Well， Tom， it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well， but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work 60 or 70 hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital[表演會(huì)]. Let me tell you something， Tom， something that has helped me keep a good perspective[看法] on my own priorities[優(yōu)先的事物].

You see， I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic[算術(shù)]. The average person lives about 75 years. I know， some live more and some live less， but on average， folks live about 75 years.

Now then， I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3，900， which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me， Tom， I’m getting to the important part.

It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this， and by that time， I had lived through over 2，800 Saturdays. I got to[開(kāi)始做某事] thinking that if I lived to be 75， I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble[彈珠] they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1，000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large， clear plastic container right here in the shack[棚子] next to my gear[設(shè)備]. Every Saturday since then， I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

I found that by watching the marbles diminish[變少]， I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

Now let me tell you one last thing before I take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning， I took the very last marble out of the container. If I make it until next Saturday， I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.

It was nice to meet you， Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family， and I hope to meet you again.

噢，湯姆，聽(tīng)起來(lái)你的工作一定很忙。我相信他們給你的薪水一定不錯(cuò)，可惜你得經(jīng)常外出，遠(yuǎn)離家人。一個(gè)年輕小伙子每周竟要工作六七十小時(shí)才能維持生計(jì)，真讓人難以置信。你錯(cuò)過(guò)了你女兒的舞蹈匯演呢，太糟糕了。

讓我告訴你一件事吧，湯姆——正是這件事讓我明確了什么才是自己的優(yōu)先項(xiàng)。

你瞧，有一天，我坐下來(lái)算了一下。一般人的壽命大概是75年。我知道，有些人活得更長(zhǎng)，有些人則比較短命。不過(guò)平均而言，人們大概能活75年。

然后我將75乘以52，得出3900——這就是一般人一生中擁有的星期六總數(shù)?？蓜e走神哦，湯姆，我快要講到重點(diǎn)了。

我直到55歲才開(kāi)始思考這一切，而到這時(shí)，我已經(jīng)耗掉2800多個(gè)星期六了。我意識(shí)到假如自己活到75歲，我就只剩下一千多個(gè)周六可以享受人生了。

于是我去了一家玩具店，將他們的彈珠一掃而空。我最后跑了三家店才湊夠1000顆彈珠。我將它們帶回家，用一個(gè)透明的大塑料罐裝起來(lái)，就放在這個(gè)棚屋里，放在我的工具旁邊。從那以后的每個(gè)星期六，我都會(huì)取出一顆彈珠，把它丟得遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的。

我發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)我看著彈珠不斷減少，我會(huì)更加在乎生命中那些重要的事情。沒(méi)有什么比眼看著你在這個(gè)世上的時(shí)間越來(lái)越少更能幫你認(rèn)清自己的優(yōu)先事項(xiàng)了。

在我?guī)Э蓯?ài)的妻子出去吃早餐之前，讓我告訴你最后一點(diǎn)吧。今天早上，我從罐子里拿出了最后一顆彈珠。如果我能活到下周六，那就是老天給了我一點(diǎn)額外時(shí)間。我們誰(shuí)不需要多一點(diǎn)時(shí)間呢。

真高興遇見(jiàn)你，湯姆。我希望你能多陪陪你的家人，也希望我能再次遇到你吧。