3 minute read. Coffee with Uncle Reggie stories: I love cemeteries
与曾叔叔闲聊故事:我钟情于坟墓 (Iris, Dan 翻译)

Coffee Reggiegram: cemeteries can bring you closer to heaven.
It just depends on how you think of them
咖啡短短信: 坟墓能带你走近天堂。
完全取决于你对它们的看法

I love cemeteries. “It’s the closest I get to heaven,” as one wit said.
我钟情于坟墓，诚如一名智者所言，“墓地离天堂近在咫尺。”

Sometimes we easily forget that cemeteries in the West are actually very beautiful and very peaceful: often prompting a special perspective on life and meaning. That’s why I love to bring Cincinnati Children’s Hospital visiting scholars from China, to the elegant Spring Grove Cemetery, as part of a grand tour of Cincinnati.
有时候我们容易遗忘西方坟墓的美丽与静谧，坟墓时常会激发人们关于生命和意义的独道见地。这就是为何我喜欢带领辛辛那提儿童医院的中方访问学者前往雅致的春园墓地(Spring Grove Cemetery)参观，作为辛辛那提旅程的一部分。

This cemetery is 150 years old and is beautifully landscaped, with ponds and bridges, swans, Canadian geese, ducks, turtles and fish, set among 12 hundred varieties of trees and shrubs. Everyone who visits comes away with a refreshing new perspective on cemeteries. After all, even weddings, and wedding photo ops are performed in this cemetery, something that would be totally unheard of in Asia. Getting married in a cemetery? What kind of scandal is that?
这个墓地有150年的历史，景观华美，小桥流水，禽鸟鸭鹅，乌龟鱼虫，丛林青葱，多达千种，游客所至，无不更新墓地之成见。除此之外，更有婚礼以及婚礼照片在此举行拍摄，这些事情在亚洲绝对无人听闻。墓地结婚？这是何等丑闻？

It’s not a scandal, because the cemetery represents a poetic segue to the final journey into paradise, while weddings are an important early marker of life’s journey. When I perform marriage ceremonies, I often emphasize the principle “till death do us part,” which is, if you remember, a perspective of death right in the middle of the marriage vows! And what better setting to have a wedding than among swans (symbol of life, grace and purity among many cultures!) and fish (abundance, unity and fidelity)?
这并不是什么丑闻，因为婚礼作为人生旅途开端的重要里程碑，而坟墓则代表着到达人生旅途终点后步入天国的诗一般的继续。你是否记得“直到死亡才能使我们分离”，这个在婚礼誓言中常提及的生死观念？这也是我经常在婚礼仪式上强调的原则。而且，没有比有天鹅（在许多文化中象征着生命、恩典和纯洁）和鱼（象征着富余、统一和忠诚）的环境更适合举办婚礼的场景了。

And in this particular cemetery are buried, Mr. Procter and Mr. Gamble, founders of the huge international company in Cincinnati, Procter & Gamble; founders of other great businesses (Kroger, McAlpin, Fleischman), 10 state governors, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice (Chase); and a President of the University of Cincinnati (Winkler); so we are in excellent company. In fact the marble statues and monuments standing handsomely in the cemetery give us a feeling of deep reverence for history. There is even a small military plot for those Confederate and Union men who died in the American Civil War, when brother killed brother, since Cincinnati was right at the north-south border.
在这个独特的墓园里被埋葬的有：巨型国际公司宝洁的创始人，Procter先生和Gamble先生；还有一些其他杰出企业的创始人如Kroger, McAlpin和Fleischman，十个州长，担任过最高法院司法首席法官的Chase先生，以及担任过辛辛那提大学校长的Winkler先生。所以这个墓地被许多杰出人士陪伴着。其实这个墓园中标致的大理石雕塑和纪念碑令人对过往的历史肃然起敬。园中甚至有一小片墓地专属于在美国内战中牺牲的南北战士:由于辛辛那提刚好位于南北的边界，所以有亲兄弟自相残杀。

When we were courting, Esther and I in our youth often wandered into the Stanley Military Cemetery on Hong Kong Island, which was an excellent place to be away from the stifling huge city, a place where we could chat away as we began our life’s journey together. So quiet, so secluded, so beautiful as it faced the Pacific Ocean. What better place to court a young lady can you think of?
我年轻还在追求我未婚妻Esther的时候，我们经常到香港岛的赤柱 Stanley
阵亡将士公墓散步。那里是我们二人世界初始时可以远离闷热大都市促膝长谈的地方，非常的静谧、与世隔绝，墓园优雅地面朝太平洋。还有比这里更适合追求一位小姐的地方吗？

Two cemeteries in Manila however have given me the greatest impression. One of them was the Chinese cemetery, where the “town” of the cemetery was built like a regular town, with roads, street signs and buildings housing deceased Chinese families often complete with kitchens, balconies and air conditioning. The homes were stone or marble houses, carefully and expensively built to last. There was even a bank to handle necessary transactions (Chinese are “Jews of the Orient”), although for the life of me, I did not see any real life in that activity. It was often amusing however, when I described the town to some local residents, to get a response that they had passed by the town many times and assumed that it was just another “Chinese town,” presumably alive with walking human beings.
在马尼拉的两座墓地却给我留下了此生最深刻的印象，其中一座是华裔的墓地。墓地被建成一座正规的小镇模样，里边修建了街道、路标以及配备了厨房、阳台和空调的用来安置去世的中国家人的建筑。这些屋子都是由石头或者大理石精心打造而成。这里面甚至还有一个可以做交易的银行（中国人是“东方犹太人”），虽然我在那里的时候并没有看见相关的真实活动。当我向当地人提及这座“小镇”时，他们说他们路过了这个镇无数次，认为这不过就是另一个住着活人的中国城吗。每每想起他们这样的反应，我就觉得可笑。

But the most touching structure, to me, is the Manila American Cemetery. It commemorates the valiant dead, the huge loss of American men defending the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The row upon rows of glistening white crosses are a stark reminder of pain and suffering, of courage and fortitude, and of the greatest act of sacrifice that was given. And then the huge wall depicting the forced brutal marches up and down the Philippine Islands is a stark reminder of the potential for cruelty and barbarity in mankind, brainwashed to commit atrocities beyond mention.
但对我来说最感人的建筑就是马尼拉美国公墓，一个纪念美国勇士为了捍卫菲律宾和东南亚做出重大牺牲的墓地。公墓中一排排闪闪发光的洁白十字架提醒着我们伤痛和磨难，勇气和坚韧，还有这些被埋葬的勇士做出的最伟大的牺牲。然后还有一面巨大的墙壁，上面描绘着遍布菲律宾岛的被强迫的残酷行军，这提醒我们人性中隐藏着的残暴野蛮会侵蚀人的意志使人犯暴行。

Cemeteries are reminders of life’s journey, of the joys and pains of life, that await us. They give us an opportunity for contemplating our own existence, and our own life’s direction. I have loved cemeteries all my life, and one day I will be in a nice restful one too. I would like a swan and some fish hovering nearby, if possible. I surmise these will be close to me when I catch up on my reading (can I even do some more writing, Lord?), sitting peacefully below the branches of a green tree, in heaven.
坟墓是在提醒我们人生旅途中终将伴有喜乐和伤痛，它给了我们一个深思个人存在意义和人生方向的机会。我一生都很钟情于坟墓，我也知道将来我也会搬进一个很宁静美好的坟墓。到那时，如果可以的话，我想要有天鹅和游鱼作背景。我臆想在天国里，当我坐在绿荫下安然地阅读时（天父，我可以花再多一点时间来写作吗？），这些美好的事物应该就在我身旁作伴。