Fifteen years ago, my mother taught politics at the local middle school. She loves to teach people and tell them about what is really happening in the world. She takes everything very seriously; she is so strict that both her students and their parents were nervous around her.
One day, my mother and I stopped by our relatives’ house to borrow some money and then went home. To save money, we chose to walk along the side roads instead of taking the bus.
We walked in a hurry; neither of us spoke. When I was crossing a small bridge, my right shoe fell off. After I had retrieved my shoe and put it on, I looked around. It had gotten dark, and the words of my relatives sounded again in my ear: “There are dangerous people on the roads during the last months of the year; don’t go back tonight.” My mother, however, was sure that we would be all right.
It was a relief that we had been able to borrow the money. When we left our relatives’ house, my mother had smiled at me and promised to buy my sisters and I half a pound of chocolate the next day.
We were half an hour from home when it happened. With a fierce “Stop right there,” two men came out of the darkness and blocked our way like a pair of mountains.
I shivered in fright and reached out to hold my mother’s hand. My mother pinched my palm and gently said: “Do not be afraid; I am here.”
Each man was carrying a club; I couldn’t make out their faces in the darkness. I simply assumed that they wanted to kill us. I knew that we should run, but I also knew that a woman and a girl would never be able to outrun two strong men.
Mother looked down at me; her face was perfectly calm. After a terrible silence, the man on the right said: “I just want money.”
He seemed to be as tense as I was; I heard a tremor in his voice. My mother said nothing.
The man continued, “We really don’t want to hurt you; we can’t help it. We worked hard all year, but our boss ran away with our money. We need to take money home to our families before the New Year. At least you city people make more money than we do; it won’t hurt you as much if you give us something.”
The robber spoke in earnest, but this did not change the fact that he was still carrying a club. I know very well that if we made a mistake, we would be hurt. After a moment, my mother sighed and took out the blue handkerchief from her pocket, where the 200 yuan we had borrowed was wrapped. I think they were four brand-new bills, fifty dollars each.
The man saw the money and held out his free hand for it. “Wait,” said my mother, moving the money closer to her chest, “you can’t take this money.” The man’s hand froze in mid-air.
“If you take my money today, no matter how much you need it, you will have committed a crime. Not only does the law condemn you, but you will never forgive yourself for your SINS in your hearts.”
Why would she say this now? It was strange that my mother should start teaching this lesson at this time.
She calmly said, “I will write an IOU for you now. This way, no matter how long it takes for you to pay back the money, whether it is 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, or never, just remember, you didn’t rob me today. You borrowed my money. I hope you will not rob other people of their money in the future.”
With that, my mother took a pen and paper from her pocket and carefully wrote an IOU despite the lack of light. She put the money and the note in the man’s hand and said:
“It has my name and address on it, and as for your names, you can fill them out yourselves when you get home!”
The would-be bandits had probably never encountered anything like it. They froze for a moment, looked at each other, and did not say anything; they just took the money and the IOU and ran.
I didn’t say a word the rest of the way home. I was so disappointed that my mother would write the stupidest IOU in the world to two robbers with clubs.
That Spring Festival, although my mother still bought us chocolate, I was very sad. I was still having trouble getting over the events of that night, and thought that my mother had fallen short of her usual bravery.
And then one day, two years later, my mother came home from school with a money order in her hand. The amount on it was $1,000.
The sender’s name was unfamiliar, but the postscript read: “Thank you for keeping us on the right track.”
The IOU that my mother wrote changed the lives of two people. She is probably the best teacher of politics in the world.
If you cultivate good and accumulate virtue, you can inspire others to follow your example.
-If you ensure that it is never too late for others to turn away from criminal habits, God will ensure that the same consideration is extended to you.
The original Chinese article is from https://www.cmoney.tw/forum/article/157459285.
母親的借據
母親在中學教政治，愛教訓人，愛板著臉講大道理，不僅學生怕她念緊箍咒，連家長也怵她。
那是15年前的事了。那天，我和母親從親戚家借了錢後回家。為省下坐車的錢，我們選擇走小路。
我們急匆匆地走著，誰都不說一句話。在過一個小橋時，我右腳的鞋子掉了下來。藉著穿鞋的工夫，我看看四周，天已全黑，耳邊再次響起親戚的話：“年底治安亂，今晚別趕回去了。”但母親謝絕了親戚的好意。借到錢，我們還是很高興的。從親戚家出來，母親笑著說：“想吃巧克力嗎？我明天給你姐倆稱半斤。”
那件事發生時，我們離家還有半小時路程。一聲兇巴巴的“站住別動”，兩個男人像山一樣堵住我們的路。
我哆哆嗦嗦拽住母親的手，母親捏捏我的手心，輕輕說：“不怕，有媽媽。”
那是兩個男人，每人手裡拿著一根很粗的棍子。夜色中，我看不清他們的表情。我想當然地以為他們臉上殺氣騰騰。
我知道我們該跑，可我也清楚，一大一小兩個女人無論如何都跑不過兩個身強力壯的男人。我急得要命，
母親卻低頭望瞭望我，她神色平靜，面色從容。可怕的沉默之後，右邊的男人說話了：“我只想要錢。”
他似乎不比我們輕鬆，我捕捉到他話音裡的顫抖。母親沒吭聲。
男人繼續說道：“我們真不想傷害你們，我們也沒辦法。辛辛苦苦打工一年，老闆帶錢跑了，我們必須拿錢回家過年,你們城里人好歹比我們容易些。”
說話的人語氣倒老實，可他的棍子凶神惡煞般戳在那裡。我很清楚，此時稍有不慎，我們就會受到傷害。對峙片刻，母親忽然嘆氣，從口袋裡拿出藍色手絹，手絹裡包裹的是藉來的200元錢。我記得那是4張嶄新的票子，每張面額50元。
男人看到錢，自然地伸出他空著的手。“慢，”母親把錢往懷裡一縮，“這錢不能讓你們搶走。”那人的手愣在半空。
“如果今天你們搶了我的錢，不管數額多少，你們都是犯了罪的。我知道你們有難言之隱，可法律不管那麼多，
不光法律判你們的罪，就是你們自己內心，一輩子也不會原諒自己的罪。”
幹什麼？這個時候母親竟講起課來，這實在出乎我的意料。
她不慌不忙地說：“我現在寫張借條，不管你們多久還錢，5年也好，10年、20年也好，甚至你們沒錢還也好，只要記住，
今天你們沒有搶，你們是借我的錢。我希望，你們以後也不要搶別人的錢。”
說完，母親從口袋裡摸出紙筆，在黑暗中憑感覺寫了張借據。她把錢和借據一起放到那人手裡：
“上面有我的名字和地址，至於你們的名字，回去後你們自己填吧！”
這樣匪夷所思的事情，歹徒大概也從未遇到過，他們愣了片刻，互相看看，什麼也沒說就拿上錢和借據跑了。
餘下的路程，我一句話都沒說。我失望極了，我的母親居然向兩個手拿棍棒的劫匪寫下世間最愚蠢的借據。
那個春節，儘管母親還是給我們買了巧克力，可我心裡很難過。關於那張愚蠢的借據，我始終無法釋懷，
我想，這絕對不是母親平日嘴裡所說的勇敢。
兩年後的一天，母親從學校下班回家，她手裡拿著一張匯款單，上面的數額是1000塊錢，匯款人的名字卻是陌生的，附言欄上寫著：“謝謝您沒讓我們走錯路。”
那張母親寫下的借據，改變了兩個人的命運。這位令人敬佩的母親可能是世界上最優秀的政治老師了。
面對歹徒，她是那麼地鎮定、慈悲和智慧！她救兩人於罪惡之門，並感化他們懺悔、向善，實在是功德無量。
修善積德就在這平日待人接物、起心動念之處吧。
～留一條路給別人就是留給自己～
中文原文來自https://www.cmoney.tw/forum/article/157459285.
