When I was a boy our extended, immigrant family would sometimes gather together at my Great Aunt’s tiny house over the summer.

当我还是一个小男孩的时候，我们那个人丁兴旺的移民家族常常来曾姨母的小房子里欢聚消暑。

Relatives from all over the country would come in to visit.

来自全国各地的亲戚都会在这里聚集。

The adults would crowd together in the living room, around the kitchen table, and on the front porch¹ to talk and catch up on each other’s lives.

长辈们会聚在客厅里，围坐在餐厅的桌子边，或者排排站正在门廊边，闲话家常，了解彼此最近的生活状况。

All of us kids would be sent out into the front yard to play while dinner would slowly cook for all of us.

而我们这些孩子会被送到屋前的庭院里去玩耍，与此同时，大人们为大家精心烹饪晚餐。

Those were the days before video games, smart phones, and motorized toys,那是电子游戏，智能手机和电动玩具尚未诞生的时代so we often ended up playing a good old-fashioned game of tag.

最后我们常常只能玩一场传统的追跑游戏。

I remember one of those times especially.

有一场游戏让我尤其记忆深刻

I was the youngest and smallest of all the kids there在同辈的孩子中，我是最晚出生，身形最矮小的一个so I got caught first and couldn’t catch anyone else.

所以我第一个被抓到了，由我当“鬼”的时候，却谁也抓不着As hard as I chased after my brothers and cousins尽管我用尽力气追着哥哥们和表兄表姐们狂跑

they were all too fast for me.

他们全都比我跑得快多了

I grew more and more frustrated² .

我感到越来越沮丧

I finally lunged at one of my brothers

最后我朝一个哥哥猛冲过去

and fell face first into the dirt.

脸朝下跌倒在泥地里

I got up with tears forming in my eyes.

我爬起来，眼中噙满泪水

Then I saw one of my female cousins standing³ there.

这时，我看见一个堂姐站在那里看着我

She started to run but was going much slower than before.

她开始跑起来，但是比往常慢得多

I easily caught up and tagged her.

我很轻易的抓住了她，又她来当“鬼”了。

Then she turned to me, smiled, and said,

她转过脸来冲我微笑，然后说道，

“I’m it! You’d better run!”

“我来当‘鬼’，你最好快跑！”

I ran off laughing with glee

我感到满心欢喜，大笑着跑开了

while she turned and started to chase one of my older brothers.

堂姐转过身，开始朝我的一个哥哥追过去

I see now how her act of kindness that day saved me from sadness and returned me to joy.

直到现在我才懂得，那天她充满善意的举动抚慰了我的沮丧，让我转忧为喜It didn’t matter that we hardly ever saw each other.

后来我们很少再见到对方了，但这没关系

We were family and she loved me.

我们是亲人，她爱着我。

We are all one, we all belong to each other, we are one big, beautiful family.

我们所有人都是属于一个整体，我们属于彼此，我们都是庞大的，幸福的大家庭的一员Perhaps it is time that we all started to treat each other that way.

或许现在是时候，我们开始用这种态度对待彼此

Perhaps it is time that we shared our love, our kindness, our laughter, and our joy with everyone without fear.

或许现在是时候，我们开始坦然无畏的分享彼此的爱，善良，欢笑和喜悦。

Perhaps it is time to finally and forever bring this world together in one, big, family reunion .

经过分歧和坎坷，或许现在是时候，最终让这个世界组成一个大家族，直至永远。