The CakeCindy glanced nervously at the clock on the kitchen wall. Five minutes before midnight.“They should be home any time now,” she thought as she put the finishing touches on the chocolate cake she was frosting. It was the first time in her 12 years she had tried to make a cake from scratch, and to be honest, it wasnt exactly an aesthetic triumph. The cake waswell, lumpy. And the frosting was bitter, as if she had run out of sugar or something, which, of course, she had.And then there was the way the kitchen looked. Imagine a huge blender filled with all the fixings for chocolate cake- including the requisite bowls, pans and utensils. Now imagine that the blender is turned on. High speed. With the lid off. Do you get the idea?But Cindy wasnt thinking about the mess. She had created something, a veritable phoenix of flour and sugar rising out of the kitchen clutter. She was anxious for her parents to return home from their date so she could present her anniversary gift to them. She turned off the kitchen lights and waited excitedly in the darkness. When at last she saw the flash of the car headlights, she positioned herself in the kitchen doorway. By the time she heard the key sliding into the front door, she was THIS CLOSE to expolding.Her parents tried to slip in quietly, but Cindy would have none of that. She flipped on the lights dramatically and trumpeted: ”Ta-daaa!” she gestured grandly toward the kitchen table, where a slightly off-balance two-layer chocolate cake awaited their inspection.But her mothers eyes never made it all the way to the table. “Just look at this mess !” she moaned. “How many times have I talked to you about cleaning up after yourself?”“But Mom, I was only”“I should make you clean this up right now, but Im too tired to stay up with you to make sure you get it done right,” her mother said. “So youll do it first thing in the morning.”“Honey,” Cindys father interjected gently, “take a look at the table.”“I know- its a mess ,” his wife said coldly, “The whole kitchen is a disaster, I cant stand to look at it.” She stormed up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.For a few moments Cindy and her father stood silently, neither one knowing what to say. At last she looked up at him, her eyes moist and red, “She never saw the cake,” she said.Unfortunately, Cindys mother isnt the only parent who suffers from Situational Timbercular Glaucoma the occasional inability to see the forest for the trees. From time to time we all allow ourselves to be blinded to issues of long-term significance by stuff that seems awfully important right now, but isnt. Muddy shoes, lost lunch money and messy kitchens ars troublesome, and they deserve their place among lifes frustrations. But whats little mud even on new carpet- compared to childs self-esteem? Is a lost dollar more valuable than a youngsters emerging dignity? And while kitchen santation is important, is it worth the sacrifice of tender feelings and relationships?Im not saying that our children dont need to learn responsibility, or to occasionally suffer the painful consequences of their own bad choices. Those lesson are vital, and need to be carefully taught. But as parents, we must never forget that were not just teaching lessons- were teaching children. That means there are times when we really need to see the mess in the kitchen, and times when we only need to see the cake.譯文：蛋糕辛迪緊張地瞥了一眼廚房墻上的鐘表。還差5分鐘就是午夜了。“他們現在應該快回家了”，她心里一邊想著，一邊把做好的裝點物放在她覆上糖霜的巧克力蛋糕上。這是她12年來第一次嘗試自己從零開始動手做蛋糕，而且坦誠的說，從美學觀點看，蛋糕做得并不十分成功。這蛋糕有點，粗笨的，而且覆的糖霜味有點苦，好像她的糖都用光了，確實，她已經用光了。當時廚房看起來是這樣的。想像一下一個填滿了各種巧克力蛋糕配料的巨大的食物攪拌器包括必備的碗，盤子，和其他器皿。現在再想像一下，這個食物攪拌器啟動了，高速運轉著，還沒有蓋蓋子。你弄明白了嗎？但是辛迪并沒有考慮這種雜亂的狀況。她創造出了什么東西，一只由面粉和糖制成的名副其實鳳凰從廚房里一堆雜亂的東西中高聳出來。她焦慮不安地等待她父母約會回來，然后她就可以把這個周年紀念日的禮物送給父母。她關掉了廚房的燈，然后在黑暗中激動地等待著。終于，她看到汽車頭燈在閃，她站到了廚房門口。當聽到鑰匙插進門鎖的聲音時，她的心幾乎要蹦出來了！她的父母試圖悄悄地進來，但是辛迪可不想這樣。她按下燈開關，吹響小喇叭：“噠噠噠！”她朝廚房桌子驕傲地做了一個手勢，桌子上擺著一個稍微不太平衡的二層巧克力蛋糕，它在待候著父母的檢查。但是她媽媽的眼睛根本沒往桌子上看。“看你弄得這一團糟！”媽媽抱怨說。“我跟你說過多少次了要自己打掃干凈！”“但是，媽媽，我只是”“我本應該要你現在就把這里清理干凈，但是我很累了，不能和你熬夜來確保你把它弄好，”媽媽說，“所以你明天一早第一件事就是打掃這里。”“親愛的，”辛迪的爸爸溫和地插了句話，“看一下桌子上。”“我知道一團亂，”他妻子冷冷地說道。“整個廚房就像是一場災難。我不能忍受看到這樣。”她氣呼呼地走上樓，然后進了她的房間，砰的一聲關上了門。辛迪和她爸爸靜靜地站了幾分鐘，他倆誰也不知道該說什么。最終，她抬頭看了看爸爸，她雙眼微濕還有點紅。“她一眼也沒看看這蛋糕，”辛迪說。不幸的是，并不是只有辛迪的媽媽患有情境結核性青光眼即偶然會只見樹木不見森林。由于那些眼下貌似極其重要但并非重要的事情，我們有時會對具有長遠意義的事情視而不見。弄臟的鞋子，丟了的午飯錢，凌亂的廚房，這些都是令人煩惱的，它們也確實在人生中令人沮喪的事情中占有一席之地。但是