廿岁孩兒的老妈子一一情怀和蛻變

廿岁孩兒的老妈子一一情怀和蛻變

 

整场追悼会，身为廿岁孩兒的老妈子哽咽了…… 电台那头，傳來 Jon Meacham （老布什的傳記作者）的声音，再次述說1944年9月2日那難忘的一幕：当天，廿岁的老布什在飞机已经着火的情况下，勇敢果断的继续执行轰炸日本的任务，並協助两位战友先跳傘，最后他自己才跳。当时情况比想象还糟糕：跳傘时，风把年青老布什往後吹，他的头部撞到机尾受重伤，整个人垂直往大海冲去 …… 任何有廿岁孩子的老妈子，任何时候听到这段，相信都会情不自禁地眼眶泛淚…… “All babies are your baby” 只有做了母亲后才能深切体会.....猶太人有句諺語説一一一一上帝不能無處不在，因此他創造了母親。 

 

 有人説看老布什廿岁的军人照片，看起来像十六岁。廿岁，真的好年幼！好年幼的一个年纪！人生才刚开始！廿岁，跟我的孩子一样大！廿岁，战场上，廿岁的战士：敌方的廿岁…… 我方的廿岁…… 为何让年幼无辜的廿岁孩子互相撕杀！ 为何战争如此如此如此残忍！！！一股神奇無法阻擋的力量讓所有做母亲的人关心人类的將來比關心自己的一切更強烈……

 

雖然得以存活，老布什没有停止过为痛失战友而内心嘶喊！也沒有停止過思考活下來的目的！直到有一天，他觉得活着不該只為看着傷疤洒泪，而是要用這傷疤去为别人做有意义的事。從此以後，更堅定了他为国家做公僕的意志！是誰賦于老布什這股正能量？『老布什受母亲（ Dorothy Walker Bush ）的影响是父亲的十倍』… 了解他的莫过於结婚70多載的发妻 （ Barbara Bush )。富裕的母亲忍痛不溺愛孩子，從小灌輸孩子忠诚和战勝自我，以身作則，服务人群抑制狂傲。女人固然是脆弱的，母親卻是堅強的。 —— 法國諺語

 

當天，年青老布什的任務就是炸掉日本的 radio tower 一一 這个塔，蹂躏了数不尽的中国人：男的、女的、老的、莊的、年青的、年幼的、還有还在母亲肚子里的…… 雖然，這一场战争已经成为可恥的人类历史，代价可卻是沉重得超出能承受的！回想這一幕，老媽子又再次哽咽！做為孕育生命的母親，怎能容忍生命被如此邪惡糟蹋？

 

老布什的離别，喚起了旧时代的回忆。他带走了一個时代，把云彩留下。多少人的牺牲，多少人的努力，留下了今天这一片沒有轰炸机的晴天和幸福 一一一一 時代堆積的幸福！

 

…………

悄悄的我走了， 
正如我悄悄的來； 
我揮一揮衣袖， 
不帶走一片雲彩。

＜再別康橋 徐志摩＞

 

 

備註：

節録部分：The text of Meacham’s speech （washingtonpost.com)

 

The story was almost over even before it had fully begun. Shortly after dawn on Saturday, Sept. 2, 1944, Lieutenant Junior Grade George Herbert Walker Bush, joined by two crew mates, took off from the USS San Jacinto to attack a radio tower on Chichijima. As they approached the target, the air was heavy with flak. The plane was hit. Smoke filled the cockpit; flames raced across the wings. “My god,” Lieutenant Bush thought, “this thing’s gonna go down.” Yet he kept the plane in its 35-degree dive, dropped his bombs, and then roared off out to sea, telling his crew mates to hit the silk. Following protocol, Lieutenant Bush turned the plane so they could bail out.

Only then did Bush parachute from the cockpit. The wind propelled him backward, and he gashed his head on the tail of the plane as he flew through the sky. He plunged deep into the ocean, bobbed to the surface, and flopped onto a tiny raft. His head bleeding, his eyes burning, his mouth and throat raw from salt water, the future 41st president of the United States was alone. Sensing that his men had not made it, he was overcome. He felt the weight of responsibility as a nearly physical burden. And he wept. Then, at four minutes shy of noon, a submarine emerged to rescue the downed pilot. George Herbert Walker Bush was safe. The story, his story and ours, would go on by God’s grace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/05/george-hw-bush-got-hear-his-own-eulogy-before-he-died-his-reaction-was-priceless/?noredirect=on

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/20/obituaries/dorothy-w-bush-mother-of-president-dies-at-91.html