that smile come from?
In fact, babies begin to smile just days after birth. I remember shortly after my son was born, I saw him smile in his sleep. I was so excited that I told my wife — she said she’d noticed it too. That kind of smile is natural, not learned through social conditioning.
Christianity teaches that humans are made in the image of God, which means there is a divine imprint in human nature.
A smile is a symbol of peace, joy, and kindness — and in infants, it emerges spontaneously. It reflects the original goodness bestowed by God when creating humanity. An infant’s smile is untainted, a symbol of purity and innocence — just as Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Perhaps this spiritual explanation is more compelling than biological or sociological ones.
I recall when I first arrived in Australia, I stayed at Mark’s house. He was several years older than me and still single. He wanted to find a Chinese girlfriend. When we talked about relationships, he would blush. At the time, I had just arrived in Australia and assumed it had something to do with skin tone — that emotional changes like blushing were simply more visible in people with lighter skin. But as I met more people, I found that many in their 60s and 70s still blush too. Their innate, God-given purity had not been completely worn away by society.
Sometimes, childishness is not innocently ignorant or ridiculous. What’s ridiculous is no longer being childlike.
Later, the author wanted to visit that three-year-old girl who had smiled at him. Sadly, someone told him the child had passed away. He was “glad” in a way, that he never saw the girl in her final moments — so the only image that remained in his memory was that beautiful smile.
了解 Geoffrey Chen 的更多信息
订阅后即可通过电子邮件收到最新文章。