My third story is about death.

我的第三個故事是關于死亡

When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything -all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was.The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die."It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months.It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.I lived with that diagnosis all day.Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there,And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new.Right now, the new is you.But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, And most important...have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.

17歲那年，我讀到過這樣一段話，大意是：“如果你把每一天都當作生命的最后一天過，總有一天你的假設會成為現實。”我記住了這句話，從那時算起，33年過去了，我每天早晨都對著鏡子捫心自問： “假如今天是我生命中的最后一天，我還會去做今天要做的事嗎？”如果一連許多天我的回答都是“不”，我知道自己應該有所改變了。 提醒自己快死了，是我在人生中下重大決定時所用到的最好的辦法。因為幾乎每件事－所有外界期望、所有名譽、所有對困窘或失敗的恐懼－在面對死亡時，都消失了，只有最重要的東西才會留下。提醒自己快死了，是我所知避免自己因失落而陷入不知所措的窘境的最好的方法 。你已一無所有，沒什么理由不順心而為。大約一年前，我被診斷患了癌癥。那天早上七點半，我做了一次掃描檢查，結果清楚地表明我的胰腺上長了一個瘤子 。可那時我連胰腺是什么還不知道呢。醫生告訴我說，幾乎可以確診這是一種無法治愈的惡性腫瘤，我最多還能活三到六個月 。醫生建議我回家好好跟親人們度過最后時光，這是醫生對臨終病人的標準建議。那代表你得在幾個月內把你準備在將來十年想跟小孩講的話講完 。那代表你得把每件事情搞定，家人才會盡量輕松。那代表你得跟他們說再見了。我整天想著那個診斷結果 。那天晚上做了一次切片，從喉嚨伸入一個內視鏡，從胃進腸子，插了根針進胰臟，取了一些腫瘤細胞出來。我打了鎮靜劑，不醒人事，但是我老婆在場。她后來跟我說，當醫生們用顯微鏡看過那些細胞后，他們都哭了，因為那是非常少見的一種胰臟癌，可以用手術治好。我做了手術，現在好了。這是我和死神離得最近的一次，我希望也是今后幾十年里最近的一次。有了這次經歷之后，現在我可以更加實在地和你們談論死亡。那就是：誰都不愿意死。即使是那些想進天堂的人也不會愿意為了進天堂而去死。然而，死亡是我們共同的歸宿，沒人能擺脫。我們注定會死，因為死亡很可能是生命最好的一項發明。它推進生命的推陳出新，新辰換代，現在，你們就是新的，但在不久的將來，你們也會逐漸成為舊的，也會被淘汰，抱歉講得這么戲劇化，但是這是事實 。你們的時間都有限，所以不要按照別人的意愿去活。不要讓別人思想里盲從的信條困惑你 。不要讓別人觀點的聒噪聲淹沒自己的心聲。最主要的是，要有跟著自己感覺和直覺走的勇氣。無論如何，感覺和直覺早就知道你到底想成為一個什么樣的人，其它的都不重要 。