译||十一安
如何面对日日逼近的死亡
My mom died when I was already an adult -- a mother myself. Her death was slow, expected. This made it no easier. Losses like this begin well before the person is gone, because we imagine the world going on without them. The anticipation of it is like a slow, steady burn. We become used to grieving. We hold their hands, press compresses to their wounds, watch as medication drips into their veins, all the while faced with the impossibility of our own powerlessness. This too, is beautiful, human brokenness.
母亲过世的时候我已经成年了,自己也是个母亲。她的死亡是缓慢的,料想得到的。但这并没有让我更容易地去面对死亡。在将逝之人过世之前,人们并没有不知所措,因为我们知道这世界会继续,哪怕没有了他们。对这样的死亡的预期像是缓慢的,持续的灼烧。我们对悲伤是习惯了的。我们握住将逝之人的双手,按住他们伤口的绷带,注视着医用点滴进入他们的静脉,一直面对着我们自己的无能为力。这也是人类脆弱的一种美。
如何面对突如其来的死亡
As the Buddha once famously said, life is suffering. To love is to lose. In the natural order of things, we will eventually lose our own parents and in the natural order of thing, this will happen after we're already adults. Except when it doesn't.
正如佛陀说过一句著名的话,生来皆苦。爱就是失去。自然万物之中,父母最终会自然老去,我们最终会失去他们,而这些都是我们长大成人后会发生的。
I lost my dad when I was young -- suddenly, in a car crash. I never had a chance to say goodbye. He never had a chance to see me grow from a messed up girl into a much-less-messed-up woman. He died worried about me. I live with this. And yet, his early death shaped and transformed me in enormously positive ways. I grew up. I've spent my life trying to make him proud.
在一场突如其来的车祸中,我失去了我的父亲,那时我还小。我根本就没来得及跟他告别。他根本没有机会看我从一个脏兮兮的小女孩长大成为一个干干净净得体的女孩,他死的时候担心我。我一直记着这一点。但是他的早早过世从很多积极方面塑造并改变了我。我长大了,我用尽一生想让他以我为傲。
We metabolize these sudden losses like shocks to our system, and they continue to live inside of us like fault lines, like the traumas they are. Ask anyone who has experienced any kind of shocking loss and they will tell you: the air today is just like it was on that day; the scent of hibiscus, of an oil refinery, of powdered donuts, brings it back.
** 我们自身的代谢系统会代谢掉这些突如其来的损失,比如震惊,他们也会像错误的线路一样,继续存留在我们的身体内部,就像可见的外伤。随便问一个曾经经历过突如其来的丧失的人的话,他们会跟你说:今天的空气就跟那天一样;木槿花的芬芳,炼油厂的味道,甜甜圈粉末的香味等都勾起那天所发生的一切。**
And suddenly the tears pool in our eyes, our hearts crack open. We live in all the beautiful, human brokenness of these losses. Our awareness becomes our teacher. Perhaps it even helps us to embrace the ordinary as the amazing turn of circumstance that it is.
突然之间,我们的眼眶里泪水快要决堤,内心里吱呀地被打开。我们生活在充满人类脆弱的丧失之美中。我们的意识也成了自己的人生导师。可能是因为这样的意识也在像这样惊奇的情况转变下,帮助我们拥抱平庸吧。
译者感想:
人生来走一遭,有的人说质本洁来还洁去,有的人说要认真严肃地做每一个选择,谨慎地走好每一步。可要嘛双手空回,要嘛终老前满归的,都得面对死亡,面对自己死亡 ,面对别人的死亡,别人的死亡里分自己至亲的死亡,和疏远淡淡之交的死亡。不管是或亲近或疏远的死亡,其来临的步子都是不一的。
缓慢靠近的死亡像是从得知此消息时就一直背着包袱,久了生厌,但短了痛彻心扉,但总体来说,这都是给了一定的心理准备以及安慰的。而突如其来的死亡呢,可能早上出门前还在挥手告别,然后毫无防备地下午就突然接到一个陌生电话,心是被撕裂的吧,疼得不能呼吸,可生活又要求人要坚强。意外和明天,总是有一个会来。后来哭着走了一段或长或短的路,又面对新的离别。
这些大概都是人生的样子吧。怎么面对呢?哪里能提前知道。我们只能是珍惜着眼前的一切,能拥抱的时候就好好拥抱,能爱的时候就好好相爱,能吃的时候就开心地吃,想做什么就去做(前提不犯法)。过好当下的每一步,尽量不让自己缺憾终身,可能就是一种面对吧。
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我是十一安,希望你能从中学到你所想要的知识。如有不同翻译意见,欢迎指正和讨论呦。
祝你的昨天,今天,明天快乐。