I was sitting outside my new home yesterday (we just moved last week, and we love the new place), watching the world go by.
There were people in cars, in a hurry to get to their next appointment. There were birds flying by, insects just as busy as the people in cars, plants and weeds thriving in the humid Guam climate.
Inside the house, my children were also busy, as ever, making a mess of the house (which my wife and I would soon clean up), getting into things, their natural curiosity overpowering our previous pleas for them not to play with lotion or take things apart.
The sky was slightly overcast and there was a cool breeze, quite strong and pleasant actually.
It’s not often that most of us just sit quietly, and allow the world to pass us by.
Why not?
What is so important that it can't wait until later? What email must be answered right this moment? Do we really need to read all those articles online, all those messages from others, all those newspapers and magazines? Do we need to have the television and radio and Internet on all the time?
Is life passing us by as we keep our minds super-busy? Are we missing out on the beautiful world around us as we constantly think about the future — what we need to do, our anxieties about what might happen — and the past — what we did wrong, what someone else did to us, what we said, what should have happened?
When was the last time you just sat, and observed? Why not do it today?
译文:
与世界擦身而过
昨天我坐在新家门口（上星期刚搬了家，我们很喜欢这个新地方），看着世界擦身而过。
人们总是在车里，匆忙赶往下个约会。鸟儿们擦身飞过，昆虫们繁忙一如活在车里的人，植物和种子在关岛潮湿的气候下旺盛地生长。
孩子们在屋子里甚是忙碌，如往常一样，把屋子弄得一团糟（而妻子与我最后总是会马上收拾干净）；他们对很多东西都很有兴趣，他们天生的好奇心远远地超越了我们的苦口婆心，劝说告诫不要玩乳液或拆东西。
天空略显阴霾，一阵凉爽的微风袭过，虽有些大，但却很舒服。
我们大多数都不大会这么安静地坐着，任凭世界与我们擦身而过。
但为什么不呢？
有什么重要到一刻都不能耽搁？什么邮件必须立即回复？难道我们真的需要阅读完那些在线文章，来自他人的所有短信，还有那些报纸和杂志吗？难道我们必须一直看电视，听收音，上网吗？
当我们处于极度忙碌状态时，生活是否就这样从我们身边滑过？当我们不停思考未来，思考哪些事该做，为将要发生的事焦虑，以及过去我们所做的错事，或是他人对我们做的错事，还有我们说过的话，本应发生的事的时候，是否错过了身边美好的世界？
你上次这么坐着观望是在什么时候？为何今天不这么做？