Commitment
專心致志
I will never forget what my old headmaster told me. Normally when you are only 15 years of age you do not remember most of the things that are preached by your teachers. But, this particular story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I get reminded of this story.
老校長講的那個故事，給人很多教誨，永遠讓我難以忘記。通常人年僅15歲的時候，很難記住老師講授的大部分內容。但是這個特別故事卻是我永遠都不會忘記的。每當我對人生漫不經心時，我就會想起這個故事
It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly, and he was addressing the students on important things in life and about committing ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went: An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life.
在一個普通的週一晨會上，校長向我們講授生活中重要的東西和要致力於這些對我們來說重要的東西。故事是這樣的：倫敦某地住著一位老人。他每天早晨睡醒後都會去地鐵站，乘坐地鐵到中央倫敦，然後坐在馬路的拐角處乞討。他一生的每一天都是這樣做的。
He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years. His house was filthy, and a stench came out of the house and it smelled horribly. The neighbors could not stand the smell anymore, so they summoned the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years. The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house in anticipation to share the good news with him.
他坐在同一個馬路拐角處，乞討了將近 20 年了。他的房子髒亂不堪，一股惡臭味從房子裡傳來，異常難聞，讓人憎惡。鄰居們再也忍受不了這種味道，於是他們請來警察清理此地。警察撞開房門，把這房子清掃乾淨了。但是他們發現房子到處都是小錢袋，這些錢是他這些年乞討來的。警察數了數這些錢，很快他們意識到這位老人是個百萬富翁。他們在房子外耐心等待這個老人，期望和他一起分享這個好消息。
When he arrived home that evening, he was met by one of the officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire. He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train, and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
那天晚上，老人終於回來了，他和其中一個警察碰面，警察告訴他：“你沒有必要再乞討了，你現在已是個富有的人了，你是個百萬富翁。”老人什麼也沒有說，他走進自己的房子，將門鎖上。第二天早晨，他還是像往常一樣醒來，去地鐵站，搭乘地鐵，坐在馬路拐角處，繼續乞討。
Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing, commitment. We should remain true to our course, although it may mean committing ourselves to things that people around us would normally disapprove. Just keep it in mind that Commitment attracts wealth.
很顯然，這位老人沒有什麼偉大的計劃，沒有夢想，甚至沒有任何對他生活重要的東西。我們從這一故事中也學不到什麼，我們惟一能學到的是要專心於自己喜歡做的事情，要對之忠心耿耿。我們應該忠實於自己的生活之路，儘管那將意味著我們所專心致志的東西常常是周圍人所反對的東西。一定別忘了，專心致志帶來財富。