好與壞，都是一樣的：一個道家的在世寓言

好與壞，都是一樣的：一個道家的在世寓言

Of all the philosophies, axioms and pearls of wisdom I've amassed over the years, one comes up more than any other. It's the Taoist lesson of the relative nature of good and bad. It's efficiently illustrated by the 2.000-year-old story of the good (and bad) fortune that follows a farmer's loss of his horse.

在我多年來積累的所有哲學(xué)、公理和至理名言中，有一條最常被提及。這是道家關(guān)于好與壞的相對性的教訓(xùn)。2000年前，一個農(nóng)民失去了他的馬，他的好運氣(和壞運氣)的故事有效地說明了這一點。

We use the good-or-bad dichotomy to categorize nearly everything in our lives -- events, people, food, decisions, even world history. But the lesson of the story is that there is actually no such thing as good or bad. It's a false distinction and a trap that only causes psychic pain.

我們用“好與壞”的二分法來對生活中的幾乎所有事情進(jìn)行分類——事件、人物、食物、決定，甚至是世界歷史。但這個故事的教訓(xùn)是，實際上沒有好壞之分。這是一個錯誤的區(qū)分和陷阱，只會導(dǎo)致精神上的痛苦。

Good things are constantly being born out of the seemingly bad, and vice versa. Often, it seems, it's just a matter of time until an event or decision from one category leads directly to one in the other.

好的事物總是從看似壞的事物中誕生，反之亦然。通常情況下，似乎只是時間問題，直到一個類別的事件或決定直接導(dǎo)致另一個類別的事件或決定。

In the case of the farmer and his horse: first he loses his most valuable possession, then it returns bringing a dozen new horses with it, then his son breaks his leg while taming one of the new horses, and then the son is spared from being conscripted into the army because of the broken leg.

以農(nóng)夫和他的馬為例：首先他失去了他最寶貴的財產(chǎn)，然后它帶著十幾匹新馬回來，然后他的兒子在馴服其中一匹新馬的時候摔斷了腿，然后兒子因為摔斷了腿而免于被征召入伍。

The farmer, who neither celebrates nor decries these events. As he repeats in the story, "Who knows what's good or bad?"

農(nóng)夫既不慶祝也不譴責(zé)這些事件。正如他在故事中重復(fù)的那樣，“誰知道什么是好的還是壞的?”

Last week, as I watched and read about New Orleans 10 years after Katrina, it was impossible to miss a narrative: This is a city building toward a future that is an improvement over its past.

上周，當(dāng)我在觀看和閱讀有關(guān)卡特里娜颶風(fēng)過去10年后的新奧爾良的報道時，不可能不注意到這樣一個故事:這是一座面向未來的城市建筑，它比過去更先進(jìn)。

"We have data that shows before the storm, the high school graduation rate was 54%. Today, it's up to 73%. Before the storm, college enrollment was 37%.Today, it's almost 60%," President Barack Obama said. "We still have a long way to go, but that is real progress. New Orleans is coming back better and stronger."

“我們有數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在風(fēng)暴之前，高中畢業(yè)率是54%。如今，這一比例高達(dá)73%。風(fēng)暴前，大學(xué)入學(xué)率為37%。如今，這一比例幾乎達(dá)到了60%。”巴拉克·奧巴馬總統(tǒng)說。“我們還有很長的路要走，但這是真正的進(jìn)步。新奧爾良正在變得更好更強。”

The city's mayor, Mitch Landrieu, echoed that triumph: "We are not just rebuilding the city that we once were, but are creating the city that we always should have been."

該市市長米奇·蘭德里歐重述了這一勝利:“我們不僅在重建我們曾經(jīng)的城市，而且在創(chuàng)造我們應(yīng)該一直存在的城市。”

Other cities learned lessons from the events of a decade ago and have created their own infrastructure projects to prevent another Katrina. Hurricane forecasting has improved a lifesaving 20% since Katrina because it sparked funding in new satellites and computer modeling technology. NPR even did a heartfelt story about a couple that fell in love because of Katrina. This is all "Who Knows What's Good or Bad."

其他城市從十年前的災(zāi)難中吸取了教訓(xùn)，并建立了自己的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項目，以防止再次發(fā)生卡特里娜颶風(fēng)。自卡特里娜颶風(fēng)以來，由于颶風(fēng)預(yù)報引發(fā)了對新衛(wèi)星和計算機(jī)建模技術(shù)的資金投入，使挽救生命的工作提高了20%。美國國家公共電臺甚至做了一篇感人的報道，講述了一對夫妻因為卡特里娜颶風(fēng)而相愛的故事。這就是“誰知道什么是好，什么是壞。”

No one would go so far as to say the deadly and devastating hurricane was good for the city or country.

沒有人會說這場致命的、毀滅性的颶風(fēng)對城市或國家有好處。

I asked my neighbor, Jonathan Orr, about all this. He was a longtime resident of New Orleans, grew up in Louisiana and is a professor at Georgia State University and the coordinator of its mental health counseling program.

我向我的鄰居喬納森·奧爾詢問了這一切。他曾長期居住在新奧爾良，在路易斯安那州長大，現(xiàn)在是喬治亞州立大學(xué)的教授，也是該校心理健康咨詢項目的協(xié)調(diào)人。

For him, the city has not recovered, and for most residents, especially black ones, things are demonstratively worse post-Katrina, not better-than-ever.

對他來說， 這個城市還沒有恢復(fù)，對大多數(shù)居民，尤其是黑人來說，情況在卡特里娜颶風(fēng)后明顯更糟，而不是比以往任何時候都好。

This anniversary is "wrought with pain, loss, and grief" that may take generations to process, he wrote me in an e-mail.

他在給我的一封電子郵件中寫道，這個紀(jì)念日“充滿了痛苦、損失和悲傷”，可能需要幾代人的時間來處理。

New Orleans and Katrina is a story of "courage and resilience while also holding close the pain and grief" , Jonathan wrote.

喬納森寫道，新奧爾良和卡特里娜颶風(fēng)是一個關(guān)于“勇氣和韌性的故事，同時也承載著痛苦和悲傷”。

Just understanding the story's meaning makes you feel wiser. Once you know it, you can start applying it to your past, present and projected future.

僅僅是理解故事的意義就會讓你覺得更有智慧。一旦你知道了它，你就可以開始把它應(yīng)用到你的過去、現(xiàn)在和預(yù)期的未來。