Not Being Grateful Without Missing
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories sep us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstance. What associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regret?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry", most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
Most of us take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far as in the future, when we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of our faculties and sense. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to shoes who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful without missing.
失去后才懂得珍惜
我們都讀過(guò)一些令人興奮激動(dòng)的故事,故事的主人公只能再活一段很有限的時(shí)光。有時(shí)長(zhǎng)達(dá)一年,有時(shí)卻短至24小時(shí)。但是在探究這個(gè)將要離世的人選擇怎樣度過(guò)他最后歲月的問(wèn)題上,我們都充滿興趣。當(dāng)然,我說(shuō)的是有選擇權(quán)利的自由人而不是死刑犯。死刑犯的活動(dòng)范圍是受嚴(yán)格限制的。
這樣的故事使我們思索,如果我們自己處在相似的情況下,應(yīng)該做什么?臨死之時(shí),什么樣的事情、體驗(yàn)、關(guān)系該被放入最后的時(shí)光中呢?回憶往昔,什么使我們快樂(lè)開心?什么又使我們悔恨抱憾呢?
有時(shí),我常這樣想,每天活得要像明天即將死去一樣,這或許是一個(gè)非常好的規(guī)則。這樣的態(tài)度可以鮮明地強(qiáng)調(diào)生命的價(jià)值。我們應(yīng)該活得優(yōu)雅從容,朝氣蓬勃,觀察銳敏,而這些將會(huì)日復(fù)一日,月復(fù)一月,年復(fù)一年慢慢丟失。當(dāng)然,也有一些人一生只是“吃、喝、享受”,然而,大多數(shù)人們?cè)诘弥劳龅拇_存在時(shí)都會(huì)有所收斂。
我們大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為生活是理所當(dāng)然的。我們知道總有一天要面對(duì)死亡,但總認(rèn)為那一天還在遙遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)。當(dāng)我們身強(qiáng)體健時(shí),死亡好像是不可想象的,我們很少考慮它。日子多得好像沒(méi)有盡頭。因此,我們一味忙于瑣事,卻沒(méi)意識(shí)到這種對(duì)待生活的態(tài)度太盲目。
我擔(dān)心同樣的冷漠也存在于我們對(duì)自己所有官能和意識(shí)的使用上。只有聾子感激欣賞聽力,只有瞎子體會(huì)得到看見事物的樂(lè)趣。這種研究特別適合那些在成年時(shí)喪失了視力與聽力的人。而那些從未體會(huì)過(guò)喪失視力和聽力之苦的人們,很少能充分使用這些美好的官能。他們心不在下焉,也不太感興趣,用眼睛和耳雜模糊地看著和聽著周圍的一切。正如人們不知道珍惜自己擁有的直到失去了才明白它的價(jià)值一樣,人們只有在病的時(shí)候,才意識(shí)到健康的好處。