如果明天就是下一生，你将如何度过今天？
乔布斯在斯坦福的演讲中曾分享过，他十七岁时读到了一句话：“如果你把每一天都当作生命中最后一天去过活，那么有一天你会发现你是正确的。” 从那时开始，他在余生的每一天早晨都会对着镜子问：“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天，我会不会完成今天想做的事情呢？”当答案连续很多次被给予“不是”的时候就知道需要改变某些事情了。
诸行无常，记住我们终将死去是一生中最重要的箴言。在死亡面前，几乎所有的事情，包括荣誉、骄傲、对难堪和失败的恐惧都会消失，留下那些我们真正珍视的东西。下面的这首这首《如果明天就是下一生》是由张惠美作词，石青如作曲，彩虹合唱团献唱。它的歌词优美，旋律动人，更让人动容的是字里行间表露出的对人生无常的思考，对宝贵生命的珍视。
岁月在你我呼吸间流浪
当终点抵达
那些想望休息了吗
身心在日出日落间耗转
当无常宣判
你的心回家了吗
周遭一幕幕演出
不存在的陌生
寻寻觅觅哟
断线珍珠怎么接
失落的音符怎么唱
如果明天就是下一生
你将如何度过今天
如果明天就是下一生
你将如何度过今天
我用温暖
守护生命
让浪花留了痕
我用觉照
守护健康
让转轮点了光
Brother Richard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscan living in Ireland, has penned a touching poem amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As someone who has been working from home over the last 5 weeks, I echo the sentiments and feel emotionally resonated. I read the poem out aloud and add it to the Podcast recordings dedicated to my lovely daughter Melody.
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing!
