智慧人生篇章 第4期:尊重

William Shakespeare wrote of the seven ages of man,starting with the puking infant and the whiningschool boy, through the lover, the soldier, theauthority of the middle aged justice, then theslippered pantaloon, ending with the dependency ofold age, sans teeth sans eyes, sans taste, sanseverything. But I find the categories or stages foundin Hinduism more helpful and positive. It speaks offour ages, the student, the householder, the sage,the ascetic, with activity in the world dominatingthe first stages of life, then in later life, the wisdomof experience being shared with upcoming generation, and there's an increasing reflectionupon ultimate truths of life and death.But what's significant for all of us in this understandingis that each stage of life has its own inherent importance and dignity. One is not moresignificant, productive or useful than another. Each stage matters because whether young, oldor middle aged, each has something unique to offer. I suppose that that understandingundergirds the Christian social teaching of everyone contributing to the common good. Soyes, let's have a dignity code for the elderly, and for the young, and for the middle aged. Weall need it.

莎士比亞曾將人生分為7個階段，嬰兒期，叛逆學(xué)生期，戀人，戰(zhàn)士，權(quán)威的中年法官，邋遢的老年期和耳重目盲無滋無味全無自理能力的晚年。但我覺得印度教劃分的更積極，更有意義。它將人生分成四階段，梵行期，家居期，林棲期，遁世期，開始兩個階段主要是完成家庭社會責(zé)任，后兩個階段則跟后輩分享經(jīng)驗智慧，與日俱增的是對生死真相的終極感悟。這種分法對我們意義深遠，人生每個階段都有其內(nèi)涵和尊嚴，不存在哪個階段比哪個階段更有意義，更多產(chǎn)，更有用之說。年輕，年老或中年都有其特有的貢獻，所以每個階段都很重要。我想這種理解鞏固了基督教教導(dǎo)世人向善的基調(diào)。所以，我們要敬老，要愛幼，要尊重中年人。人人都需要尊重。