評論
打印
Now if all this is true, then why are we getting it so wrong?
如果這一切都是真的，我們?yōu)楹五e的一塌糊涂？
Why are we setting up our schools this way, and our workplaces?
我們?yōu)楹伟褜W校跟職場架設成這樣？
And why are we making these introverts feel so guilty about wanting to just go off by themselves some of the time?
我們?yōu)楹我屵@些內向者，因為想有獨立自處的時間而感到無所適從？
One answer lies deep in our cultural history.
有個答案深植在我們的社會文化里。
Western societies, and in particular the U.S., have always favored the man of action over the "man" of contemplation.
我們西方社會，特別是在美國，總是贊揚有行動力的人，而非有沉思能力的人，有沉思能力的“男人”。
But in America's early days, we lived in what historians call a culture of character,
但在美國早期，歷史學家稱之文化性格時期，
where we still, at that point, valued people for their inner selves and their moral rectitude.
那時人們仍尊重公正清廉，有內在涵養(yǎng)的人。
And if you look at the self-help books from this era, they all had titles with things like "Character, the Grandest Thing in the World."
綜觀那時的勵志書籍，幾乎都會有像是“品格是世上最珍貴的東西”等頭銜。
And they featured role models like Abraham Lincoln, who was praised for being modest and unassuming.
例如亞伯拉罕·林肯，因其謙遜與不裝腔作勢的性格，而被群眾頌揚。
Ralph Waldo Emerson called him "A man who does not offend by superiority."
拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生稱其“不被優(yōu)越感駕馭的男人”。
But then we hit the 20th century, and we entered a new culture that historians call the culture of personality.
然而隨著二十世紀到來，我們進入了一個新的紀元，歷史上稱之為文化人格時期。
What happened is we had evolved an agricultural economy to a world of big business.
我們從農村經濟演變?yōu)榇笮唾Q易體制，
And so suddenly people are moving from small towns to the cities.
突然間人們從小鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)涌入大城市。
And instead of working alongside people they've known all their lives, now they are having to prove themselves in a crowd of strangers.
所以人們不再只是跟一起長大的人共事，而必須在強者四伏的環(huán)境中，積極的證明自己的能力。
So, quite understandably, qualities like magnetism and charisma suddenly come to seem really important.
因此，不難理解，具有吸引力的個人魅力變得格外的重要。
And sure enough, the self-help books change to meet these new needs and they start to have names like "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
自然地，勵志書籍也改變路線了，開始出現像是“如何贏得朋友和影響他人”等這樣的書名。
And they feature as their role models really great salesmen.
成功的推銷員，變成人們楷模的對向。
So that's the world we're living in today. That's our cultural inheritance.
這就是我們所生活的今天，我們的文化傳承于此。
