一个人的一生不会是一帆风顺的，必定会有一些曲曲折折、沟沟坎坎。不管你经历了惊涛骇浪，还是小小的考验，只要活下来就是幸运的，离幸福也只有一步之遥。带着一颗感恩的心，去生活、去与人交往，坚持自己心中的梦想与承诺，就定能为他人带去一点快乐、给自己心灵一丝安慰、体现自身的一种独特价值。

I had my first chocolate bar at five years old. I’ll never forget the delicious, comforting taste. But the circumstances were anything but sweet. It was World War Ⅱ. I lived with my family in the Lithuanian town of Taurage when the Russian army swept west toward Nazi¹ Germany. Many people in our village fled in panic1. In the confusion, I stood with my twelveyearold sister Elyte, and my threeyearold brother Joseph, near the railroad station, where a train bound for Germany waited. Only families were allowed to board the train. Just before departure, a woman traveling alone approached us. “I’ll take care of him,” she told Elyte, and pulled me onto the train as it left the station. The entire trip I cried for my Motina, my mother.

We arrived in Hamburg. Corpses² littered the bombedout streets. Now that the woman had escaped Taurage she had no more use for me. I lived on the streets, like thousands of other children in that wartorn city. I survived by stealing food. Still, there was never enough. I was skin and bones, close to starving. Then the American occupation troops arrived. They looked so big and healthy. Filching³ food from them was a cinch2. I’d slip into the mess hall, hide under a table and make off with loaves of fresh bread.

One afternoon as I lurked⁴ around a mess tent in search of food, a huge hand lifted me up by the collar. An American soldier. “Got ya！” He shouted. I was scared, and I could see it upset him. “It’s okay, kid,” he said. He reached into his fatigue⁵ jacket and handed me a chocolate bar. “Here, have some of this.” I unwrapped it and took a small bite. I thought I’d gone to heaven. The soldier took me and some other homeless children to an orphanage3 run by the Red Cross. Four years later I was transferred to an orphanage⁶ in America. Soon after, a family who lived in Donaldson, Pennsylvania, adopted me. Again, as with that first taste of chocolate, it was as if I’d gone to heaven. Later, I joined the Army, then attended college under the GI Bill. Eventually I earned a master’s degree in clinical social work. God, I want to pay back all the people who were so good to me, I prayed. So in 1983 I went to work for the Department of Veteran Affairs as a clinical counselor⁷, treating veterans who suffer from posttraumatic4 stress syndrome5. The troubled soldiers sit in my office and wonder how I can possibly understand them or help ease their pain. “What do you know about living with terror？” Asked one Marine⁸, who still was tormented⁹ by the image of a platoon member being killed in a battle. That is when I tell them my story, and about the GI god sent to save my life. “I never did learn his name, but I remember his kindness,” I say. And then I open a drawer in my desk that is always full and offer them some chocolate.

5岁的时候，我吃到了生平第一块巧克力。它那甜美的味道、丝滑的感觉是我永远也不能忘记的。第二次世界大战期间，当俄军横扫西部向纳粹德国进军时，我们全家当时住在立陶宛的陶拉盖镇。镇上的很多村民都慌忙逃命去了。

混乱中，我与12岁的姐姐伊丽特和3岁的弟弟约瑟夫一起在火车站附近站着，那里有一趟开往德国的列车正准备出站。

那趟火车只允许携家带口的人上车。就在火车要出站的时候，一个单身的女人朝我们走来。“我会照看他的。”她对伊丽特说。在火车离开前她把我拉到了车上。整个旅途中，我都在哭喊着要妈妈。

最后，我们抵达汉堡。遭到轰炸的街道上尸体遍布。现在，那个女人已经逃离了陶拉盖，我便再也没有利用价值了。就像那个饱经战乱的城市中成千上万的其他孩子一样，我在街上过起了流浪的生活，靠偷东西来维持生存。我骨瘦如柴，快要饿死了。

后来，美军占领了汉堡。美国士兵看上去是那样高大、健康。从他们眼皮底下偷东西吃是很容易的事。我溜进脏乱的食堂，藏在一张桌子底下，然后带着新鲜的长条面包离开。

一天下午，为了寻找食物，我潜藏在一个肮脏的帐篷附近，这时有一只大手抓住我的衣领把我拎了起来。原来是一个美国士兵。“抓到你了！”他喊道。

我害怕极了，可以看出我的恐惧也令他局促不安。他说：“不要紧，孩子。”他把手伸到破旧的上衣口袋，递给我一块巧克力：“给你，尝一点儿吧。”我剥开巧克力，咬了一小口，那感觉就像进入了天堂。

这个士兵把我和其他一些无家可归的孩子送到孤儿院，是由红十字会组织成立的。4年后，我被转移到美国的一家孤儿院。随后，又被一家居于宾夕法尼亚州姓唐纳森的家庭领养。和第一次吃巧克力时的感觉一样，我仿佛进入了天堂。后来，我参了军，根据《美国退伍军人法案》上了大学，最后拿到了医院社会工作专业的硕士学位。我祈祷说，上帝啊，我要报答所有帮助过我的人。

于是，1983年，我到退伍军人事务处做了一名医务顾问，专门治疗那些患上战后紧张综合征的退伍军人。

患病的士兵们坐在我的办公室里，怀疑我怎么会理解他们，怎么能帮助他们减轻痛苦。“你知道生活在恐惧中的感觉吗？”一位海军士兵问我。在一场战役中，他们整整一个排的战士都死了，当时悲惨的场面至今还折磨着他。

每当这个时候，我都会告诉他们我的故事，讲述那位上帝派来营救我的美国士兵。

我说：“我从来都不知道他的名字。但我记住了他的大恩大德。”然后，我会打开办公桌上一个装满美味巧克力的抽屉，拿出巧克力来请他们品尝。