The Opportunity Is Right at Your Own Door
There are some over-pious（过分虔诚的） Christian people who think if you take any profit on anything you sell that you are an unrighteous(罪孽深重的) man.On the contrary, you would be a criminal to sell goods for less than they cost.You have no right to do that.You cannot trust a man with your money who cannot take care of his own.You cannot trust a man in your family that is not true to his own wife.You cannot trust a man in the world that does not begin with his own heart,his own charactor, and his own wife.It would have been my duty to have furnished a jack knife to the third man, or the second, and to have sold it to him and actually profited myself.I have no more right to sell goods without making a profit on them than I have to overcharge him dishonestly beyond what they are worth.But I should so sell each bill of goods that the person to whom I sell shall make as much as I make.
To live and let live is the principle of gospel(福音)，the principle of everyday common sense（常识）. Oh, young man, hear me;live as you go along(一如既往的活下去).Do not wait until you have reached my years before you begin to enjoy anything of this life. If I had the millions back, or fifty cents of it, which I have tried to earn in these years, it would not do me anything like the good that it does me now in this almost sacred(庄严的神圣的) presence（出席 到场） tonight.Oh,yes, I am paid over and over a hundredfold(百倍的) tonight for dividing as I have tried to do in some measure as I went along through the years. I ought not speak that way, it sounds egotistic(自高自大的)， but I am old enough now to be excused for that.I should have helped my fellow-men(同胞), which I have tired to do, and every one should try to do, and get the happiness of it. The man who goes home with the sense that he has stolen a dollar that day, that he has robbed a man of what was his honest due, is not going to sweet rest.He arises tired in the morning, and goes with an unclean（不洁的） conscience(良心 道德心) to his work the next day. He is not a successful man at all, although he may have laid up(贮存) millions.But the man who has gone through life dividing always with his fellow-men, making and demanding his own rights and his own profits, and giving to every other man his rights and profits, lives every day, and not only that, but it is the royal road to great wealth. The history of the thousands of millionaires shows that to be the case.
The man over there who said he could not make anything in a store in Philadelphia has been carrying on his store on the wrong principle. Suppose I go into your store tomorrow morning and ask," Do you know neighbor A, who lives one square away, at house No.1240?"
"Oh, yes, I have met him. He deals here at the corner store."
"Where did he come from?"
"I don't know."
"How many does he has in his family?"
"I don't know."
"What ticket does he vote?"
"I don't know."
"What church does he go to?"
"I don't know, and don't care.What are you asking all these questions for?"
If you had a store in Philadelphia would you answer me like that?If so, then you are conducting your business just as I carried on my father's business in Worthington, Massachusetts.You don't know where your neighbor came from when he moved to Philadelphia, and you don't care.If you had cared you would be a rich man now. If you had cared enough about him to take an interest in his affairs, to find out what he needed, you would have been rich.But you go through the world saying,"No opportunity to get rich," and there is the fault right at your own door.
有些过分虔诚的基督徒，他们认为，如果你在所卖的东西上获得利润的话，你就会罪孽深重。其实恰恰相反，如果你低于正常的价格卖出货品，你才是个罪人；你没有权利那样做。你不能把钱财委托给一个对自己的财产都不关心的人；也不能信任一个对妻子不忠的人；更不能信任一个并非全心全意对待自己生活的人。把折刀卖给第三个人，或者是第二个人，那本该是我的责任，我应该把刀卖给他，并使自己获得实际利益。我没有权利以不正当的手段，把货品以高价卖给他，更没有权利售出货品却不赚钱。我所应做的是：卖出货品之后，买卖双方获得同样的利益。
“自己活，也帮助别人活”是《圣经》的基本信条，也是生活常识的基本原则。哦，年轻人，听我说——要一如既往地生活。不要等到像我这样的年纪，才开始享受生活的乐趣。无论我通过这些年的演讲赚到了几百万美元，还是只有五十美分，都比不上今晚身处在这个神圣的场合中我所得到的一切。哦，是的，今晚我将分享这么多年来的生活心得，同时我也得到了百倍的回报。也学我不应该那样讲，那听起来有点自高自大，但作为我这个年纪的人，也是可以原谅的。我应该帮助我的同胞，那是我一直尽力在做的事，你们每个人也都应该这样做，并从中得到快乐。如果一个人带着这样的感觉回家——他当天偷了一美元，或抢了一个正直的人应得之物——他是无法安然入睡的。第二天早晨醒来时，他会非常疲惫，并且会良心不安地去工作。即使他成为了百万富翁，他也根本算不上一个成功的人。相反，如果一个人一生中总是愿意与朋友分享一切，不但为自己，也为别人努力争取利益，那么，他不但活得有意义，而且也必将走上通向财富的阳关大道。无数个百万富翁的经理就可以证明这一点。
那边那位说在费城开商店赚不到钱的朋友，一定是以一种错误的理念经营自己的商店。假设明天早晨我走进你的商店，并且问你：“你认识住在另一条街1240号的邻居A吗？”
“是的，我认识他。他在街角开了一家商店。”
“他是什么地方的人？”
“不知道。”
“他家有几口人？”
“不知道。”
“他把投票投给了谁？”
“不知道。”
“他去哪座教堂做礼拜？”
“我不知道，也不关心。你为什么要问这些问题呢？”
如果你在费城开店，你会那样回答我吗？如果是的话，那么，你的经营方式就像我当年在马萨诸塞州的沃辛顿照管我父亲的商店时一样。你不知道你的邻居从哪儿来、什么时候搬来费城，这些你都不关心。若是你曾经关心过的话，你现在已经是个富翁了。如果你对他足够关心、对他的事情感兴趣，并弄清楚他需要什么，那你就发财了；但你却总是抱怨“没有发财的机会”。你错了，其实机会就在你身边。 |
