Good or evil, that is the question
小时候我们就背过《三字经》，开篇就是“人之初，性本善”，《礼记·学记》中说“发虑宪，求善良”。善良可以拆开理解为善意与良心，善意是指温厚和善，良心是指不怀恶意、做任何事情都对得起自己的良心。我想借着这篇小文分享一下我对于善良的个人化的理解。
When we were young, we recited the [ Three Character Classic ]. The first chapter starts with “People at birth, are naturally good ( kind-hearted ). ” [ Book of Rites –Record on the Subject of Education **] it is said “Think of the Constitution, Ask for Kindness“. Kindness can be deconstructed as 善: good and 良: conscience. Kindness is gentle and kind, conscience bears no malice, and everything that one does is able to face up to your own conscience. I would like to share my personal understanding of kindness through this short essay.
我问自己，提到善良这个词首先想到的画面是什么？出现在我脑海中的画面是母亲的双手托着刚出生的婴儿。婴儿闭着眼睛安安静静地躺在母亲的怀抱中，母亲用慈爱的眼神在传递着生命中最原始的善。谈到婴儿的善恶问题，有的人说“人之初，性本善”，也有人说“人之初，性本恶”，究竟谁是谁非呢？我猜想刚出生的婴儿偏善偏恶来源于父母的基因，但更重要的在于家庭是否给予这个孩子足够的安全感。如果一个孩子接受了足够的安全感，感受到了父母亲人朋友足够的爱，他在生命初期哪怕于懵懂之中也能够缓慢的建构心中“爱的城堡”。拥有这样一个足够结实的“城堡”的孩子，在面对未来的风云不测之时就能更好地保护自己。
I asked myself, what is the first image that comes to mind when the word kindness is mentioned? The image that comes to my mind is a mother’s hands holding a newborn baby. The baby lies quietly in the arms of the mother with its eyes closed, and the mother conveys with her loving eyes, the most primitive kindness in life. When it comes to the question of good and evil in babies, some people say that “People at birth, are naturally good”, while others say “People at birth, are naturally evil”, so who is right? I guess the good and evil of the newborn baby comes from the genetics of the parents, but more importantly, lies whether the family gives the child enough sense of security. If a child obtains enough sense of security and feels enough love from his parents, relatives and friends, he can slowly build a “castle of love” in his heart even if he is ignorant at the beginning of his life. A child with such a sturdy enough “castle” can better protect himself in the face of unforeseen circumstances in the future.
接下来决定这个孩子是否能够保持善良的因素就是教育了——家人的教育、老师的教导，包括走上社会之后各种师长的带教。这就好比一个新手要学开车，他把理论知识学好之后，开始坐进驾驶室内进行实际操作，副驾必须要有一位教练进行指导监督，防止一不小心把车给开进沟里或者飞到树上。
The next factor that determines whether the child can remain kind is education – the education from family, the teaching of teachers, including the guidance of various seniors after entering the society. This is like a novice who wants to learn to drive. After he has learned the theoretical knowledge, he will sit in the driving seat for practical operation. The co-pilot must be an instructor to guide and supervise, so as to prevent the car from accidentally driving into a ditch or flying into a tree.
青少年时期精力旺盛，接收信息的速度非常迅猛，也格外容易受到环境的影响，稍有不慎便会误入歧途。我在青少年时期就有被混混敲诈的经历，也曾遭受校园霸凌。最好笑的是我只要一买自行车就会被偷，再买自行车则再次被偷……我的第一辆属于自己的自行车是刚上初中之时，作为考上重点中学的一个奖品，每天我心满意足地驾着这台“专车”往返于家和学校之间。（之前骑的都是母亲那种女式的自行车，太不威风了。）
Teenagers are full of energy and vigor, receive information very quickly, and are particularly vulnerable to the influence of the environment. They might start on the wrong path if they are not careful. In my teens, I had been extorted by hooligans and I was bullied at school. The ridiculous thing was that as soon as I buy a bicycle, it will be stolen, and if I buy another bicycle, it will be stolen again… My first bicycle that had belonged to me, I got as a prize for being admitted to a key high school when I started junior high. Every day I was perfectly contented to ride this “private car” between home and school. ( I used to ride on the women’s bicycles like my mom’s, which was not very impressive.)
这台专属自行车是一辆山地车，由一位车行老板改造组装的，性能和颜值双高！这消耗掉了父母的好几百块大洋。可是好景不长，我骑着我心爱的自行车还没嘚瑟到两个月，车就不翼而飞了。我还记得当年站在自行车棚里，望着那个每天停好的位置，反复思考自己是不是停在了这儿，是不是忘上锁了？看着同学们一个接一个的把他们的自行车骑走，我甚至怀疑我今天是不是走路来学校的，而我心爱的自行车只是在家里乖乖的等我！……那种无助感回想起来至今都隐隐存在，就好像是有人偷走了你的一段记忆一样，也偷走了你的心的一角。
My personal bicycle is a mountain bike, remodeled and assembled by a dealership owner, with high performance and looks awesome! This cost my parents hundreds of dollars. But the good times didn’t last long. I barely got to ride and show-off my beloved bike for all of two months before it disappeared. I still remember standing in the bicycle shed, looking at the spot where I parked every day, thinking over and over in my mind, whether I was parked here, or did I forget to lock it? Watching my classmates ride off on their bikes one after the other, I even wondered if I walked to school today, and my beloved bike was just waiting for me at home! …… That sense of helplessness still lingers in retrospect, as if someone had stolen a piece of your memory, and also stole a piece of your heart.
父母为了安慰我很快又给我买了一辆公路自行车，俗称羊角自行车。眼看我的心理创伤就要被这台新座驾疗愈，悲剧再次上演——这辆羊角自行车只陪我了两周。
In order to comfort me, my parents soon bought me a road bike, commonly known as a ram horn bike. Just as my trauma was about to be healed by this new bicycle, tragedy struck again – this ram horn bike only stayed with me for two weeks.
无奈之下，父母为了方便我上学只好给我买了一辆很普通的自行车，again again 都已经普通到快成废品也只跟我混了一周。当时我妈跟我说：“儿子，你可能被盗车团伙盯上了，显眼的不显眼的自行车都保不住，要不这样以后咱们坐公交车上学。”我也只能默默答应了，于是开始每天卡着点出门，当公车没经过家门口的路口时我就慢悠悠的走，一看到公车的影子我就开始狂奔冲向公交车站台，这可能改善了我的短跑冲刺能力吧。
Running out of options, my parents bought me a very ordinary bicycle in order to make it easier for me to go to school. Again again, it was so ordinary that it was nearly a reject, and that only lasted with me for a week. My mother said to me then: “Son, you may be targeted by bicycle theft gangs, and now both conspicuous and inconspicuous bicycles are both unsafe. Why don’t we just have you take the public bus to school in the future.” I could only silently agree, so I began to head out at a fixed timing daily. When the bus did not pass the intersection in front of my house, I walked slowly. As soon as I caught a glimpse of the bus, I dashed madly to the bus stop. This might have improved my sprinting ability.
父母当年对我的教育中没有报复心理，如果不能通过正规的途径维护自己的利益那就换条路走，他们并用合适的方法开导了我，保护了我的“城堡”。我对这个世界的很多认识都是从这个时期慢慢建立的。青春期的教育尤为关键，这很可能决定了你会成为一个满口脏话打架斗殴的街头混混，还是一个对未来对这个世界充满善意，相信这个世界上有很多条路可走的青少年，庆幸我所接受到的教育！
My parents didn’t teach me to be vindictive back then. If we couldn’t protect our own interests through regular routes, then choose another way to go. They used appropriate methods to enlighten and protected my “castle”. A lot of my knowledge of the world was slowly established from this period. Education during adolescence is particularly critical, which is likely to determine whether you will become a street hooligan who fights and curses vulgarities, or a teenager who is full of goodwill towards the future and the world, who believes that there are many ways to go in this world. I am glad for the education I received!
怀有善良之心，对待世间万物会变得包容，世间没有绝对的好人，也没有十足的坏人。用多元的维度、不同的角度去看待自己和他人，会使我们变得更加宽容。我常想，善良是什么颜色呢？善良在我看来是透明的，它能覆盖于任何颜色之上而不扭曲它们。如果你的良善之心变得浑浊，那么你的所见可能就不是事物本来的颜色，而是自己的染污之心罢了。我们的心可能很容易受到濡染，所以需要经常反观，常常拂拭。
With a kind heart, you will become tolerant towards all things in the world. There is no completely good person in the world, and there is no absolute bad person. Seeing ourselves and others from multiple dimensions and perspectives will make us more accepting. I often wonder, what color is kindness? To me, Kindness is transparent, it can overlay on any color without distorting them. If your good heart becomes cloudy, then what you see may not be the original color of things, but your own defiled heart. Our hearts may be easily contaminated, so we need to reflect and wipe them often.
心灵的城堡有很多扇窗户，如果窗户满是污垢，你会害怕向外张望，甚至认为那模糊的影像皆是恶魔的使者。当你把窗户擦拭干净，你才发现那是阳光想要照进你心里——你站在窗前，阳光环绕着你，远方也等待着你。
The castle of the mind has many windows. If the windows are full of filth, you will be afraid to look outside, and may even think that the vague images are the emissaries of the devil. When you wipe the windows clean, you realize that it is the sunlight that wants to shine into your heart – you stand in front of the window, the sunlight surrounds you, and the distant scenery also awaits.
善良与邪恶，这是一个问题。To be or not to be 取决于你。
Good and evil, that is the question. To be or not to be is up to you.
In Hamlet, To be or not to be is To live or not to live.
He is using it in this context to ask the reader to make a choice between being good or evil.
Why do I feel like he is still appealing to a certain group of people who have been relentlessly committing evil deeds towards his family, friends and him? If only they will hear him.
Zhang Zhehan 