哲理散文:人生的完整 The Wholeness Of Life

Once a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.
曾經有個圓圈缺了一小塊，它想要保持完整，於是它四處尋找丟失的那塊。因爲它不完整，所以只能很慢地滾動。它很羨慕沿途的花；它和蚯蚓聊天，並享受陽光。它發現了很多不同的塊，但沒有一個適合它。於是它將那些留在路邊，繼續前行。有一天，圓終於找到了很適合它的那塊。它幸福極了。現在它又完整了，什麼都不缺。它將丟失的那塊補上，並開始滾動。現在它是一個完美的圓，所以可以飛快地滾動，它滾動得太快了以至於它無法注意到花或是和蚯蚓聊天。當它意識到在飛速滾動時世界是多麼不同時，它停了下來，將找到的那塊留在路邊，再次開始慢慢地滾動。

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.
這個故事，在我看來，告訴我們在某種程度上，當我們缺少某種事物時，我們更加完整。擁有一切的人在某些方面卻是一個窮人，他從不會知道渴望和希望的感受，不會了解懷有美好夢想時心裏會是什麼感覺。他從來體會不到讓愛他的人贈予他從未擁有，但卻一直想要的東西時的感受。

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive,she can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.
有種完整在於:人甘心忍受他的不足之處，人能勇敢地放棄不切實際的夢想，但是並不因此而感到失敗。有種完整在於:她或他學到了，她或他能足夠堅強從而經歷坎坷後能活下了，她可能失去了某人但是仍感到像一個完整的人。

Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee（拼字比賽會） , where no matter how many words you've gotten right, you're disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a baseball season,where even the best team loses one third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose.
生活並不是上帝給我們設置的陷阱，所以他會責備我們的失敗。生活並不是一場拼字比賽，無論你拼了多少正確的單詞，如果你犯了錯誤，你就是不合格的。生活更像是棒球比賽，即使是最好的球隊也會輸掉三分一一的比賽，即使最差的球隊也有輝煌的時候。我們的目標是贏得比賽的次數要遠多於輸掉的。

When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us -- not "Be perfect", not "Don't even make a mistake", but "Be whole."
當我們接受不完美是生活中的一部分時，當我們繼續在生活中前行，並理解生活時，我們就會達到別人熱切希望的完整。我相信那就是上帝要求我們做的——不要完美，不要僅僅只犯一個錯誤，而是要完整。

If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment（履行，實行） that no other living creature will ever know.
如果我們能夠勇敢地愛，勇敢地去原諒，能慷慨地因爲別人的幸福而快樂，能夠聰明地知道我們周圍有足夠的愛，那麼我們就完成其他生靈從未知道的完整。