Dear Seth,

You’re only three years old, and at this point in your life you can't read, much less understand what I’m going to try to tell you in this letter. But I've been thinking a lot about the life that you have ahead of you, about my life so far as I reflect on what I've learned, and about my role as a dad in trying to prepare you for the trials that you will face in the coming years.

You won't be able to understand this letter today, but someday, when you're ready, I hope you will find some wisdom and value in what I share with you.

You are young, and life has yet to take its toll on you, to throw disappointments and heartaches and loneliness and struggles and pain into your path. You have not been worn down yet by long hours of thankless work, by the slings and arrows of everyday life.

For this, be thankful. You are at a wonderful stage of life. You have many wonderful stages of life still to come, but they are not without their costs and perils.

I hope to help you along your path by sharing some of the best of what I've learned. As with any advice, take it with a grain of salt. What works for me might not work for you.

Life Can Be Cruel

There will be people in your life who won't be very nice. They'll tease you because you're different, or for no good reason. They might try to bully you or hurt you.

There's not much you can do about these people except to learn to deal with them, and learn to choose friends who are kind to you, who actually care about you, who make you feel good about yourself. When you find friends like this, hold on to them, treasure them, spend time with them, be kind to them, love them.

There will be times when you are met with disappointment instead of success. Life won't always turn out the way you want. This is just another thing you'll have to learn to deal with. But instead of letting these things get you down, push on. Accept disappointment and learn to persevere, to pursue your dreams despite pitfalls. Learn to turn negatives into positives, and you'll do much better in life.

You will also face heartbreak and abandonment by those you love. I hope you don't have to face this too much, but it happens. Again, not much you can do but to heal, and to move on with your life. Let these pains become stepping stones to better things in life, and learn to use them to make you stronger.

But Be Open to life Anyway

Yes, you'll find cruelty and suffering in your journey through life … but don't let that close you to new things. Don't retreat from life, don't hide or wall yourself off. Be open to new things, new experiences, new people.

You might get your heart broken 10 times, but find the most wonderful woman the 11th time. If you shut yourself off from love, you'll miss out on that woman, and the happiest times of your life.

You might get teased and bullied and hurt by people you meet … and then after meeting dozens of jerks, find a true friend. If you close yourself off to new people, and don't open your heart to them, you'll avoid pain … but also lose out on meeting some incredible people, who will be there during the toughest times of your life and create some of the best times of your life.

You will fail many times but if you allow that to stop you from trying, you will miss out on the amazing feeling of success once you reach new heights with your accomplishments. Failure is a stepping stone to success.

Life Isn't a Competition

You will meet many people who will try to outdo you, in school, in college, at work. They'll try to have nicer cars, bigger houses, nicer clothes, cooler gadgets. To them, life is a competition — they have to do better than their peers to be happy.

Here's a secret: Life isn't a competition. It's a journey. If you spend that journey always trying to impress others, to outdo others, you’re wasting your journey. Instead, learn to enjoy the journey. Make it a journey of Happiness, of constant learning, of continual improvement, of love.

Don't worry about having a nicer car or house or anything material, or even a better-paying job. None of that matters a whit, and none of it will make you happier. You'll acquire these things and then only want more. Instead, learn to be satisfied with having enough — and then use the time you would have wasted trying to earn money to buy those things … use that time doing things you love.

Find your passion, and pursue it doggedly. Don't settle for a job that pays the bills. Life is too short to waste on a job you hate.

Love Should Be Your Rule

If there's a single word you should live your life by, it should be this: Love. It might sound corny, I know … but trust me, there's no better rule in life.

Some would live by the rule of success. Their lives will be stressful, unhappy and shallow.

Others would live by the rule of selfishness — putting their needs above those of others. They will live lonely lives, and will also be unhappy.

Still others will live by the rule of righteousness — trying to show the right path, and admonishing anyone who doesn't live by that path. They are concerned with others, but in a negative way, and in the end will only have their own righteousness to live with, and that's a horrible companion.

Live your life by the rule of love. Love your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, with all of your heart. Give to them what they need, and show them not cruelty nor disapproval nor coldness nor disappointment, but only love. Open your soul to them.

Love not only your loved ones, but your neighbors … your coworkers … strangers … your brothers and sisters in humanity. Offer anyone you meet a smile, a kind word, a kind gesture, a helping hand.

Love not only neighbors and strangers … but your enemy. The person who is cruelest to you, who has been unkind to you … love him. He is a tortured soul, and most in need of your love.

And most of all, love yourself. While others may criticize you, learn not to be so hard on yourself, to think that you’re ugly or dumb or unworthy of love … but to think instead that you are a wonderful human being, worthy of Happiness and love … and learn to love yourself for who you are.

Finally, know that I love you and always will. You are starting out on a weird, scary, daunting, but ultimately incredibly wonderful journey, and I will be there for you when I can. Godspeed.

Love, Your Dad

親愛(ài)的塞斯,

你現(xiàn)在僅僅3歲，此刻你還不識(shí)字，更不用說(shuō)讓你去理解我接下來(lái)想在這封信里對(duì)你所說(shuō)的話了。但是我已經(jīng)苦思冥想了好久，關(guān)于你即將面臨的人生以及我的生活，我反思我所學(xué)會(huì)的；思考一個(gè)父親的職責(zé)，力圖讓你為未來(lái)歲月中即將面臨的困難做好充分準(zhǔn)備。

你今天并不能理解這封信的含義，但是某一天，當(dāng)時(shí)機(jī)成熟，我希望你能在我與你分享的內(nèi)容當(dāng)中找尋到些許的智慧和價(jià)值。

你還很年輕，生命還尚未開(kāi)始摧殘你，沒(méi)有在你的人生道路上布置失望，傷心，孤獨(dú)，掙扎和苦痛。你還沒(méi)有被漫長(zhǎng)的乏味工作，被日常生活的打擊搞得筋疲力盡。

因此，謝天謝地吧。你正處在人生一個(gè)美妙的階段。還有很多美妙的階段會(huì)來(lái)到你面前，但是都不是唾手可得的，你都得付出代價(jià)，經(jīng)歷風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

我希望通過(guò)分享一些我所學(xué)到的最好的道理能幫助你走好人生路。至于任何建議，且把它當(dāng)作佐料，因?yàn)檫m合我的并不一定適用于你。

生活會(huì)很殘酷

你的生活中一定會(huì)有并不友好的人。他們恥笑你因?yàn)槟悴煌跊](méi)有更好的理由。他們可能會(huì)欺負(fù)你或者傷害你。

對(duì)這種人你除了學(xué)會(huì)和其接觸無(wú)計(jì)可施，同時(shí)你也要學(xué)會(huì)擇友，選擇那些對(duì)你友善的，那些真正關(guān)心你的，那些令你對(duì)自己感到很好的人做朋友。當(dāng)你尋找到像這樣的朋友，就一定要堅(jiān)守這份友誼，珍惜他們，花些時(shí)間和他們?cè)谝黄?，友善的?duì)待他們并愛(ài)他們。

有時(shí)你會(huì)遭遇挫折而非成功。生活并不總會(huì)如你所愿。這是另一件你需要學(xué)會(huì)處理的事情。但你要挺住向前，而不是讓這些事讓你陷入低谷。接受挫敗并學(xué)會(huì)堅(jiān)持，不畏風(fēng)險(xiǎn)地追求你的夢(mèng)想。學(xué)會(huì)把消極轉(zhuǎn)化為積極，之后你就能做的好得多。

你同樣會(huì)面臨心碎時(shí)刻以及你深愛(ài)的人的拋棄。我希望你無(wú)須經(jīng)歷太多此類事件，但如果不幸發(fā)生了，再一次，除了慢慢愈合心中的創(chuàng)傷并繼續(xù)下去你的生活，你別無(wú)選擇。讓這些痛苦成為你通向更美好生活的墊腳石，并學(xué)會(huì)利用它們讓自己更堅(jiān)強(qiáng)。

但無(wú)論如何，都要張開(kāi)雙臂擁抱生活。

是的，在你的生命歷程中你會(huì)遇到殘酷，煎熬……但不要讓這些讓你拒絕接受新鮮事物。不要逃避生活，不要躲藏，抑或封閉自己。擁抱新鮮事物，經(jīng)歷全新體驗(yàn)，接觸新的人。

你或許心碎了10次，但是在第十一次找到至愛(ài)。如果你把自己關(guān)在愛(ài)的門外，你就會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)這個(gè)女子，和你生命中最快樂(lè)的時(shí)光。

你可能會(huì)被你遇到的人恥笑欺負(fù)傷害…而在見(jiàn)了一打這種稀奇古怪的人后，你會(huì)找到一個(gè)真正的朋友。如果你拒絕接觸新人群，并不向他們敞開(kāi)心扉，你會(huì)避免受傷……但是同時(shí)也失去了認(rèn)識(shí)這些不可思議的人的機(jī)會(huì)，他們會(huì)在你生命最困難的時(shí)刻陪伴著你，并帶給你人生當(dāng)中最美好的時(shí)光。

你會(huì)失敗多次但是如果你讓失敗打到了你，不再努力，你就會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)那種當(dāng)你達(dá)到成就新高度的難以言喻的成就感。失敗是成功之母。

生命不是一場(chǎng)競(jìng)賽

你會(huì)遇到一些人他們總是試圖超過(guò)你，在中學(xué)，大學(xué)，在工作中。他們想要擁有更好的車，更大的房子，更好的衣物，更酷的小玩意。對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)，生命就是一場(chǎng)競(jìng)賽---他們不得不比同輩做得更好來(lái)讓自己感到快樂(lè)。

這里有一個(gè)秘訣：生命并不是一場(chǎng)競(jìng)賽。而是一段旅程。如果你在途中一直都試圖給他人留下深刻印象，超過(guò)別人，那你就浪費(fèi)了這段旅程。與之相反，學(xué)會(huì)享受它，讓之成為快樂(lè)之旅，永恒的學(xué)習(xí)之旅，持久的進(jìn)步之旅以及愛(ài)之旅。

不要為擁有一輛更好的車或一所更好的房子或者任何物質(zhì)的東西，即便是一份薪水更高的工作操心。這些根本無(wú)足輕重，也不會(huì)使你快樂(lè)。你可能在擁有了這些之后只是想要更多的。與之相反，學(xué)會(huì)滿足你已經(jīng)擁有的---然后學(xué)會(huì)利用你原本想要浪費(fèi)在為掙錢買這些東西的時(shí)間去做你真正熱愛(ài)的事。

找到你的激情，堅(jiān)持不懈地追求它。別讓自己被一個(gè)還債的的工作所累。生命太短暫了，更不可將之浪費(fèi)在你所厭惡的工作上。

愛(ài)應(yīng)該成為你的生活準(zhǔn)則

如果讓一個(gè)詞成為你的生活支撐的話，那它應(yīng)該是愛(ài)。也許這聽(tīng)來(lái)已是老生常談，我也清楚… 但是請(qǐng)信任我，再?zèng)]有更好的生活準(zhǔn)則了。

一些人以成功作為生活準(zhǔn)則。他們的生活會(huì)很緊張，不開(kāi)心并且很淺薄。

另一些人的生活準(zhǔn)則是個(gè)人利益---他們將個(gè)人需要置于他人需要之上。他們孤獨(dú)一生，終究也不會(huì)快樂(lè)。

還有一些人他們?yōu)檎x而生---努力展示其道路的正確性，并試圖勸服任何一個(gè)不以正義為生活準(zhǔn)則的人。他們關(guān)心他人，卻以一種消極的方式，最終懷抱追尋一生的正義而終，而正卻是一個(gè)糟糕的伴侶。

用愛(ài)支撐你的生命。愛(ài)你的妻子，你的孩子，你的父母親，你的朋友，全心全意地去愛(ài)。給與他們你所需要的，不要流露出任何殘忍，不贊同，冷漠或者失望，只有愛(ài)。向他們敞開(kāi)靈魂。

不僅僅愛(ài)你深愛(ài)的人，也要愛(ài)你的鄰居...你的同事…甚至陌生人…他們是你廣義上的兄弟姐妹。給你遇到的任何一個(gè)人一個(gè)微笑，一句善語(yǔ)。一個(gè)友好的姿勢(shì)，一只援助之手。

不僅僅愛(ài)鄰居和陌生人…也要愛(ài)你的敵人。對(duì)你最殘酷的人，對(duì)曾經(jīng)對(duì)你不善的人…愛(ài)他。他是一個(gè)備受折磨的靈魂，最需要你的愛(ài)。

最重要的是愛(ài)你自己。當(dāng)別人批評(píng)你時(shí)，學(xué)著不要強(qiáng)加自己，去認(rèn)為自己丑，笨或者不值得去愛(ài)…而要想著自己是一個(gè)很完美的人，值得擁有幸福和真愛(ài)…并學(xué)會(huì)愛(ài)現(xiàn)在的自己。

最后，要知道我愛(ài)你并且永遠(yuǎn)都會(huì)，你即將開(kāi)啟一段有點(diǎn)奇怪，令人害怕，令人心悸但最終很不可思議的巧妙旅程，我永遠(yuǎn)會(huì)支持你。祝萬(wàn)事如意。

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