接受生活不公平

Surrender to the fact that life isn’t fair

A friend of mine, in response to a conversation we were having about the injustice of life, asked me the question, “Who said life was going to be fair, or that it was even meant to be fair?” Her question was a good one. It reminded me of something I was taught as a youngster life isn’t fair. It’s a bummer but it’s absolutely true. One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t.

One of the nice things about surrendering to the fact that life isn’t fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have. We know it’s not “l(fā)ife’s job” to make everything perfect, it’s our own challenge. Surrendering to this fact also keeps us from feeling sorry for others because we are reminded that everyone is dealt a different hand; everyone has unique strengths and problems in the process of growing up, facing the reality and making decisions; and everyone has those times that they feel victimized or unfairly treated.

The fact that life isn’t fair doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary, it suggests that we should. When we don’t recognize or admit that life isn’t fair, we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves. Pity, of course, is a self-defeating emotion that does nothing for anyone, except to make everyone feel worse than they already do. When we do recognize that life isn’t fair, however, we feel compassion for others and for ourselves. And compassion is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches. The next time you find yourself thinking about the injustices of the world, try reminding yourself of this very basic fact. You may be surprised that it can nudge you out of self-pity and into helpful action.

【助讀詞匯】

◇injustice n. 不公平，不講道義

◇bummer n. 打擊人的事物

◇victimize v. 使?fàn)奚�，使受害，欺騙

◇nudge v. 用肘輕推，推進(jìn)，輕推

【參考譯文】

接受生活不公平

當(dāng)我和一位朋友在談?wù)撋�活中不公平現(xiàn)象的時(shí)候，她問我：“是誰說生活會(huì)變得公平，或生活本應(yīng)該是公平的？”她的問題問得很好。這讓我想起我年輕時(shí)學(xué)到的一條道理：生活是不公平的。這非常令人失望，但它絕對(duì)是真的。我們當(dāng)中許多人犯的一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤就是喜歡自艾自憐，或?yàn)樗�人抱不平，認(rèn)為生活應(yīng)該是公平的，或者認(rèn)為有一天會(huì)變公平的。其實(shí)不然，現(xiàn)在不是，將來也不會(huì)是。

接受生活不公平的好處之一就是我們不會(huì)顧影自憐，而是倍受激勵(lì)，利用我們所擁有的盡全力去做。我們知道生活不可能令事事都完美，希望事事都完美只是我們對(duì)自己的挑戰(zhàn)。接受這一事實(shí)的另一好處就是我們也不會(huì)為別人感到遺憾，因?yàn)槲覀冋J(rèn)識(shí)到每個(gè)人手里的牌不同；在成長的過程中，在現(xiàn)實(shí)面前，在做決定的時(shí)候，每個(gè)人有著各自獨(dú)特的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和缺點(diǎn)；每個(gè)人都有感覺冤枉和不公平的時(shí)候。

生活不公平并不表示我們就不該力所能及地去改善我們的生活，讓整個(gè)世界變得更美好。恰恰相反，它暗示我們應(yīng)該這樣做。當(dāng)我們不肯承認(rèn)或接受生活不公平的時(shí)候，我們往往會(huì)為自己和別人感到遺憾。當(dāng)然，遺憾是種自我否定的情緒，除了讓人變得更郁悶，什么作用都沒有。然而，當(dāng)我們承認(rèn)生活不公平的時(shí)候，我們同情自己也同情他人。同情是種發(fā)自內(nèi)心的感受，同情總是向它觸碰到的人傳遞愛心與關(guān)懷。下次當(dāng)你在思考這世界的不公平現(xiàn)象的時(shí)候，試試回想下這個(gè)事實(shí)。也許，它會(huì)令人驚喜地讓你擺脫顧自神傷去做些有益的事情。

【人生啟迪】

文章題目看似消極，卻在傳遞一個(gè)積極的信息。在與現(xiàn)實(shí)交手的時(shí)候，我們不能沉浸于自己的想法中。“知己知彼，方能百戰(zhàn)百勝”，接受生活不公平，拿出戰(zhàn)士的精神去迎接它。