中英對照談論一本書第二輯 Have A Little Faith Part B

 

Here in this clip, I have completed discussing with my dear audience about the EPILOGUE of this book. Like all good creative works narrating true events, though, there are often quite a few issues worthy to be investigated—I surely hope these initial steps of mine taken can open new doors for more ideas to follow suit.

本次的音檔與聽眾朋友們討論的是該書最後面的結尾部份。

 

一如所有根據真實故事而形成的書籍一般，這樣的書籍裡面字字珠機，必有諸多可以繼續討論之處，希望在這樣拋磚引玉的過程中，有產生更多迴響的契機，讓我們得以一同發現更為寬廣的視角。

 

 

A Few Ideas to Be Noted Here When We Read the Epilogue Altogether

關於本書結尾雖然已經談論完畢，不過，有幾個耐人尋味之處值得一提。

 

Linking Two Sides

There are different levels of poverty when it comes to the economical disadvantages. On the other hand, there are also different forms of poverty inside people’s mentality. Our mind can play such tricks on us that we can feel all too powerful or inferior. Now and then, we would need that deep voice to wake us up: this book, the religious beliefs it reveals, a mentor, …etc. These can play such roles to make us stand in front of blows after blows in life while wearing such levels of confidence or courage which will weather us through, linking these two different forms of poverty or richness together.

兩兩相連

首先，是兩種「貧窮或者富有程度」的相連：我們都有在物資及心態層面上的富有及貧乏之處。我們的內在有足以使我們感到情緒失控或潛力無窮的力道，往往，我們所需要的是某種能夠將我們提振至平常心狀態的聲音，像是這樣的一本書、不同宗教的信仰、一位生命導師等等，這些聲音使我們能夠抵禦無聲無息闖入我們生活中的，接二連三的挫折，讓我們在這種心理和物質的種種層次之中，找到某樣使我們得以維繫鬥志的法門。

 

The Best For The Others

於他人最為有益之事

If we pay close attention to the epilogue, we would see that the three wishes this person talking to the writer about his five minutes with God are filled with concerns for the other people: only his last wish was about himself and himself only, but even that one minute was in the middle of a joke, a funny comment that had made himself seemingly quite insignificant; the first one was about his family members’ wellbeing while the second those who were in need, those who were strangers to him.

仔細觀察本書結尾，讀者或聽友不難發現與作者對談之人的與神相處之五分鐘內，三個願望裡面有兩個都和他人福祉相關—一者給予他自己的家人們祝福，第二則是將自己的恩典分享有需要的陌生人，最後一個才留給了自己，並且，甚至以一種開玩笑的方式來看待這個問題，像是自己無關緊要一般。

 

People often calculate about the gaining of things, winning people’s heart and so on. People like you and I, when we are in the modern times, often tend to forget the beauty of sheer giving and sharing, without weighing the pros and cons but a pure form of sharing ourselves with the others.

人們總在無聲無息間計算利益得失，計算人我分別，尤其在當代社會中我們常常忘記那些最為令人感動的，無聲的付出與分享。

 

What can we share?

我們能分享些什麼呢?

 

There are many things inside each and every of us that we can share with the others, including our time, our care, let alone of our professional knowledge, and so on.

實則，我們每一個人都有太多我們可以與他人分享的物事，比方我們的時間、關懷、甚至是專業能力等等。

 

In my case, when I shared with the nomadic tribe in Africa what I had read and learned, it was not even my professional knowledge; however, that kind of knowledge regarding the growing of a variety of crops led them to grow and plant things themselves that would offer them nutrients needed for their body outside the intake of milk and, occasionally, meat. Moreover, the crops they cultivate would be sold to the market in return for profits for their children’s daily necessities like more proper food, stationaries they need when they go to school.

在非洲進行「綠洲計畫」之前，我僅僅只是透過閱讀而理解「耕種」，同時把這樣的知識跟東非不習慣耕種的遊牧民族分享；當他們開始實際進行了耕種計畫，他們所能夠攝取的營養素便已經超出了原本的羊奶、牛奶、及偶爾一點肉類的範疇。除此之外，他們所耕種的作物多多少少有了到市場販賣的可能，不但同時使他們的孩子們求學時有足夠的體力，也使他們有足夠的經費可以購買文具給孩子們使用。

 

Nothing fancy, pure sharing of ideas—I did not expect these can be developed into something I never anticipated. That is why when I know my friends are sharing their time with people who are confused about their future, or when I notice a stranger is telling another person the direction to a certain place in a city, I find it to be so charming. It is exactly such charming connections which make people feel the warmth in between each other. That would be the human song we can sing side by side with each other, or even with the deities, can’t we?

這種完完全全在知識上面的單純分享，成就了一幅我從來未曾想像過的畫面，這也就是為何當我的朋友與對未來充滿困惑的人們分享他們的歷程，或者當我看到陌生人之間的指路、問路等等，這些都讓我感到份外溫馨。

 

是這樣的溫暖，成就了人神共譜的美妙樂章……不是嗎?

 

 

The Writer Was Inside the Educational Setting Again

作者再次身處教育場景

The same writer or author produced another book “Tuesdays with Morrie” a few years earlier than this one, “Have a Little Faith.” In the former, he was describing his relationship with his dying sociology professor, Morrie: naturally, in that story, in that process of true human interaction, the author was the student.

此位作者在多年前也寫作了Tuesdays with Morrie這本世界暢銷書，在這本書當中，他所談的是自己與瀕死的教授之間的相處歷程，自然而然在他這位恩師之前，他是一位學生，再正常不過。

 

Nevertheless, I can hardly believe a person can be this humble that when he wrote this book,  “Have a Little Faith,” he labeled himself as a student once again. A student of whom and what? You may want to ask.

然而他在此書中再次於最後一段稱呼自己是一名學生，除了讓人感受到他的謙遜外，也令人感到好奇的是：

「在這本書裡面，他將在怎樣的教育場景之下，作為什麼人的學生呢?」

 

 

This is something fascinating we will find out later.

這就是我們要一起來探索的奇妙之處了。