主啊！求你塑造我的兒子，
使他夠堅強到能認識自己的軟弱；夠勇敢到能面對懼怕；
在誠實的失敗中，毫不氣餒；在勝利中，仍保持謙遜溫和。
懇求塑造我的兒子，不至空有幻想而缺乏行動；
引導他認識你，同時又知道，認識自己乃是真知識的基石。
我祈禱，
願你引導他不求安逸、舒適，相反的，經過壓力、艱難和挑戰，
學習在風暴中挺身站立，學會憐恤那些在重壓之下失敗的人。
求你塑造我的兒子，
心地清潔，目標遠大；
使他在指揮別人之前，先懂得駕馭自己；
永不忘記過去的教訓，又能伸展入未來的理想。
當他擁有以上的一切，我還要禱求，賜他足夠的幽默感，
使他能認真嚴肅，卻不致過分苛求自己。
懇求賜他謙卑，使他永遠記牢，真偉大中的平凡，真智慧中的開明，真勇力中的溫柔。
如此，我這作父親的，才敢低聲說：「我沒有虛度此生。」
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A Father's Prayer
by General Douglas MacArthur
Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when
he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid;
one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and
humble and gentle in victory.
Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone
should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is
the foundation stone of knowledge.
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the
stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to
stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who
fail.
Build me a son whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high;
a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men;
one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who
will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of
humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself
too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember
the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the
meekness of true strength.
Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, "I have not lived in vain".
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