微尘与栋梁

作者简介：

威廉・萨默塞特・毛姆（1874―1965），英国著名小说家、剧作家、散文家。原是医学系学生，后转而致力写作，他的文章常在讥讽中潜藏对人性的怜悯与同情。《人性枷锁》是其毕生心血巨著，也为他奠定了伟大小说家的不朽地位、本文的《微尘与栋梁》指他人的小缺点与自己的大缺点，以此为篇名喻意深远，希冀藉此申明责己与责人之道。

It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.

But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?

There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.

令人好奇的是，与他人的过失相比，我们自己的过失往往不是那么的可憎。我想，原因是我们了解一切导致过失出现的情况，因而，能够想法原谅自己犯了一些不容许他人犯的过错。我们不关注自己的缺点，即使身陷困境，不得不正视它们时，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自己的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好与坏。

但当我们评判别人时，情况就不一样了。我们不是通过真正的自我而是用另外一种自我形象来判断，完全摒除了在任何世人眼中，会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的事物。举一个小例子：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地不屑啊!但是有谁可以说自己从未说过谎?可能还不止一百次呢！

人与人之间没什么大的区别。他们皆是伟大与渺小，善良与邪恶，高贵与低贱的混合体。有些人性格比较坚毅，机会也较多，因此在这个或者那个方向上，更能自由地发挥自己的天资，但是人类潜质都是同样的。至于我自己，我不认为自己会比多数人更好或更差，但是我知道，如果我记下我生命中每一个行动和每一个掠过我心头的想法的话，世人将会把我看成一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应能启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，若因此使我们在看待他人时，即使是对

天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，也可以有幽默感的话，而且也不太苛求自己，那也是很有益的。