James Poy Wong 黃培正
"Time is calling out, 'I am leaving!' It will not halt its footsteps just because it sees someone is waiting or to make the person feel worse. It will not purposely run faster just because you are busy or to make you feel disappointed. It is the fairest messenger of life."
"Do You Want Longevity?" - 1946
你要长寿吗？
孩子不认识时光，中年人缺少时光，老年人有着太多时光。 虽然是同一样的时光，因为年龄的关系，也有多少的不同。 事实上，宇宙有阳光找不到的地方，地球也有缺乏水份的沙漠，就是空气，何尝没有厚薄的分别呢？ 只有时光是天赐给人类唯一平等的无价礼物。 以一假定的期限来说，上帝不曾特别宠爱过谁， 也从来没有人行过时间的大运。 但是孩子却呼呼地睡了十几个钟头而不自觉。 疲乏的中年人只睡了五个钟头，还希望自己不需要这消耗时间的休息。 但是老年人却嫌恶那长夜，虚掩着双眼等天亮。
正因为来的容易，我们不注意它。 “寸金难买寸光阴”。 这老调听来很不悦耳，但它是真理。 试问我们曾正当地利用过多少时光，我们自己觉得很惭愧，二十四小时中，没有两小时是有点意义的。 不注意时光，就是不注重生命。 生命是存于时光上面，你的时光用完的时候，就是你的生命的结束。 你为了生存而战斗一切的威胁，但是你却任由 “无聊” 与 “空虚” 抢走你的生命。 这是什么道理？
时光大呼着，“我走了！” 它不会因为看见等待的人而留住脚步，使他更加难堪，也不会因为你忙碌而故意跑得快些，使你失望。 它是最公正的生命使者。 人类睡了几千万年，爱因斯坦才对我们说明光是最速的，我们休想把时光追回。
（我想解释一下时光的定义，我们日常都说 “时间” ，都应用 “时间” 这两个字，但是要解释 “时间” 时，就发现并不容易了。 时间是事情发生前后的距离。如果想知道有这么一件事情发生，必需要有人见到，若想看见一件事物，必需由光传递，没有光什么也不能发生，因为没有人看见。 所以天空的星，有许多是几千万年前的星，今日或许已不存在， 不过到今日才传到我们的眼中， 所以我们以为有颗星在那里。 光是自然的现象，时间是人的假定，故此光和时间是同一的，光的速度就是时间的速度。）
你有度日如年的日子，你也曾体验到几年前犹如昨日的情境。 有时你愿意自己快点死去，有时你却连半分钟也不肯放过。 人类就在这种种矛盾的心理下， 丧失了童年白云般的梦，埋没了最宝贵的青春，对着镜前，轻抚着面上的皱纹， 结果连几根白发也落掉。
一对情人会告诉你，他们怎样把两人短小的时间加在一起，度过一生最甜蜜的光阴，所以问题就回到我们怎样利用时光了。 人之生命，各有长短，可是许多人一生也不曾作过点有意义的事，就是对自己，也未曾真正享受过快乐和幸福。 这人的生命简直白费，和没生又有什么分别呢？ 如果生来，要靠着别人的劳力来养活你，（就算你的父亲是百万富翁）生了又有什么用呢？ 世上有许多贡献大的人，他们的生命不过二十至三十年之间，但是一个懒惰的人，生了八十年，也做不出前一种人所做的百分之一。 总而言之，人的生命和人的事业不是绝对成正比的。 你能够使自己快乐，使生活满足，你才是刚出生的 “孩子”，因为刚落地的种子， 也能自己干出这些。
你想长命么？ 利用你的时光吧！
Do You Want Longevity?
Children don’t comprehend time, middle aged people don’t have enough time, and old people have too much time. Even though it is all the same time, due to the difference of age, its meanings vary. The fact is that there are places in the universe where sunlight cannot be found, and the earth has deserts that do not lack water. Isn't it that even air has a variation of density? Time is the only priceless gift given equally to us by heaven. If we assume for a definite period of time, God hasn’t especially favored anyone, and nobody has lucked out in time. A child can sleep deeply for more than ten hours and is unaware of it; a tired middle aged person sleeps only five hours and hopes he does not need this time-wasteful rest, but an old person would be wary of long nights and just closes his eyes and waits for dawn.
Just because it comes too easily we don’t pay attention to it. “An inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time” is an old tune we find unpleasant to hear, but it is the truth. Dare we ask ourselves how much time we have utilized in the proper way. We would be embarrassed that in twenty four hours, not even two hours are used meaningfully. Not paying attention to time is not cherishing life. Life exists in time, and when you use up your time your life is finished. For survival you struggle against all threats, yet you let boredom and emptiness rob your life. What is the rationale of this?
Time is calling out, “I am leaving!” It will not halt its footsteps just because it sees someone is waiting or to make the person feel worse. It will not purposely run faster just because you are busy or to make you feel disappointed. It is the fairest messenger of life. Humans have slept tens of thousands of years before Einstein explains to us that light is the fastest. There is no hope for us to chase back time.
(I would like to explain the definition of time1. What we usually call time is just a word, but it is not easy when we try to explain what time is. Time is the distance between the beginning and the ending of an event. If you want to know whether such an event has occurred, there has to be someone who has seen it. To see a thing requires the light to transmit it, as without light nothing can happen because no one has seen it. Therefore, the many stars in the sky existed tens of thousands of years ago, and they may not exist today, but they only appear in our eyes until now. So we assume there is a star up there. Light is a phenomena of nature, and time is a supposition of man. Therefore, light and time are the same, and the speed of light is the speed of time.)
You had the experience of passing a day like a year, and you also have experienced moments from many years ago and thought they had just happened yesterday. Sometimes you wish you were dead, but sometimes you won’t let go of even half a minute. Humans have indeed been with such kinds of psychological contradictions and lost their childhood dreams that are like white-clouds. They have buried their most precious youth. Facing the mirror, they lightly touch the wrinkles on their faces, and finally, even the last few white hairs have fallen off.
A couple of lovers will tell you how they combine their short times together and share the sweetest time of their lives. Therefore, the question goes back to how we utilize our time. Human life varies in length, but many people have done nothing meaningful in their whole lives. Even to themselves they have not really enjoyed happiness and well-being. It is a waste of life for these people, and how is it different from not being born? If you have to rely on other people’s labor to keep you alive, (even if your father is a millionaire) what’s the use of being born? There are many people who have made great contributions to the world and lived only between twenty and thirty years, but a lazy person who lived eighty years has not even done one hundredth of what the person previously mentioned has done. In short, the length of a human’s life is not in absolute proportion to his enterprise. If you are able to make yourself happy and your living satisfied, you are just a new born child, because even a newly born child can also do these things.
Do you want longevity? Then just utilize your time.