The significance of a drawing / 一張圖的意義

我不喜歡一再地引述自己的過去，可是今天發生了兩個動人的故事，讓我想要把舊圖重貼，因為沒有新的圖面可以取代這幾張圖的意義。

I don't like to quote myself, but today there are two stories revolving around two old drawings of mine. No new image can replace them in this post. 

        春天因為某個已經不再重要的動機畫了紐約的布萊恩公園，把圖貼在辦公室的鐵櫃上，常常來找我的Yuri問最後這些圖會去哪裡，於是等到她決定要轉班時，我請她來挑一張圖作為禮物，因為夏天即將去紐約旅行，Yuri挑了這張圖，我請她一定要去布萊恩公園瞧瞧。

   This past spring I did the drawing of the Bryant Park for a reason that no longer matters. Afterward I put it up on my locker in the office. Yuri loved to look at my drawings whenever she came for a chat. At the end of the semester, she asked me where the drawings would eventually go. Since she was going to transfer to a new class, I wanted to give her a drawing as a souvenir. She chose the Bryant Park piece. Knowing that she would visit New York City in summer, I asked her to go for a visit and compare the real Bryant Park and that in my picture. 

        過了一個夏天，看她活蹦亂跳地回來了，給我帶了張卡片和小禮物，上面寫道她把我的圖貼在紐約宿舍的牆上。一邊想著這個女孩的成長，本來早上還和同事說，在一年裡要改變一個人是很難的事，因為連感情都還沒有建立就要說再見，想不到說完這話的幾個小時裡上帝就向我反駁這話的真實性。

   After the summer break, she came back as lively as usual. Today she left a card and a gift on my desk, telling me that she had put up my drawing on the wall in the dorm room. I had told my colleague this morning how difficult it is to change a person's life in a year's time, but Yuri's change contradicts my words. I am not always right. 

        上星期寄了一封信給也轉班的小棒，把這張速寫圖從札記本撕下來送給她，希望她能記住一些事。我常常在寄沒有回音的信，也不覺得有什麼，今天看見小棒時，我淡淡地問她有沒有收到信，小棒回答︰有，你當時畫這張圖，我站在你身邊時就希望你能送給我。她等了這張圖等了八個月，而我知道原來沒有回音的信，其中一種可能的回答。

   Last week I sent a letter to Croc, who would be a new class this year too. I tore off the drawing from my journal book and attached in the letter, hoping that she will remember certain things. I am always sending letters to which I know there will be no responses. I have grown used to that. But today when I saw Croc, I couldn't help asking, "Did you receive my mail?" She replied, "Yes I did. When you were drawing the picture, I was with you, praying that you will give it to me." So she had waited for this picture for eight months. And I got to know one kind of reply I might have to all those unanswered letters. 

        於是我和班上同學們說︰我們要常常歡迎舊同學回來，但一定要提醒他們要交新朋友。後者比前者難多了，把愛的人留在身邊比放開手容易多了，可是放手並不代表失去。

   I then told the girls still in my class: Let's open our arms and welcome the old girls to come back when they need us, but we have to encourage them to make new friends too. Personally the latter is much more difficult than the former. It's way easier to keep those we love by our side than letting them go, but letting go doesn't mean losing them. 

        我不是有名的插畫家，要說有什麼成就只能用零回答，可是我每天每天畫的圖也改變了一些人的人生，最後我也被改變了。

   I am neither an achieved or a famous illustrator, but what I draw every day has come to change some people's lives. In the end, I am changed as well.