Perhaps every generation of 1)geezers since Adam and Eve has 2)whined about young people, and today is no different. Isn’t it clear that in contrast to our glorious selves, kids these days are 3)selfabsorbed Facebook 4)junkies just a 5)pixel deep?
　　No, actually that’s wrong at every level. This has been a depressing time to watch today’s “adults,”whose talent for self-absorption and political 6)paralysis makes it difficult to solve big problems. But many young people haven’t yet learned to be 7)cynical. They believe, in a wonderfully earnest way, in creating a better world.
　　In the midst of this 8)grim summer, my faith in humanity has been restored by the 9)saga of Rachel Beckwith. She could teach my generation a great deal about maturity and unselfishness—even though she’s just 9 years old, or was when she died on July 23, 2011.
　　Rachel lived outside Seattle, and early on showed a desire to give back. At age 5, she learned at school about an organization called 10)Locks of Love, which uses hair donations to make 11)wigs for children who have lost their own hair because of cancer or other diseases. Rachel then asked to have her long hair shorn off and sent to Locks of Love.
　　“She said she wanted to help the cancer kids,”her mother, Samantha Paul, told me. After the haircut, Rachel announced that she would grow her hair long again and donate it again after a few years to Locks of Love. And that’s what she did.
　　Then when she was 8 years old, her church began raising money to build wells in Africa through an organization called Charity: Water. Rachel was 12)aghast when she learned that other children had no clean water, so she asked to skip having a ninth birthday party. 13)In lieu of presents, she asked her friends to donate $9 each to Charity: Water for water projects in Africa.
　　Rachel’s ninth birthday was on June 12, and she had set up a birthday page on the Charity: Water Web site with a target of $300. Alas, Rachel was able to raise only $220—which had left her just a bit disappointed.
　　Then, on July 20, as Rachel was riding with her family on the highway, two trucks 14)collided and created a 13-car 15)pileup. Rachel’s car was hit by one of the trucks, and although the rest of her family was unhurt, Rachel was left critically injured.
　　Church members and friends, seeking some way of showing support, began donating on Rachel’s birthday page(charitywater.org/Rachel) and donations surged past her $300 goal, and kept mounting. As family and friends gathered around Rachel’s bedside, they were able to tell her—even not knowing whether she could hear them—that she had exceeded the $47,544 that the singer Justin Bieber had raised for Charity: Water on his 17th birthday.
　　“I think she secretly had a 16)crush on him, but she would never admit it,” her mom said. “I think she would have been 17)ecstatic.”
　　When it was clear that Rachel would never regain consciousness, the family decided to remove life support. Her parents donated her hair a final time to Locks of Love, and her organs to other children. Word spread about Rachel’s last fund-raiser.
　　Contributions poured in, often in $9 18)increments, although one 5-year-old girl sent in the savings in her piggy bank of $2.27. The total donations soon topped $100,000, then $300,000. Like others, I was moved and donated. As I write this, more than $850,000 has been raised from all over the world, including donations from Africans awed by a little American girl who cared about their continent.
　　“What has been so inspiring about Rachel is that she has taught the adults,” said Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity: Water. “Adults are 19)humbled by the unselfishness of this little girl.”
　　Yet this is a story not just of one girl, but of a generation of young people working creatively to make this a better world. Mr. Harrison is 20)emblematic of these young people. Now 35, he established Charity: Water when he was 30, and it has taken off partly because of his mastery of social media. (He’s not as experienced in welldrilling, so the wells are actually dug by expert groups like International Rescue Committee.)
　　Youth activism has a long history, but this 21)ethos of public service is on the ascent today—and today’s kids don’t just protest against injustices, as my 22)contemporaries did. Many are also remarkable problem-solvers.
　　As for Ms. Paul, she’s planning a trip on the anniversary of her daughter’s death next year to see some of the wells being drilled in Africa in her daughter’s name. “It’ll be overwhelming to see Rachel’s wells,” she said, “to see what my 9-year-old daughter has done for people all over the world, to meet the people she has touched.”
　　Rachel Beckwith: 23)R.I.P., and may my generation learn from yours.
　　也许自亚当和夏娃的时代以来，每一代的老家伙们都会对年轻人满腹牢骚，如今也不例外。难道还不够明显吗？与光辉优异的“我们”相比，如今的孩子们全都自私自大、沉迷于脸谱网且思想浅薄。
　　不对，实际上这种想法大错特错。如今的“大人们”，个个自私自利，政治无能，难当大任，看着就叫人沮丧。反而许多年轻人还没有学会愤世嫉俗。他们极其热忱地相信自己能够创造一个更加美好的世界。
　　在这个酷热的盛夏，瑞秋·贝克维兹的事迹让我对人性又重拾信心。她教会我们这代人更深刻地理解什么是成熟和无私——尽管她才九岁，或者说，在她于2011年7月23日去世时，年仅九岁。
　　瑞秋住在西雅图市郊，很小的时候就表现出乐于奉献的心愿。五岁那年，她在学校里得知一个名叫“爱之发”的组织，该组织将人们捐赠的头发制成假发，送给因患癌症或其他疾病而失去头发的孩子们。于是瑞秋要求剪掉自己的长发，捐给“爱之发”组织。
　　“她说她想帮助那些身患癌症的孩子们，”她的母亲萨曼莎·保罗告诉我。剪短头发以后，瑞秋宣布自己要再次蓄起长发，几年以后再次捐给“爱之发”组织。她真的说到做到。
　　后来在她八岁那年，她所属的教会开始筹集资金，通过一个名为“慈善之水”的组织为非洲挖掘水井。当得知其他孩子缺乏洁净用水时，瑞秋很是震惊，于是她要求取消自己的九岁生日派对。她不让朋友们送生日礼物，而是让他们每个人给“慈善之水”组织在非洲的水源工程捐款九美元。
　　6月12日是瑞秋的九岁生日，她在“慈善之水”的网站上建了一个生日网页，目标是募集300美元。可惜的是，瑞秋只筹集到220美元——这给她留下了些许遗憾。
　　7月20日，当瑞秋同其家人坐车行驶在高速公路上时，两辆卡车相撞，并造成了13辆车连环相撞。瑞秋家的车被其中一辆卡车撞上了，尽管其家人都未受伤，瑞秋却伤势严重。
　　她的教友和朋友们希望以某种方式表示支持，他们开始向瑞秋的生日网页（charitywater.org/Rachel）捐款，善款激增，超过了她300美元的目标，并持续攀升。当家人和朋友们围聚在瑞秋的病床边时，他们能够告诉她——即使不知道她是否能够听到他们说的话——她为“慈善之水”所筹集的款额已经超过了47544美元，即歌手贾斯丁·比伯17岁生日时所筹集到的数目。
　　“我想她一直偷偷喜欢他，但她从来都不承认，” 她母亲说，“我想她肯定乐坏了。”
　　当瑞秋显然再也无法恢复意识时，其家人决定移除她的生命维持装置。她的父母亲最后一次将她的头发捐给了“爱之发”，并将她的器官捐赠给了其他孩子。瑞秋生前最后的募捐事迹就此传开了。
　　捐款源源不断地涌来，通常每笔都是9美元，尽管其中有个5岁的小女孩将她储蓄罐里的2.27美元全部捐了出来。募款总额很快便超过了10万美元，接着是30万美元。和其他人一样，我也深受感动并捐了款。在我写下这篇文章之时，来自世界各地的捐款已经超过了85万美元，其中也有来自非洲朋友的捐款，他们也对这个心系他们家园的美国小女孩深表敬意。
　　“瑞秋最鼓舞人心之处在于，她给成年人上了一课，”“慈善之水”组织的创建人斯科特·哈里森说，“成年人在这个无私的小女孩面前自惭形秽。”
　　然而，这并不仅仅是一个小女孩的故事，而是一代年轻人如何充满创意地让这个世界更加美好的故事。哈里森先生便是这些年轻人的代表。现年35岁的他在其30岁那年创建了“慈善之水”组织，组织的发展与他对社交媒体的熟悉很有关系。（他对挖井并不在行，水井都是由来自国际救援委员会等组织的专家们开凿的。）
　　年轻人的行动主义由来已久，但这种热心公益服务的思潮如今正处于上升时期——而如今的孩子们并不只是抗议不平等现象（像我这辈人曾经所做的那样），许多人也是解决问题的高手。
　　至于保罗女士，她正打算在其女儿去世一周年祭时前往非洲，亲眼看看那些正在挖掘的以其女儿的名字命名的水井。“去看瑞秋的水井，这是会让我情不自胜的一刻，”她说，“去看看我九岁的女儿为全世界的人们做了些什么，去见见那些被她感动过的人。”
　　瑞秋·贝克维兹，愿你安息，愿吾辈能向汝辈学习。