A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming back home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.
“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve favor to ask. I have a friend and I’d like to bring him home with me.”
“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”
“There’s something you should know,” the son continued. “He was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine (地雷) and lost a(n) arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to live with us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere else to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”
“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue (太平间) to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know – their son had only one arm and one leg.

这是一个关于从越南战场回来的美军士兵的故事，他在旧金山打电话给他的父母：“爸爸、妈妈，我回来了，我想问一下，我有一个朋友，我想把他带回家和我们一起生活”，“真的吗，我们很高兴见到他”他的父母回答到，他继续说到：“有些事情你们应该知道，他在战斗中负了伤，他踩到了地雷，炸断了一只胳膊、一条腿，他无处可去，我想要他和我们一起生活”。“我们很难过听到这个事情，或许我们可以帮助他找个地方生活”他的父母说，“不，妈妈，爸爸，我想他和我们一起生活”，“孩子，你知道你在说什么吗，要一个残废人和我们生活，是很大的累赘，我们有自己的生活，我们不希望他影响到我们的生活，我们希望你赶快回来，忘记那个家伙，他会找到适合他自己的生活”，这个时候，儿子把电话挂了，他的父母在没有听到任何更多关于他的事情了，一些天后，他们接到警察局打来的电话说他们的儿子跳楼身亡，警察确认是自杀，他们带着极度悲痛飞往旧金山，，在太平间里认出儿子的尸体，使他们震惊的是一只胳膊、一条腿的人就是他们的儿子