Pages

Saturday, May 29, 2010

《第六感生死緣》Meet Joe Black

這禮拜又在電影頻道看了一次第六感生死緣(Meet Joe Black), 還是很喜歡這部電影以及女主角( Claire Forlani )。

"一次Joe到醫院造訪Susan撲空,卻與罹患癌症不久於人世的亞買加老太太有了一段交談。曾經是巫師的老太太在第一次見面時就認出Joe是死神,懇求著要結束自己充滿痛苦的餘命。Joe眉飛色舞地聊起他與Susan的相戀,老太太卻不能認同他的看法,她說:

It is nice it happen to you. Like you come to the island and had a holiday. Sun didn't burn you red-red, just brown. You sleep and no mosquito eat you. But the truth is, it bound to happen if you stay long enough. So take that nice picture you got in your head home with you, but don't be fooled. We lonely here mostly too. If we lucky, maybe, we got some nice pictures to take with us.

這件事很美好,就像你到小島上度假,太陽沒曬傷你,只是讓你黝黑了,睡著時也沒蚊子咬你...但事實是,只要你待得夠久,這些事情遲早都要發生。所以呢,帶著你腦海中美好的畫面回家吧,但別被搞糊塗了。大部分時間,我們都是孤獨一人的;如果夠幸運,或許,我們能夠帶些美好的回憶隨著我們離開。

I want nothing more. What a wonderful trip"

人來世上,不論貧富貴賤,旅程的最後,終將面對同一個終點-死亡。即使這一生擁有多少華服美衣,曾經如何權傾一時,最終依舊要離開。這就像是旅行,結束是一種注定,但一路上請恣意遊歷;盡情體驗,盡可能的留下照片以及美好的回憶。旅行要結束前,好好回顧。 在旅行結束那一天,不管是否如預期般的精彩,都要微微笑,放下一切,然後告訴自己,這趟旅行很豐富了。


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

teach your children values and do not give them everything they want

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett has an old-world spiritual message for today's money-rich parents: teach your children values and do not give them everything they want.
Musician and now author Peter Buffett preaches the message in his new book "Life is What You Make it: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment". Recently released in the United States, it describes how he wound up a "normal, happy" person instead of a spoiled child to one of the world's richest people.



Buffett, 52, teaches the rewards of self-respect and pursuing one's own passions and accomplishments rather than buying into society's concepts of material wealth.



"I am my own person and I know what I have accomplished in my life," he said. "This isn't about wealth or fame or money or any of that stuff, it is actually about values and what you enjoy and finding something you love doing."



People who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth can fall victim to what Buffett said his father has called a "silver dagger in your back," which leads to a sense of entitlement and a lack of personal achievement.



"Entitlement is the worst thing ever and I see entitlement coming in many guises," he said. "Anybody who acts like they deserve something 'just because,', is a disaster."



But Buffett wasn't always this wise. His own family gave him $90,000 in stock when he was 19, a small sum from such immense financial wealth. After studying at Stanford University, he moved to San Francisco and lived in a studio apartment with just enough room for his musical instruments.



"I was really searching," he said, adding that he began his musical career by working for free writing music for a local television station.



"I was kind of lost, but trying to find myself. It was definitely this strange period where I didn't really know where I was going," he said.



LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE



As well his musical passions, the values taught to him growing up and a sense of a bigger picture in life stayed with him during those trying times, he said.



"I was not only not handed everything as a kid, I was shown that there are lots of other people out there with very different circumstances," he said.



Although many people he encounters assume that his father wanted him to go into finance, he said his father accepted his choice to become a musician beginning with commercials then his own albums and composing for television shows and films.



"It was encouraged for a moment when I was open to the idea," he said about pursuing finance. But he added that as he grew older, it became clear the financial world "was not speaking to my heart."



Along with the book, Buffett has embarked on a "Concert & Conversation" tour in which he plays the piano, talks about his life and warns against consumerist culture and damaging the environment.



He said he eventually inherited more money after his mother died in 2004, but by then he had learned his lessons. Now he works on giving back to the world -- another of his life philosophies -- which includes through working for his father's NoVo charitable foundation.



"Economic prosperity may come and go; that's just how it is," he writes in the book. "But values are the steady currency that earn us the all-important rewards."



(editing by Bob Tourtellotte)