我信，因為這「不合理」。

世上不合理的事情太多了，多得令我不想看，不想想，不合理的事情天天發生，令我生氣，令我生厭。有時候自問：「你認為合理的，別人可不這樣認為，你又怎能堅稱你的才是對的，別人都要合你的理？」沒錯，我不能叫別人都「合」我的「理」，但我相信人世間有一不變的真理，這真理不論你怎麼辯解、怎麼曲解、怎麼不解，都仍然屹立不搖，因為是真實不變的道理。這真理是甚麼？這真理是信、是望、是愛。

小童被拐帶後被斬手斬腳，弄瞎燒傷，繼而被餓肚子，推到街上行乞，這合理嗎？不！但對小孩子做這些事的人，認為很合理：弱肉強食，適者生存，那裡錯了？那麼，我能跟他們說他們不合理嗎？如果根據「你不能叫別人都『合』你的『理』」的推理，我不可以說他們不對，社會不可以說他們不對，執法機構更不可以說他們不對，法律不外人情，不是嗎？難道執法者要拐帶小童的餓肚子嗎？然而，人心中有個「律」，世人稱之為「良心」，這個大部份人共同擁有對甚麼是合理，甚麼是不合理的信念，讓我們知道，要指責拐賣小童的人，社會也要有法律懲治這等人，因為人間有信、有望、有愛。無論拐帶孩童者怎麼辯解、怎麼曲解、怎麼不解，人心中的信、望、愛，仍然屹立不搖！

就在自忖人世間仍存天理的一刻，突然遇見一件怎麼看也不合理的事：

我殺了人，被拉上法庭，被判死罪。然而，法官宣判的一刻，竟然指著站在被告欄旁的一個人，說：「你，代替她坐到電椅上。」那人默默點頭，被庭警帶走。我無罪釋放了。發生了甚麼事？那人是誰？為甚麼他會聽法官的話？莫非他也是重犯，反正要死的，就把我的死罪也算到他頭上，莫非法官對我開恩了？但是，為甚麼？

走到法院外面，被一大群記者包圍，他們不解地皺著眉，搶著高聲問我：「妳是否行賄了？辯護律師跟法官有甚麼協議嗎？」在團團疑惑中，他們的問題叫我更混亂。我不明白他們在說甚麼，問身邊的朋友，他們同樣疑惑地看著我，我問：「究竟那被帶走的人是誰？」

此時，一位記者大聲喊著問：「你跟法官的兒子是甚麼關係？是情人嗎？」

甚麼？情人？法官的兒子？！我從來沒見過這個人，法官為甚麼要叫他的兒子頂替我？這人沒有犯過法，連超速行車、隨地吐痰、不按燈號過馬路，都沒有犯過。再打聽一下，原來他不單是法官的兒子，更是法官的獨子，是他所有資產的唯一繼承人！

福音，就是那麼「不合理」。我信神、信福音、信耶穌，因為越看聖經越覺得「不合理」。

哥林多前書1:18-21
因為十字架的道理，在那滅亡的人為愚拙；在我們得救的人，卻為上帝的大能。就如經上所記： 我要滅絕智慧人的智慧， 廢棄聰明人的聰明。智慧人在哪裏？文士在哪裏？這世上的辯士在哪裏？上帝豈不是叫這世上的智慧變成愚拙嗎？ 世人憑自己的智慧，既不認識上帝，上帝就樂意用人所當作愚拙的道理拯救那些信的人；這就是上帝的智慧了。

100% Me

"Quiet"
The Hong Kong History Museum

Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?

If so, do you tell this person he is "too serious," or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out?

If you answered yes to these questions, chances are that you have an introvert on your hands—and that you aren't caring for him properly. Science has learned a good deal in recent years about the habits and requirements of introverts. It has even learned, by means of brain scans, that introverts process information differently from other people (I am not making this up). If you are behind the curve on this important matter, be reassured that you are not alone. Introverts may be common, but they are also among the most misunderstood and aggrieved groups in America, possibly the world.

I know. My name is Jonathan, and I am an introvert.

Oh, for years I denied it. After all, I have good social skills. I am not morose or misanthropic. Usually. I am far from shy. I love long conversations that explore intimate thoughts or passionate interests. But at last I have self-identified and come out to my friends and colleagues. In doing so, I have found myself liberated from any number of damaging misconceptions and stereotypes. Now I am here to tell you what you need to know in order to respond sensitively and supportively to your own introverted family members, friends, and colleagues. Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts. It pays to learn the warning signs.

What is introversion? In its modern sense, the concept goes back to the 1920s and the psychologist Carl Jung. Today it is a mainstay of personality tests, including the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Introverts are not necessarily shy. Shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings; introverts generally are not. Introverts are also not misanthropic, though some of us do go along with Sartre as far as to say "Hell is other people at breakfast." Rather, introverts are people who find other people tiring.

"Step Aside"
The Hong Kong History Museum

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn't antisocial. It isn't a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: "I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses."

How many people are introverts? I performed exhaustive research on this question, in the form of a quick Google search. The answer: About 25 percent. Or: Just under half. Or—my favorite—"a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population."

Are introverts misunderstood? Wildly. That, it appears, is our lot in life. "It is very difficult for an extrovert to understand an introvert," write the education experts Jill D. Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig. (They are also the source of the quotation in the previous paragraph.) Extroverts are easy for introverts to understand, because extroverts spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluble, and frequently inescapable, interaction with other people. They are as inscrutable as puppy dogs. But the street does not run both ways. Extroverts have little or no grasp of introversion. They assume that company, especially their own, is always welcome. They cannot imagine why someone would need to be alone; indeed, they often take umbrage at the suggestion. As often as I have tried to explain the matter to extroverts, I have never sensed that any of them really understood. They listen for a moment and then go back to barking and yipping.

Are introverts oppressed? I would have to say so. For one thing, extroverts are overrepresented in politics, a profession in which only the garrulous are really comfortable. Look at George W. Bush. Look at Bill Clinton. They seem to come fully to life only around other people. To think of the few introverts who did rise to the top in politics—Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon—is merely to drive home the point. With the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, whose fabled aloofness and privateness were probably signs of a deep introverted streak (many actors, I've read, are introverts, and many introverts, when socializing, feel like actors), introverts are not considered "naturals" in politics.

Extroverts therefore dominate public life. This is a pity. If we introverts ran the world, it would no doubt be a calmer, saner, more peaceful sort of place. As Coolidge is supposed to have said, "Don't you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?" (He is also supposed to have said, "If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it." The only thing a true introvert dislikes more than talking about himself is repeating himself.)

With their endless appetite for talk and attention, extroverts also dominate social life, so they tend to set expectations. In our extrovertist society, being outgoing is considered normal and therefore desirable, a mark of happiness, confidence, leadership. Extroverts are seen as bighearted, vibrant, warm, empathic. "People person" is a compliment. Introverts are described with words like "guarded," "loner," "reserved," "taciturn," "self-contained," "private"—narrow, ungenerous words, words that suggest emotional parsimony and smallness of personality. Female introverts, I suspect, must suffer especially. In certain circles, particularly in the Midwest, a man can still sometimes get away with being what they used to call a strong and silent type; introverted women, lacking that alternative, are even more likely than men to be perceived as timid, withdrawn, haughty.

Are introverts arrogant? Hardly. I suppose this common misconception has to do with our being more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive than extroverts. Also, it is probably due to our lack of small talk, a lack that extroverts often mistake for disdain. We tend to think before talking, whereas extroverts tend to think by talking, which is why their meetings never last less than six hours. "Introverts," writes a perceptive fellow named Thomas P. Crouser, in an online review of a recent book called Why Should Extroverts Make All the Money? (I'm not making that up, either), "are driven to distraction by the semi-internal dialogue extroverts tend to conduct. Introverts don't outwardly complain, instead roll their eyes and silently curse the darkness." Just so.

The worst of it is that extroverts have no idea of the torment they put us through. Sometimes, as we gasp for air amid the fog of their 98-percent-content-free talk, we wonder if extroverts even bother to listen to themselves. Still, we endure stoically, because the etiquette books—written, no doubt, by extroverts—regard declining to banter as rude and gaps in conversation as awkward. We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood, when perhaps an Introverts' Rights movement has blossomed and borne fruit, it will not be impolite to say "I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."

How can I let the introvert in my life know that I support him and respect his choice?

First, recognize that it's not a choice. It's not a lifestyle. It's an orientation.

Second, when you see an introvert lost in thought, don't say "What's the matter?" or "Are you all right?"

Third, don't say anything else, either. 

Caring for Your Introvert-The habits and needs of a little-understood group by Jonathan Rauch

《赤壁懷古》

一直偏愛《赤壁懷古》，大學剛畢業到四川成都，路旁一位老先生在題扇面，隨即趨前選了一把扇面扇骨俱黑的紙扇，請題《赤壁懷古》。老先生用白「墨」一揮而就，看著瀟灑蒼勁的字跡，唸著氣勢磅礡的古詞，甚為得意陶醉。逐插扇於牛仔褲後袋，以便隨時欣賞。豈料不足廿四小時，在鄉郊上茅厠之際，忘了紙扇在後，只聽一聲悶響，紙扇已然掉進「五彩茅廁」裡，（三十年前去過大陸鄉間的朋友必定明白「五彩」之意。）

這一驚非同小可，不管茅厠氣味顏色，刻不容緩，俯身伸手就向紙扇搶去。幸而速度夠快，紙扇尚未沉落「稀土」中，只有扇骨一角沾染了穢物。茅廁自來水欠奉，只有掏出 Tempo  紙巾，瘋狂拭擦，再以僅餘食水洗滌。目檢嗅查，不留茅廁痕跡，但我已然一頭冷汗，一身大汗。從此扇放背包，不再與褲袋為伍。

可惜廿五年後，拼命勇救的心愛紙扇已在無數次搬遷中消失。
蘇軾懷赤壁，我念赤壁紙扇。


蘇軾 念奴嬌 《赤壁懷古》

大江東去，浪淘盡，千古風流人物。
故壘西邊，人道是，三國周郎赤壁。
亂石崩雲，驚濤拍岸，捲起千堆雪；
江山如畫，一時多少豪傑。

遙想公瑾當年，小喬初嫁了，雄姿英發，
羽扇綸巾，談笑間，強虜灰飛煙滅。
故國神遊，多情應笑我，早生華發。
人生如夢，一尊還酹江月。