Tuesdays with Morrie-24

counsel:提供专业咨询

accommodate:适应

alike:类似的

sniff:深深地吸气

labored:吃力的

violently:剧烈地

quiver:颤抖

"Well,I feel sorry for your generation," Morrie said. "In this culture,it's so important to find a loving relationship with someone because so much ofthe culture does not give you that. But the poor kids today, either they're tooselfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into marriageand then six months later, they get divorced. They don't know what they want ina partner. They don't know who they are themselves-so how can they know who they'remarrying?"

Hesighed. Morrie had counseled so many unhappy lovers in his years as aprofessor. "It's sad, because a loved one is so important. You realizethat, especially when you're in a time like I am, when you're not doing sowell. Friends are great, but friends are not going to be here on a night whenyou're coughing and can't sleep and someone has to sit up all night with you, comfortyou, try to be helpful."

Charlotteand Morrie, who met as students, had been married forty-four years. I watched themtogether now, when she would remind him of his medication, or come in andstroke his neck, or talk about one of their sons. They worked as a team, oftenneeding no more than a silent glance to understand what the other was thinking.Charlotte was a private person, different from Morrie, but I knew how much herespected her, because sometimes when we spoke, he would say, "Charlottemight be uncomfortable with me revealing that," and he would end theconversation. It was the only time Morrie held anything back.

"I'velearned this much about marriage," he said now. "You get tested. Youfind out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate ordon't."

Isthere some kind of rule to know if a marriage is going to work?

Morriesmiled. "Things are not that simple, Mitch." I know.

"Still,"he said, "there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage:If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Ifyou don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If youcan't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot oftrouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonnahave a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.

"Andthe biggest one of those values, Mitch?"'

Yes?

"Yourbelief in the importance of your marriage."

Hesniffed, then closed his eyes for a moment.

"Personally,"he sighed, his eyes still closed, "I think marriage is a very importantthing to do, and you're missing a hell of a lot if you don't try it."

Heended the subject by quoting the poem he believed in like a prayer: "Loveeach other or perish."

Okay, question, I say to Morrie. His bony fingers holdhis glasses across his chest, which rises and falls with each labored breath.

"What's the question?" lie says.

Remember the Book of Job?

"From the Bible?"

Right. Job is a good mare, but God makes him suffer. Totest his faith.

"1 remember."

Takes away everything lie has, his house, his money, hisfamily . . .

"His health."

Makes him sick.

"To test his faith."

Right. To test his faith. So, I'm wondering . . .

"What are you wondering?"

What you think about that?

Morrie coughs violently. His hands quiver as he dropsthem by his side.

"Ithink," he says, smiling, "God overdid it."