真的太長了所以我先對作者作介紹.
Michael Josephson著有"WHAT WILL MATTER?"一詩.


WHAT WILL MATTER?

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

不管你準備好了沒有, 有一天一切都會結束.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

到時再也沒有日出, 沒有日月分秒。

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

所有你收集的東西,不論是珍藏或是早被你遺忘的,都會轉到他人手上.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

你的財富名望和世俗的權勢都將變得無用而沒有意義.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

不管你曾擁有什麼,別人欠你什麼，都不重要.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.

你種種的怨恨,憎恨,挫折嫉妒也終會消失.

So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.

同樣的,你懷抱的希望,雄心壯志,遠大計劃與待辦事項也將通通過期失效.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away..

你曾經如此在意的種種輸贏都會消失遠去.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

你是哪裡人住在何處都不重要.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

你美不美聰不聰明,都無關重要.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

甚至你的性別膚色也不重要了。

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

那麼什麼才不重要？要如何衡量你在世的價值呢.

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built not what you got but what you gave.

重要的不是你買下的而是你建造的一切不是你的所得而是你的付出.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

重要的不是你的成功而是你的重要性.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

重要的不是你學到的而是你教導別人的東西.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

重要的是你行為中的操守, 同情心, 勇氣或犧牲奉獻, 引領感動鼓舞其他人來效法你的所作所為.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

重要的不是你的能力而是你的品格.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when your gone.

重要的不是你認識多少人, 而是當你消失[死亡]時有多少人悵然若失.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.

重要的不是你的記憶, 而是愛你的人對你的記憶.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

重要的是世人對你的懷念有多久, 是誰因何事而懷念你.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

重要的人生並非碰巧。.

It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

是自己的選擇而不是由環境決定.

Choose to live a life that matters.

請選擇過"重要"的人生.

http://www.appleseeds.org/What-Matters.htm




























Dear Sinclair,

Here is your Friday story,

Take a Year-End Attitude Inventory

It's a wise custom to end an old year and begin a new one with serious self-reflection. What did you learn this year that can improve your life and make you a better person?

Start by examining the way you think and feel about your job, your relationships, and yourself. After all, the single most important factor in personal happiness and your impact on others is your attitude.

In the geometry of life, the axiom is "positive attitudes produce positive results." They make success more likely, failures less harmful, pleasures more frequent, and pain more bearable. Some people tend to bring warm sunshine wherever they go; others bring cold chills. What do you bring?

To find out where you can improve, take an honest inventory of your predispositions, the attitude you're most likely to start with.

. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic?
. Do you tend to assume the best or expect the worst of people?
. Is your first instinct to be empathetic or judgmental?
. Is your first instinct to be supportive or critical?
. Do you send the message that you enjoy life or that you're barely enduring it?
. Do you come across as the captain of your own ship or simply a passenger?

Wherever you are on the positive-attitude spectrum, think how much better things could be if you were more consistently and self-consciously optimistic, empathetic, supportive, grateful, enthusiastic, hopeful, and cheerful.

So why not resolve to think, act, and speak more positively about yourself, your family, your coworkers, and everyone else in your life?

Michael Josephson