丹尼斯·E.曼纳林/
“unpardonable.”Igavetheclasshomework!’tsharedthosewordswithforalongtime.
Nowthatdoesn’tsoundlikeaverytoughassignment, .
Atthebeginningofournextclass, , aswasusuallythecase, .
Asheunfoldedoutofhischair, hebeganbysaying,Dennis, ’tfeelthatIhadanyonetosaythosewordsto, andbesides, whowereyoutotellmetodosomethingthatpersonal?‘Iloveyou’, fiveyearsago, , , lastTuesdaybythetimeIgothomeIhadconvincedmyselfIwasgoingtotellmyfatherIlovedhim.“It’sweird, butjustmakingthatdecisionseemedtoliftaheavyloadoffmychest.”
“WhenIgothome, , , shedidn’tjustgetoutofbed, shecatapultedoutandhuggedme, !”
“.”
“Itwas9：, Ijustsaid,‘Dad, canIcomeoverafterworktonight?Ihavesomethingtotellyou.‘Mydadrespondedwithagrumpy,‘Forwhat?’Iassuredhimitwouldn’ttakelong, sohefinanyagreed.”
“It’s5：30，Iwasatmyparents’houseringingthedoorbell, , Daddidanswerthedoor.”
“Ididn’,‘Dad, IjustcameovertotellyouthatIloveyou.’, ,‘Iloveyoutoo, son, butI’veneverbeenabletosayit.’”
“ItwassuchapreciousmomentIdidn’’tfeltthatgreatinalongtime.”
“Butthat’, mydad, whohadheartproblems, butdidn’ttellme, hadanattackandendedupinthehospital, ’tknowifhe’llmakeit.”
“Mymessagetoallofyouinthisis:Don’?”
“MaybeIwillnevergetthechanceagain!Takethetimetodowhatyouneedtodoanddoitnow!”
我在一个成人班里教书。最近，我做了一件“不可饶恕”的事情。我给学生们布置了作业，要求他们在下周之内到他们所爱的人家中去，并对他们所爱的人说“我爱你”。他们所要诉说的对象必须是他先前没有对其说过这三个字的人，或者至少是好长时间没有说过的。
这些学生都是35岁以上的成年人，而且是受过不鼓励表达情感教育的一代。在你意识到这些之前，你会认为这项工作听上去并不难做。然而，在他们先前的教育中，流露情感或落泪都是不可以做的事情，那么说出这三个字，对于某些人来说，将是一个极其艰巨的任务。
