有些東西你買得起，但你真的用不起

M在地鐵站看到一位女士。

M saw a lady in the subway station.

她正在和保安爭吵着，因爲她不想把她的包包放進安檢機。

She was quarreling with the security guard, because she was not willing to put her handbag into the security inspector.

“這很貴的！”她喊叫到，“機器會把它刮花的”

"It's expensive!" she shouted, "The machine's gonna scratch it!"

M從她的身邊經過，她注意到了包上的logo。

M noticed the logo on that handbag when she passed by.

嗯，的確是一個奢侈品品牌，而且包包看起來很新。

Yeah, it was of a luxury brand and looked quite new.

而從這位女士的反映來看，這包應該是正品。

And judging from the lady's reaction, she guessed it's authentic.

不過，再看看她身上的其他東西，以及她的舉止，不難看出她的收入應該不是特別高。

But if you check out the lady's other items and her behavior, it’s not so difficult to see that her income may not be very high.

所以，這個包對她來說很可能是一筆很大的開銷，可能是她從每頓飯中省下來的錢。

So it's highly probable that the handbag really cost her a fortune, maybe the money she saved from her every meal.

而且顯然，這個包不光花了她的錢，還在消耗她寶貴的通勤時間以及她的好心情。

And apparently it was also costing her this precious commuting time and at the same time her good mood.

“悲哀呀。” M當時想。

"Sad." M thought.

M記得媽媽曾經對她說：“永遠不要買你用不起的東西。”

M’s mother once told her: "Never buy anything that you can't really afford to use."

“這不光是關於錢，而是關於你爲這件東西付出的一切。”

It's not only about money. It's about everything that you give up for it.

你的時間、你的精力，這些都是看不見的隱形成本。

Your time, your attention. These are all invisible costs.

而他們往往比金錢更難以承受。

And they are normally way bigger than the money you spend.

人這一輩子會遇到很多敵人，而最難纏的敵人往往就是自己。

We encounter many enemies in our lives. And the most difficult among them all are usually ourselves.

當你買一件東西時，你到底是爲了用它，還是爲了滿足自己的虛榮？

Please answer a question. Why do you buy something? Because you want to use it? Or because you want to fulfil your vanity?

你可能覺得滿足虛榮也無可厚非，但如果這份虛榮需要讓你承受莫大的負擔，那它真的值得嗎？

Or maybe you think there’s nothing wrong with fulfilling your vanity. But if what this vanity brings you is just enormous burden, is it still worth it?

人生的最大目的是追求快樂，而虛榮只是一種手段。

The ultimate goal of living a life is finding happiness. And vanity is merely a method of doing it.

可當這種手段變成了痛苦的根源，那又何必去追求它呢？

So if this method has turned into a source of pain, then what’s the point of continuing using it?

它給你帶來的不會是微笑，而是眉頭緊皺。

What it produces now won’t be smiles, but frowns.

是的，你也可以把這份虛榮精心呵護起來。

And yes, you surely can find a place to protect this vanity of yours.

你可以把它珍藏在家裏，時不時地拿出來安慰自己，讓自己體會這種“擁有”的優越感。

You can put it back home and take it out now and then to console yourself and feel this sense of superiority that comes with possessing it.

但這又有什麼意義呢？

But what’s the meaning of this?

如果只有你自己能見證這個時刻，難道不覺得整個世界都因此變得孤獨而無望嗎？

If you yourself are the only one who witness this moment, wouldn’t it make you feel that the whole world just becomes lonely and hopeless?

這就好像是一個孤獨的人在鏡子前化妝給自己看，換來的只能是難以忍受的空虛和悲傷。

It’s just like a lonely person standing in front of a mirror and putting up makeups just for herself to appreciate. What she gains out of this can only be unbearable emptiness and sadness.

而當她走出房間的門，等待她的依舊是那無法逃避的生活瑣碎。

But once she goes out of that door, what she meets will still be all the trivial things in her life which she can’t escape from.

一切都沒有改變。

Nothing changed.

M就覺得她自己在網上買的這個包挺好的。它不是名牌，但質量很好，而且正是她喜歡的設計。

M’s totally happy with her handbag that she bought online. It's not expensive. It's not of any luxury brand. But it's of great quality and designed in just the way she likes it.

這就夠了。

That's enough.

當你買東西來用的時候，你就擁有了這件東西。

When you buy things to use, you own the things.

而當你買東西來崇拜時，是這件東西擁有了你。

When you buy things to worship, they own you.

而她並不想花錢去成爲一個奴隸。

And she doesn’t want to pay to be a slave.