Always Changing

人生處處是轉角

Please excuse me if I’m a little pensive today.

如果我今天有點郁郁寡歡,請原諒我。

Mark is leaving, and I’m feeling kind of sad.

馬克要走了,我感到有點難過。

You probably don’t know Mark, but you might be lucky enough to know someone just like him. He’s been the heart and soul of the office for a couple of year combining exemplary professional skills with a sweet nature and gentle disposition. He’s never been all that interested in getting credit for the terrific work he does. He just wants to do his job, and to do it superbly well.

你或許不認識馬克,但如果你認識像他那樣的人,那你可能走運了。好幾年來,他都是辦公室里的核心和靈魂人物,專業技能堪稱典范,態度和藹,性情溫柔。工作表現出色的他從不熱衷于爭風邀功。他只想做他的工作,并出色地完成。

And now he’s moving on to an exciting new professional opportunity. It sounds like it could be the chance of a lifetime, and we’re genuinely, sincerely pleased for him. But that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a dear friend and trusted colleague.

而現在,他要向一份令人興奮的新職邁進。聽起來是個一生難得的機會,我們也真心誠摯地替他高興。但那并沒使我們跟這么一位親愛的朋友、信任的同事告別來得容易一些。

Life has a way of throwing these curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to alter the recipe. A terrific neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love and loyalties through marriage. The family’s principle bread-winner is laid off.

生活用它自己的方式不斷向我們拋出曲線球。當我們剛開始和某人融洽相處,或是適應一個地方或一種境況時,某事就發生了,改變了一切。很好的鄰居要搬家了;家里的某個成員畢業了;孩子找到新歡,在婚姻殿堂里尋獲忠誠;家里養家糊口的主力軍被解雇了。

Our ability to cope with change and disruption determine to a great degree, our peace, happiness and contentment in life.

我們應付變化以及混亂情況的能力很大程度上決定了我們生活的安寧、幸福和滿意度。

But how do we do that? Philosophers have considered the question for centurie and their responses have been varied. According to the author of the Biblical book of Ecclesiaste comfort can be found in remembering that “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Kahlil Gibran urged his listeners to “let today embrace the past with remembrance, and the future with longing.”

但我們該怎么做?哲人們已經思考這個問題好幾個世紀了,他們的回答各不相同。根據《圣經•舊約全書•傳道書》的作者,人們可以通過記住“大千世界,萬事萬物皆有時”來獲得安慰。而卡里•紀伯倫也曾敦促他的聽眾去“讓今日用記憶擁抱昨日,用渴望擁抱未來”。

A friend of mine who works for the government is fond of reminding his fellow bureaucrats that “survivabi-lity depends upon adaptability.” And then there’s Chri the California surf-rat, who once told me that the answer to life’s problems can be summed up in four words: “Go with the flow.”

我一個在政府工作的朋友喜歡提醒他的那幫官僚同事們“生存取決于適應性。”還有克里斯,加利福尼亞州的一位沖浪愛好者,他曾告訴我,生活中所有問題的答案都能歸為四個字——“隨遇而安”。

“It’s like surfing,” Chris explained. “You can’t organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride ’em where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. Sure, you’re always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get, like, you know, totally tubular. But mostly you just take ’em the way they come. It’s not like you’re trying to nail Jell-O to a tree, you know?”

“就像沖浪,”克里斯解釋道,“你無法掌控大海。波浪隨意蕩起。你乘著浪任其領著你向前沖,然后,你伏身于沖浪板往回劃水至某處,接而踏乘下一個浪。當然,你總會希望等到那個完美的浪頭,就像你知道的那種滾筒浪。但大多數情況,也就是隨波逐流,這不是什么登天難事,你知道的。”

I’m not exactly sure, but I think Chris was saying that life is a series of events—both good and bad. No matter how deft your organizational skill there will always be life-influencing factors over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected, and is prepared to make adjustments should the need arise—as it almost always does.

我不太確定,但我想克里斯在說,生活是由一連串事件組成的——其中有好有壞。不論你的統籌技巧有多純熟,總會有些你無法控制的因素影響著我們的生活。真正的成功者料想到意料之外的事總會發生,并做好準備在必要時做出調整——而這樣的情況常常發生。

That doesn’t mean you don’t keep trying to make all your dreams come true. It just means that when things come up that aren’t exactly in your plan, you work around them—and then you move on. Of course, some bumps along the road of life are easier to take than others. A rained-out picnic, for example, is easier to cope with than the sudden death of a loved one. But the principle is the same.

那并不意味著你不需要不斷努力去實現你的夢想。意思只是說,當計劃以外的事發生時,你得去處理,然后繼續前進。當然,人生沿途出現的一些“撞擊”要比另一些容易處理。比如,因為下雨要取消野餐,總比自己所愛的人突然去世更容易處理。但原理是相同的。

“Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful,” said philosopher Thomas Carlyle. “And if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope.”

“改變確實給人帶來痛苦,但改變卻是永遠必須的。”哲人托馬斯•卡萊爾說道,“并且,如果記憶擁有其力量和價值,那么希望也同樣擁有。”

We’re going to miss Mark, just like you’ll miss that graduate, that neighbor or that newlywed. But rather than dwell on the sadness of our parting, we’ll focus on our hopes for a brighter future—for him, and for us. And then we’ll go out and do everything we can to make that future happen.

我們會想念馬克,就像你會想念那畢業離家的孩子、那位搬走的鄰居或那新婚的兒女一樣。但我們與其沉湎于分離所帶來的哀傷中,倒不如把期盼聚焦于一個更光明的未 來——為他,也為我們自己。然后,我們將走出去,盡我們的一切力量去實現夢想中的未來。

Until our plans change—again.

直到我們的計劃——再次改變。