提要

日常生活中，有許多習以為常的事，往往在失去了之後，才會發現擁有時是多麼的幸福。以下兩則小故事，第一則彷彿「生死交關」，卻發現其實自己仍擁有許多；另一則輕微如吃爆米花塞牙，解決後仍覺得「如釋重負」。這些都是「珍惜所有」 的好例子。





On the Ledge

Imagine on the 89th floor of the Taipei 101 Building, gazing at the cityscape. Suddenly a rather large man brusquely pushes past you, and announces his intention to jump.

You yell out, "Stop! Don't do it!"

The six-foot-five figure turns to you, "Let me tell you my troubles," he says. "My wife left me, my kids won't talk to me, I lost my job and my pet turtle died. So why should I go on living?"

Suddenly you have a flash of inspiration.

"Sir, close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you are blind. No colors, no sights of children playing, no fields of flowers, no sunset."

"Now imagine that suddenly there's a miracle. You open your eyes and your vision is restored! Are you going to jump? Or will you stick around for a while to enjoy the sights?"

"I'll stay for a week."

"But what happened to all your troubles?"

"I guess they're not so bad. I can see!"

If you really appreciate your eyesight, among other senses, the other pains are insignificant. But if you take it all for granted, then nothing in life will ever truly give you joy.


解說

景觀台上


想像一下，當你在台北一○一大樓八十九樓，正享受著壯闊的城市景觀，突然，一個高大的男子粗魯地擦身而過，並宣布他準備跳樓。

你叫出聲：「停！別這麼做！」

快兩公尺的大個子轉向你：「讓我告訴你我的麻煩」，他說「我的妻子離開我，我的孩子不跟我說話，我失去了工作，我的寵物龜也死了，我為什麼還要活下去呢？」

突然間，你靈光乍現。

「先生，請你閉眼一分鐘，假裝失去了視力，想像沒顏色、 沒有景點、沒有玩耍的孩子們、沒有花朵、沒有夕陽……。」 「然後，突然有奇蹟出現，你的視力恢復了！你還打算跳下去？或者你會在人間多留一陣子，享受美麗的世界？」

「我會多留一陣子」，「那你剛才說的那些煩惱呢？」

「我想那也沒那麼糟了，至少我看得到！」

如果你真的很感激能夠看到、聽到、嘗到……，那麼生命中的某些痛苦就顯得微不足道了；但是如果你把這些都當成理所當然的，那麼永遠沒有什麼會真正給你帶來快樂。



Awesome

You know when you can just feel that popcorn kernal stuck back there in swampy recesses of your mouth and it's totally infuriating?

Yes, your tongue slides past its smooth surface unsuccessfully, your toothbrush's flimsy bristles just can't shake it, and even your fingernail can't quite unwedge it from the tight molar deathgrip it's stuck in.

So the fork is dropped and the dessert lays unfinished, the conversation fades to a blurry, distant noise, and the world stops around you as you just keep trying and trying and trying to get that popcorn kernal out. You close your eyes and squint, you tilt your head, you emit a deep-bass "nnnnnnn" noise, as your body directs all available faculties at flushing this thing out. But it just sits there tightly, clogging and gumming up your entire system .

Then suddenly, it just falls out.

"awesome!" that's what you are going to say.



真棒！



吃爆米花滿愉快，但爆米花內核深深陷入牙縫時，卻非常惱人。

你嘗試用舌頭滑過其表面，失敗；你的牙刷脆弱的刷毛也無法撼動它，即使伸手進去，指甲仍然完全不能影響它的「堅定不移」！

於是，餐後甜點被冷落了，同桌朋友的談話聲顯得模糊遙遠……世界在你身邊停止運轉了，你只是不斷努力和嘗試，試圖挖出那小小的爆米花內核。閉上眼睛、傾斜你的頭，你低聲發出「嗯嗯嗯」的噪音，但惱人爆米花核，仍只是牢固地留在原地。

然後，突然間，它掉了出來。

「真棒！」如釋重負的你會這麼說。