有些东西你买得起，但你真的用不起

M在地铁站看到一位女士。

M saw a lady in the subway station.

她正在和保安争吵着，因为她不想把她的包包放进安检机。

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

“这很贵的！”她喊叫到，“机器会把它刮花的”

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

M从她的身边经过，她注意到了包上的logo。

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

嗯，的确是一个奢侈品品牌，而且包包看起来很新。

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

而从这位女士的反映来看，这包应该是正品。

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

不过，再看看她身上的其他东西，以及她的举止，不难看出她的收入应该不是特别高。

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，这个包对她来说很可能是一笔很大的开销，可能是她从每顿饭中省下来的钱。

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

而且显然，这个包不光花了她的钱，还在消耗她宝贵的通勤时间以及她的好心情。

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

“悲哀呀。” M当时想。

"Sad." M thought.

M记得妈妈曾经对她说：“永远不要买你用不起的东西。”

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

“这不光是关于钱，而是关于你为这件东西付出的一切。”

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

你的时间、你的精力，这些都是看不见的隐形成本。

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

而他们往往比金钱更难以承受。

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

人这一辈子会遇到很多敌人，而最难缠的敌人往往就是自己。

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

当你买一件东西时，你到底是为了用它，还是为了满足自己的虚荣？

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

你可能觉得满足虚荣也无可厚非，但如果这份虚荣需要让你承受莫大的负担，那它真的值得吗？

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乐，而虚荣只是一种手段。

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

可当这种手段变成了痛苦的根源，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?

它给你带来的不会是微笑，而是眉头紧皱。

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

是的，你也可以把这份虚荣精心呵护起来。

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

你可以把它珍藏在家里，时不时地拿出来安慰自己，让自己体会这种“拥有”的优越感。

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.

但这又有什么意义呢？

But what’s the meaning of this?

如果只有你自己能见证这个时刻，难道不觉得整个世界都因此变得孤独而无望吗？

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?

这就好像是一个孤独的人在镜子前化妆给自己看，换来的只能是难以忍受的空虚和悲伤。

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.

而当她走出房间的门，等待她的依旧是那无法逃避的生活琐碎。

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.

一切都没有改变。

Nothing changed.

M就觉得她自己在网上买的这个包挺好的。它不是名牌，但质量很好，而且正是她喜欢的设计。

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.

这就够了。

That's enough.

当你买东西来用的时候，你就拥有了这件东西。

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

而当你买东西来崇拜时，是这件东西拥有了你。

When you buy things to worship, they own you.

而她并不想花钱去成为一个奴隶。

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