本帖最后由 ヮ成熟、羙° 于 2014-1-2 19:43 编辑
富有并不意味着成功
荷叶/译
要阐明自己的人生信条,我必须简要介绍一下自己的个人经历。
我人生的的转折点是放弃前途无量的生意，转而学习音乐。和我一样喜欢音乐的父母虽表同情，但却反对我把音乐当作职业。考虑到我的家庭背景，这是可以理解的。我爷爷在莫贝尔市的斯普林希尔学院教了近四十年音乐，这虽然赢得了当地人的爱戴和尊重，但所挣无几，仅能维持一大家人度日。爸爸常说全家人之所以没挨饿受冻，靠的全是奶奶的精明和节俭。家里有了这样一个活生生的例子，只要一提到以音乐为业，就会展现出一幅朝不保夕，生活无着的情景。父母坚持让我上大学，不让我上音乐学院。我上了大学，我记得还很开心地上了大学。因为尽管我深爱小提琴，并花大部分业余时间拉小提琴，我还有许多其它兴趣呢。
哥伦比亚大学还没毕业，家里经济状况遭遇危机，我只得辍学从业，那时我投身商界，并一直以为这些年是虚度光阴。
我丝毫没有贬低商界的意思，我的意思是说我不适合经商。我经商只是为了挣钱，除了帮助家人能够让我从中得到一些满足外，我从经商中得到的除了金钱什么也没有。这远远不够。我感觉时光如流水般逝去。我从一丝不满到极度痛苦。我的唯一抱负是攒够钱，辞职，去欧洲学习音乐。我过去常常黎明起床练琴，然后再去市中心工作，总是在最后一刻匆匆扒拉两口早饭，这让我可怜的母亲很担心。不与生意伙伴共进午餐，我常常找一家廉价的餐馆，要点儿简单的饭菜，然后匆匆去做我的和声练习。我继续挣钱，一点一点的，钱攒够了，有能力出国了。我的家庭也度过了危机，不再需要我帮忙了。我辞去工作，感觉像个获释的犯人，漂洋过海，去了欧洲。我在那儿呆了四年，以做梦也想不到的努力学习，并且每一分钟都很享受。
“享受”这个字眼太轻描淡写了，我飘飘欲仙。我是个自由自在的人，做着自己喜欢做的事，而且我确实是这块料。如果我不离开商界，今天我可能是个相当有钱的人了，但我相信我的人生不会如此成功。我可能已经放弃了那种金钱买不到的，无形的，内在的满足感，如果一个人的首要目标是发家致富，这种满足感会经常被牺牲掉。
当我离开商界时，得到了家人和朋友的一致反对。我们多数人如此习惯于把成功和金钱联系起来，以至于一想到为了理想而放弃高薪，就觉得这近乎发疯。如果这样的话，我要高呼：“哇！发疯真好。”钱是个好东西，但为它付出的代价也未免太高了。
附：原文
In order to tell what I believe,I must briefly sketch something of my personal history. The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents,although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went - quite happily, as I remember, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests. Before my graduation form Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career - which I always think of as the wasted years. Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point I is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family,money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for"downtown", distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfastat the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap café, order a meager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bitby bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent, and my helpno longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it. "Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do. If I had stayed in business, Imight be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions, that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man's primary goal is financial success. When I broke away from business,it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane.If so, all I can say is "Gee! It's great to be crazy.” Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price on it.
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发表于 2014-1-2 06:26:30
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