My third story is about death.
我的第三个故事,是关于死亡。
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
当我十七岁时,我读到一则格言,好像是「把每一天都当成生命中的最后一天,你就会轻松自在。( If you live each day as if it was your last,someday you’ll most certainly be right )」(听众笑)这对我影响深远, 在过去 33 年里,我每天早上都会照镜子,自问:「如果今天是此生最后一日,我今天要做些什么?」每当我连续太多天都得到一个「没事做」的答案时, 我就知道我必须有所改变了。
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
提醒自己快死了,是我在人生中面临重大决定时,所用过最重要的方法。因为几乎每件事-所有外界期望、所有的名声、所有对困窘或失败的恐惧-在面对死亡时,都消失了,只有最真实重要的东西才会留下.提醒自己快死了,是我所知避免掉入畏惧失去的陷阱里最好的方法。人生不带来、死不带去,没理由不跟随你的内心。
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
一年前,我被诊断出癌症,我在早间七点半作断层扫瞄,在胰脏清楚出现一个肿瘤,我连胰脏是什么都不知道。医生告诉我,那几乎可以确定是一种不治之症,预计我大概活不到三到六个月了。医生建议我回家,好好跟亲人们聚一聚,这是医生对临终病人的标准建议。那代表你得试着在几个月内把你将来十年想跟小孩讲的话讲完。那代表你得把每件事情搞定,家人才会尽量轻松。那代表你得跟人说再见了。
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
我整天想着那个诊断结果,那天晚上做了一次切片,从喉咙伸入一个内视镜,穿过胃进到肠子,将探针伸进胰脏,取了一些肿瘤细胞出来。我打了镇静剂,不醒人事,但是我老婆在场。她后来跟我说,当医生们用显微镜看过那些细胞后,他们都哭了,因为那是非常少见的一种胰脏癌,可以用手术治好。所以我接受了手术,康复了。(听众鼓掌)
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
这是我最接近死亡的时候,我希望那会继续是未来几十年内最接近的一次。经历此事后,我可以比先前死亡只是纯粹想象时,要能更肯定地告诉你们下面这些:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
没有人想死。即使那些想上天堂的人,也想活着上天堂。 (听众笑)但是死亡是我们共同的终点,没有人逃得过。这是注定的,因为死亡很可能就是生命中最棒的发明,是生命交替的媒介,送走老人们,给新生代开出道路。现在你们是新生代,但是不久的将来,你们也会逐渐变老,被送出人生的舞台。抱歉讲得这么戏剧化,但是这是真的。
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
你们的时间有限,所以不要浪费时间活在别人的生活里。不要被教条所局限– 盲从教条就是活在别人思考结果里。不要让别人的意见淹没了你内在的心声。最重要的,拥有追随自己内心与直觉的勇气,你的内心与直觉多少已经知道你真正想要成为什么样的人(have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become),任何其它事物都是次要的。(听众鼓掌)
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
在我年轻时,有本神奇的杂志叫做 《Whole Earth Catalog》, 当年这可是我们的经典读物。那是位住在离这不远的 Menlo Park的Stewart Brand发行的,他把杂志办得很有诗意。那是 1960年代末期,个人计算机跟桌上出版还没出现,所有内容都是打字机、剪刀跟拍立得相机做出来的。 杂志内容有点像印在纸上的平面 Google,在Google 出现之前35年就有了:这本杂志很理想主义,充满新奇工具与伟大的见解。
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stewart 跟他的团队出版了好几期的《Whole Earth Catalog》, 然后很自然的,最后出了停刊号。当时是 1970 年代中期,我正是你们现在这个年龄的时候。在停刊号的封底,有张清晨乡间小路的照片,那种你四处搭便车冒险旅行时会经过的乡间小路。在照片下印了行小字:求知若饥,虚心若愚(Stay Hungry , Stay Foolish)。那是他们亲笔写下的告别讯息,我总是以此自许。 当你们毕业,展开新生活,我也以此祝福你们。