足底生风，心怀高远
By Aaron A. Vessup
黄湘淇 注
Running. Running. Running! In my youth running was an absolute freedom I knew. Feeling the fresh early morning air rushing against my churning legs, arms, and speeding head. Sometimes I would close my eyes for a few seconds and pretend to be flying. My feet would barely touch the ground, and my body seemed to float on a breeze. This was my childhood delight growing up in southern California. Running on bare feet, my toes digging into the thick turf of a park's green grass, running to the nearby store on errands for my mother, wearing out my cheap shoes, or running to the school in fear of being late, this was a way of life. Jessie Owens, a Black man, had been called the fastest man on earth in the 50's during the Olympics. Later world-class speed demons were Bob Hayes, and then Carl Lewis. These were all Black men, and because of their speed feats, I dreamed that perhaps one day I could not only run but fly.
For some reason it was impossible to catch the school bus on most mornings. To arrive at school after the last bell rang would mean trouble. I had to run most mornings. If not, the teacher's red mark indicating tardiness would be placed beside my name. A sufficient number of these red marks allowed the teacher to lower my term grade from "Excellent" to "Good", or from "Satisfactory" to "Unsatisfactory". Even to arrive home from an errand taking over 15 minutes would warrant a wooden switch whipping for meandering. School grades lower than "Above Average" or "Outstanding" definitely meant a beating would be coming. However, running through the park was on my own time, and my choice. I felt free and unencumbered, my reward was the feeling of pleasing myself with the speed and quiet friendly caresses of nature's invisible hands. But this exercise did come with much sweat and physical exertion. There were many mornings when I sat in classrooms drenched in perspiration, my clothes wringing wet, while my classmates started their days fresh, clean, and dry.
Sometimes I dreamed to have wings on my feet. If this were possible perhaps I would not need to sweat so much. There also were times when floating between strides I felt as light as a feather, my small, thin body unable to keep contact with the earth beneath my feet. When sleeping I could maintain flight for long spans of time and distances. I could soar high effortless like a bird, swooping down to stop anyplace at any time. This was my freedom when I was asleep dreaming. Awake and laying on my back watching the clouds drift overhead, I tried thinking of ways that would allow me to join these nebulous images of vanishing figures.
In school I discovered strange stories. There was Icarus, the man with wings who flew too close to the sun. Then, Orville and Wilbur Wright, brothers whose invention of the airplane caused me to dream of flying my own solo plane. However, after the tragedy of Amelia Earhart's solo flight over the Pacific Ocean, such fantasy flying seemed impractical. Besides, I was informed that all air pilots were required to have perfect 20/20 vision. By then I was near-sighted, wearing thick lenses for eye glasses. My dreams of piloting my own airplane were dashed .
莱特兄弟制造出世界上第一架飞机
But this did not mean that I could not be a passenger and still fly anywhere around the globe. My first flight came when I was 16 years of age and purchased my own air tickets for flights from SB to LAX, and from LAX airport to San Francisco. Perhaps an added bonus to this excitement was the Helicopter ride from the nearby Orange Show grounds in San Bernardino to the airport in Los Angeles. After those minutes and short hours in flight, I was hooked on flying anywhere and everywhere, day or night. In flight I could cross mountains, and great bodies of water, see people, places, and worlds that I never knew to exist, or had only read about. There was no stopping me. I discovered being above the clouds the world is serene and splendiferous. The dark quietude, the glitter of millions of stars, the glorious light of sunrays, illuminates the soul unlike any other phenomenon. The smooth sailing in the jet-stream air currents, only at times interrupted by invisible ripples of cross-currents or "bad" weather.
Because of these things, the exciting prospect of adventures with speed and flight has stayed with me over the years. I have flown literally around the globe countless times from continents and countries. This all started with running and dreaming. Thanks to technological advances, I can now sit back and rest my feet, still arriving anywhere in the world without perspiring. "Up, up, and away!" All in my own personal beautiful balloon of dreams! No need to run, only flying with or against invisible winds.
