优越感背后的无能
让和他的祖父途经巴黎一个广场，他看到，广场一处，一名鞋匠因为鞋子的一点小问题正被客户百般刁难。鞋匠平静地听着客户的埋怨，道了歉，保证会把问题解决。
让和祖父在一家小酒馆停下用咖啡。
在他们的邻桌，侍者想请一位客人移一下椅子以便腾出点位置。那个男人破口大骂，拒绝挪动。
“别忘记你今天看见的，”让的祖父说道，“鞋匠接受了批评，而我们旁边的男人动都不肯动。”
“有用的人，做着有用的事，他们不怕被当作一无是处。”
“而无用的人经常自以为是，将他们的无能隐藏在优越感背后。”
Jean was walking with his grandfather through a public square in Paris. At a certain point, he saw a shoemaker being mistreated by a client, whose footwear showed a flaw. The shoemaker listened calmly to the complaint and apologized, promising to correct the error.
Jean and his grandfather stopped to have coffee at a bistro.
At the table next to them, the waiter asked a man to move his chair a little in order to make space. That man burst into a torrent of complaints and refused to move.
“Never forget what you have seen today,” Jean’s grandfather said, “the shoemaker accepted the complaint, while this man next to us didn’t want to move.
“Useful men, who do useful things, don’t mind being treated as useless.
“But the useless always judge themselve s as being important and hide all their incompetence behind authority.”
错误的礼物10 second reading: the wrong gift
我的一个朋友Miie T.——她曾是一位经济学家——决定抛弃一切，致力于学画。
她用了好几年去寻找合适的老师，直到她在西藏遇到了一位精通微型画的女人。Miie离开日本前往西藏山区，和这位一贫如洗的老师住在了一起，学习手艺。
第一年结束后，Miie回日本过了几天，然后带着满满几箱的礼物又回到西藏。她的老师看见她带来的东西，竟然大哭起来，并叫Miie不要再进她的家门了。她说：
“在你回日本之前，我们的关系是关爱和平等的。你的头上有一片瓦，有足够吃的，还能画画。现在你带了这些礼物给我，就等于在我们之间划分了社会阶级。一旦有这个区别存在，我们之间就不会有理解和奉献了。”
A friend of mine, Miie T. decided to abandon everything she knew —she was an economist — in order to dedicate herself to painting.
For years she sought an adequate master until she met a woman who lived in Tibet and specialized in miniatures.
Miie left Japan and went to the Tibetan mountains and moved in with the teacher, who was extremely poor, to learn what she needed to learn.
At the end of the first year, Miie returned to Japan for a couple of days and returned to Tibet with suitcases filled with gifts.
When her teacher saw what she had brought, she began to cry and asked Miie not to come back to her home, saying,
“Before your trip, our relation was of equality and love. You had a roof, food and paints.
“Now, as you brought me these gifts, you have established a social difference between us.
“If this difference exists, there can’t be comprehension and surrendering.”
救了我命的那条鱼The fish who saved my life
有一次，纳斯尔丁经过一个山洞，看见一位瑜伽士在里面陷入沉思的样子，就问他想弄明白什么。瑜伽士说：
“我研究动物，在它们身上学到了许多可以改变人类一生的道理。”
“有一条鱼曾经救了我的命，”纳斯尔丁回答，“如果你能把知道的都教我，我就告诉你发生了什么。”
瑜伽士惊叹不已。只有圣人才会为鱼所救。他决定将将自己所知的倾囊相授给纳斯尔丁。
