馮內果的短信

網路上可以找到小說家馮內果寫這封信的緣起，我就做簡要概述了。

美國紐約澤維爾高中的老師出了一份作業，請學生「寫信給最喜歡的作家並邀請他來訪」，於是有了這篇啟發無數心靈的短文〈Make Your Soul Grow〉。

我深受此超時空的建議感動，稍微更動一些網路上的中文翻譯後，與有緣人分享。

感謝你們的來信，你們很知道怎麼讓一個84歲的老人在他的日落之年振作起來。我不再公開露面，因為我現在已老態龍鐘。

我想說的，就只是希望你們去嘗試練習任何一門藝術：音樂、唱歌、跳舞、表演、素描、繪畫、雕塑、寫詩、寫小說、散文，哪怕是寫篇小報導也好。無論你做得很好或糟糕，都不是為了獲得金錢或名譽，而僅僅為了體驗這個過程，發現內心深處的自己，讓靈魂成長。

我是認真的！我的意思是，從現在開始學習一門藝術，並讓它終生陪伴著你。你可以在放學之後畫一幅有趣的或美麗的畫給Lockwood女士，在回家的路上跳舞，洗澡的時候唱歌，在馬鈴薯泥上畫個鬼臉，或假裝自己是德古拉伯爵。

那麼，我就給你們一個作業，如果不完成的話，我希望Lockwood女士給你們不及格。我請你們今晚回家後寫一首六行詩，可以是任何主題，但要押韻。盡力把這首詩寫到最好，但是不要告訴別人你在做什麼，不要展示或者讀給任何人聽，哪怕是你女朋友、爸媽、Lockwood女士都不行。好嗎？

然後把這首詩撕碎，扔到遠處各個不同的垃圾桶，你會發現，你寫的這首詩本身已經給了你最佳的報酬。你從這次經驗體會到創造，你也更了解內在的自我，你已經讓你的靈魂成長。

願上帝保佑你們！

馮內果

（英文全文如下）

Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances anymore because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you're Count Dracula.

Here's an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don't do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing. Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!

Kurt Vonnegut