Roll Away the Stone
？珀尔·巴克 / Pearl Buck
I enjoy life because I am endlessly interested in people and their growth. My interest leads me continually to widen my knowledge of people， and this in turn compels me to believe that the normal human heart is born good. That is， it is born sensitive and feeling， eager to be approved and to approve， hungry for simple happiness and the chance to live. It neither wishes to be killed nor to kill. If through circumstances it is overcome by evil， it never becomes entirely evil. There remain in it elements of good， however recessive， which continue to hold the possibility of restoration.
I believe in human beings but my faith is without sentimentality. I know that in environments of uncertainty， fear and hunger， the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it， just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition. Only when the stone is removed can it spring up freely into the light. But the power to spring up is inherent， and only death puts an end to it.
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings. Like Confucius of old， I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life. If there is no other life， then this one has been enough to make it worth being born， myself a human being.
With so profound a faith in the human heart and its power to grow toward the light， I find here reason and cause enough for hope and confidence in the future of mankind. The common sense of people will surely prove to them someday that mutual support and co-operation are only sensible for the security and happiness of all.
Such faith keeps me continually ready and purposeful with energy to do what one person can toward shaping the environment in which the human being can grow with freedom. This environment， I believe， is based upon the necessity for security and friendship.