李彩琳素颜:我们不必独自生活

To sum up my credo in a sentence: The farther away I get from myself, the nearer I get to God. Most of my troubles came when I was obsessed with my own petty concerns and trivial details. I respect the hermit but admire the crusader—his life takes more of courage. I sympathize with the introvert as I would with the sickly, but both are missing a lot of life.

把我的信条总结成一句话，就是：我离自己越远，离上帝就越近。我所有的麻烦都源于我对自己的小东西和琐碎细节的沉迷。我尊重隐士，但更钦佩改革者——因为这样的生活需要更多勇气。我同情内向的人也愿意和病人相处，但是这两种人的生活都缺失大半。

As a Catholic, I am touched by Assisi and his animals, but Loyola and his army fascinate me. No man ever got as much out of life as G. K. Chesterton, and he remarked, “Here dies another day during which I have had eyes, ears, hands, and the great world around me. And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?”

作为一个天主教徒，我为阿西西和他的动物们感动，但是洛约拉和他的军队让我着迷。没人活得比切斯特顿更精彩，他说，“我拥有眼睛、耳朵和手以及美好世界陪伴的一天已经逝去，明天又是个新的开始，为什么我要有两个？”

Today’s young people live years in what used to be days. I might be a good example. I’ve been married six years, have two children, a home, and have been recently honored by my college, the Jewish community, and the Chamber of Commerce. I direct the region of a famous human-relations agency. I’ve had much sickness, been in a war, worked at a newspaper, traveled all over America and half the world, graduated from college, ran my own ad business, worked three years as an executive for General Electric, lost two brothers in a family, and spent a year in a tuberculosis sanatorium.

过去的日子按天算，现在的年轻人日子按年算。我也许就是个好例子。我结婚有六年了，有两个孩子，一个家。最近还被我的学校、犹太社区和商会授予了荣誉。我管理一家著名的人力资源机构。我生过病、打过仗、做过报社、环游全美和半个世界，从学校毕业，经营自己的广告公司，在通用电气当过三年的高管，失去了两个兄弟，在肺结核疗养院过了一年。

Now I could go on in this personal basis, but the point is I’ve just reached the 30 mark. Many of these experiences would be denied in the past age. I’ve found that the beliefs I’ve discovered in the 20- to 30-year period can be the ground floor of my philosophy, and that these early years can be a fruitful basis for a mature life for everyone. I remember in particular two young men named Jefferson and Hamilton, whose thoughts are deeply embedded in this country’s philosophy.

现在我可以继续单打独斗，但关键是，我已经到了三十而立的时候。很多这样的经历在过去已经被否定了。我发现我在从20岁奔三的这些年形成的信念可以成为我人生哲学的基石，这些早年的经历对每一个成年人来说都可以成为丰富的给养。我特别记得有两个年轻人，名字分别叫杰弗森和汉密尔顿，他们的思想被这个国家的哲学深深接纳。

I like people because they are the key to the great human values: love, charity, friendship, sacrifice, and brotherhood. Some of my closest friends are people whom I was at first hesitant to meet. What close calls. I feel sorry for those poor souls who must go through life not knowing their neighbors, not participating in groups or being active in causes, and when I meet persons who are not interested in people who are different—and of course, that’s everyone. Then I rededicate myself to this thing called society—a continuous living drama equal to anything Hollywood ever produced. I believe the more people you understand, the more you understand God.

我喜欢跟人打交道，因为这些人是实现伟大人类价值的关键：爱、宽容、友谊、牺牲和手足情深。我最亲密的朋友当中，有些我当初结交得很迟疑。好险啊，差点错过。有些可怜的家伙必须一个人过活，不认识他们的邻居，不参与集体活动、不在任何场合活跃。我也会遇到一些对和自己不同的人（当然，那几乎是所有人）不感兴趣的人，我为他们感到遗憾。然后我就再次投身于这个叫做社会的东西里——这是一出连续不断的生活剧，跟好莱坞打造出来的一样。我相信你了解越多的人，你就越接近神。

I have had in my short life a multitude of illnesses, close calls, disappointments, sufferings, and personal crosses. But I honestly think I could have survived them better, and perhaps avoided some of them altogether, if I’d gotten away from an obsession with myself. This philosophy is not startling for its originality nor for its maturity. It is not the whole faith I have, for in this short space I omitted the necessities of religion, introspection, study, family, and the other fundamentals which are done without the crowd.

我短短的一生中，生过许多次病，经历过很多千钧一发的时刻，有过失望、有过折磨，也有过自己的磨难。但是我真诚地认为，如果我能从自怨自艾中走出来的话，我本可以更好的熬过这些日子，也许不用那么祸不单行。这个道理让人惊奇之处不在于创意也不在于成熟。它也不是我全部的信念，有那么短暂的一阵子，我忽略了对信仰、反省、学习、家庭和其他没有人群就完蛋了的必备基础。

But my main point is that we do not live alone in this contracting globe unless the belief in belonging to the human race is most important now, with bomb tensions, rabid nationalism, and rampant suspicion. And when I see a hard-bitten lawyer happily planning an outing for blind children; when I watch men of great prestige and wealth put their efforts into brotherhood; when I observe men and women begin to grow out of their own little tiny shells by going into the world and maturing by knowing other peoples, other greater sorrows, other new shared joys; then I know that this is worth believing in.

但是，我主要想说的是，在这个大家互相影响的地球上，我们不必独自生活，除非人类关于炸弹危机、激进的民族主义和极端猜疑已经成为人类信念的主流。当我看到一个很难搞的律师开心为盲童计划郊游的时候；当我看到声名在外的富人友爱兄弟的时候；当我看到男男女女开始走出他们自己的小天地，踏入世界并通过认识其他的人、了解其他的更沉重的悲伤和更多的欢乐来成长的时候，我知道这是值得相信的。