Life Is to Be Whole
人生在于完整
Once a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or to talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.從前,有一只圓圈缺少了一塊楔子。圓圈想要保持完整,于是四處尋找失去的那塊楔子??墒?,由于它不完整,所以只能很饅地滾動。一路上,它對花兒露出羨慕之色。它與蠕蟲 談天說地。它還享受到了陽光之美。圓圈找到了很多不同的配 件,可是沒有一件能夠完美地與其相配。所以,它將它們?nèi)織?置路邊,繼續(xù)尋找。終于有一天,它找到了一個完美的配件。圓 圈是那樣軎出望外。既然它已經(jīng)成為了一個完整的圓圈,所以 滾動得非???快得以至于無暇觀賞花兒,也無暇與蠕蟲傾訴心 聲。圓圈飛奔急騁,發(fā)覺眼中的世界變得如此不同,于是,它禁 不住停了下來,將找到的那個配件留在路旁,又開始了慢慢地滾 動。
The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.我認為這個故事告訴我們,從某種奇妙的意義上說,當我們 失去一些東西的時候反而感到更加完整。一"擁有一切的人其 實在某些方面是一個貧窮的人。他永遠也體會不到什么是渴 望、期待以及對美好夢想的感悟。他也永遠不會有這樣一種體 驗:一個愛他的人送給他某種他夢寐以求的或者從未擁有過的 東西意味什么。
There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, who can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.人生的完整性在于一個人知道如何去面對他的缺陷,如何 勇敢地放棄那些不現(xiàn)實的幻想而且又不以此為缺憾。人生的完 整性還在于一個男人或者女人懂得這樣一個道理:他(她)發(fā)現(xiàn) 自己能夠勇敢面對人生悲劇而繼續(xù)生存,能夠在失去親人之后 依然表現(xiàn)出一個完整的人的風范。
Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many words you've gotten right, you're disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one-third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose.人生不是上帝為譴責我們的缺陷而給我們設下的陷阱。人 生也不是一場拼字游戲淘汰賽。無論你拼出多少單詞,一旦出 現(xiàn)了一個錯誤,你便前功盡棄。人生更像是一個棒球賽季。即 使最好的球隊比賽也會輸?shù)?/3,而最差的球隊也有舂風得意 的曰子。我們的目標就是多贏球,少輸球。
When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us - not "Be perfect", not "Don't even make a mistake", but "Be whole".我們接受了不完整性是人類本性的一部分,我們不斷地進行人生滾動并能夠意識到其價值,我們便會完成完整人生的過 程。而對于別人來說,這只能是一個夢想。我相信這就是上帝 對于我們的要求:不求“完美”,也不求“永不犯錯”,而是求得人 生的“完整”。
If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.假如我們勇敢得能夠去愛,堅強得能夠去寬恕,大度得能夠 去分享他人的幸福,明智得能夠理解身邊充滿著愛,那么我們就 能取得其他生物所不能取得的成就。