“You can’t do it!” “It’s impossible!” “It’s never been done before!” A sharp “no” quickly terminates many great ideas. It’s a lot easier to say, “no,” than to say, “let’s hear the details,” and probably in history, many good ideas have simply died away, with no one knowing about them. “An idea shot down,” as commonly expressed.

“你做不到！”，“这是不可能的！”，“别人也从来没有这么做过！”一个尖锐的“不”会迅速地终止很多非常好的意念。说“不”比起说“咱们先多了解一下吧”来得容易多了，所以历史上肯定有不少好想法在没人知道的时候已经消失了。一个普遍的表达就是：“被击毙的想法。”

More than 35 years ago, I remember vividly a debate about the problem of teen pregnancy, during our weekly Children’s Hospital “pediatric grand rounds,” for all faculty and residents. The backdrop of the time was the feeling that there was really not much we could do about this sad problem. The speaker that day gave the usual annual dismal talk on teen pregnancies, and showed the rates just going up and up over decades. He concluded glibly and crudely, that “I guess we should just give them more condoms.”

我记得很清楚，三十五多年前有一次在我们的儿童医院做每周的“儿科大查房”的时候，讨论起来青少年怀孕的问题。当时大家对这个令人伤感的问题感到无能为力。当天的主讲人给我们讲了年复一年一样惨淡的青少年怀孕主题，并让我们看到过去几十年的走向一直是往上的。他用一种粗鲁轻率的话做出结论：“看样子我们只好给她们送更多避孕套”。

At this remark, I became passionately upset, because, as a specialist in prematurity, I had seen too many premature babies born from teenage parents, and the chaos it created in the families. It wasn’t a joking matter. I shot my hand up immediately, and challenged him with an age-old, not politically correct, idea, asking literally, “Whatever happened to abstinence?” The objections to my remark were instant and numerous, “it can’t be done,” “sex is just natural,” “no one is able to control that,” “we cannot introduce morality into the schools.”

听完这段言论，我非常生气，因为作为早产专家我看到过太多青少年妈妈生的早产婴儿以及给她们家庭创造的混乱。这不是一个开玩笑的事情。我立刻举起手并对他提了一个古老的非政治正确的想法，便问：“节制怎么了？”这一下子引起了有很多人的反对声：“这不可能做到”，“性就是自然的”，“没人能够控制这一点”，“我们不能把道德引进到学校”。

A heated debate ensued. Among my many rebuttals to these “naysayers,” I reminded my verbal opponents that, we could give up on people smoking also with very similar arguments. And yet we know that, with proper education, and concerted steps to dissuade people from smoking, the whole outlook on smoking has changed dramatically over the last few decades. And indeed, we do teach morality all the time, to youth at home and school, such as, “do not steal, cheat, fight,” etc. I would surely hope we do that!

这就引发了一场激烈的讨论。我反驳这些“反对者”的时候提醒我言语上的对手们，我们照样可以因相似的理由而放弃劝人戒烟。不过我们知道，通过恰当的教育与协调一致劝阻吸烟，在过去几十年里对吸烟问题的整个前景发生了大大的转变。而且事实上我们一直在学校和家庭里给青年人做道德教育，例如：“不要偷窃，不要骗人打架等等”。我倒希望我们实际上这样做！

One by one, I met the objections of the naysayers, that day and in the months and years afterwards. Fully provoked by these arguments, I was stirred up with enough “anger” that I decided we needed to do something about this awful problem.  Together with Dr R, and drawing from professionals in the field, we helped devise a program in the public schools that promoted abstinence, technically called “prevention of sexual involvement,” taught by upper-class teenagers to younger teenagers, and introduced it into the public schools. Over several decades, the rate of teenage pregnancy fell by 50 percent, which I think was a remarkable number, given that the previous decades had steadily increasing teenage pregnancy rates. To poetically borrow a phrase, we could say, we “changed the arc of history.”

一个接一个地我面对了那些反对者的异议，不仅在那一天，还有在之后的年头里。这些论点彻底惹起了我的“气”，足以让我下决心想办法来解决这个糟糕的问题。我开始与R博士一起努力，一边利用其他医疗领域专家的经验，帮助策划了一个在公立学校提倡节制的叫做“预防性接触”的项目，是由高级班的学生给初级班的学生来教的，并引进到公立学校系统。经过几十年的实践之后，青少年怀孕的比率有了百分之五十的下降。我觉得这是一个很显著的数字，因为之前几十年的比率一直是上升的。借用一句诗意的话，可以说我们“改变了历史的弧线”。

Of course, there were always naysayers, who now, seeing that the tide had remarkably reversed, switched to interpreting the data in a different way, but our “conscience is clear,” and “the facts speak for themselves.” It was very satisfying to our wonderful team, led by faithful steady no-nonsense “Chris,” to see it happening before our eyes, regardless of how people objected to it so strongly before, or how they interpreted it differently afterwards.

当然，总有一些反对者，看到潮流的明显逆转，又换了解读数据的方法。不过我们“问心无愧”，而且“事实不言而喻”（英：“事实为自己说话）。无论之前人们如何反对或者后来如何解读，对我们被可靠而稳打稳扎的“Chris” 带领的团队来说，能亲眼看到这个变化是非常令人满意的。

There is the famous story of Robert Morrison, one of the earliest missionaries to China, who was criticized for going to China, by a cynical challenger, who said something like, “who are you to think you can change the great land of China?” Basically, questioning his ability to do anything in China, with its elegant millennia of history and culture. Morrison is said to have responded, something like, “Indeed, I cannot! But God can!”

还有早期到中国的有名宣道人士马礼逊的故事。当时有一个人讥诮批评他去中国说：“你是什么人，以为能够改变中国大地？”，就是在质问他的能力去拥有上下五千年辉煌历史的中国做任何有有意义的事。据说，马礼逊的回答是：“我确实不能！不过上天可以！”

It was this kind of fortitude and persistence that drove him to go to China and live there, at a time of great turmoil and even danger to his life, in order to work among the people, translate the Bible into Chinese, and to share the love of God there. His ultimate burial in a cemetery in Macau, after decades of dedicated service in China, testifies to his ability to transcend all difficulties by his single-minded pursuit, regardless of numerous naysayers. Incidentally, it is often said today that, soon China will have the largest numbers of Christians in the world. In spite of lots of naysayers down the generations.

是这种不屈不挠的毅力驱使他到正在经历着社会动荡的中国去生活，为了在当地人当中一边作翻译经文的工作一边分享天父对人的关爱。即使有许多反对者，他在一心一意的追求中有足够的能力超越一切困难，几十年致力于服侍中国人，而最终在澳门的一个墓场给他立的墓碑为此作证。今天人们常说中国快有世界上最多相信上帝的人。虽然有不少反对者世代相传。

A great need arose from one of the SE Asia missions that our church supported, in several poor villages. This happened at a time when our church, which was the main supporting church, had many major competing needs of its own, for reconstruction and new building needs. So, when this need overseas was raised, there were indeed numerous objections that this was not possible, something like, “it’s impossible at such a time as this,” “there are too many needs,” “we have too much bureaucracy to go through, too many committees.”

有一次我们教会支持的泰国援助项目中的几个贫穷乡村出现了极大需求。那时候我们作为主力支持的教会自己还有很多改建和新建筑方面的需求与之相争。所以，人们提出这个海外的需求时，果然有很多反对的声音说“在这样的时候那是不可能的”，“有太多需要了”，“我们在行政上有太多阻碍，有太多委员会要参加处理”之类的话。

So, methodically and systematically, we met each objection one by one. We worked through several committees, going through all the objections. We even solicited objections before-hand, so that we could adequately face them, head on. Again, focused attention, calm meeting of objections, step-by-step, finally allowed us to reach the necessary consensus, without loud alarms or any real confrontations. And to the surprise of many, even at a time of great competing needs, we were able to allocate a good amount of support, drawn directly from church reserve funds, which providentially helped tide over a major crisis the following year. Naysayers can be, and should be, met calmly just like any other problems!

于是，我们有条有理地去面对每个异议，通过几个委员会处理了所有反对意见。我们甚至会提前征求意见，好让我们直面。再一次，是集中注意力、冷静面对意见、一步一步地前进使我们能够达成所需要的共识并避免了不必要的紧张或者真正的冲突。令很多人惊讶的是，即使有很多互相冲突的需求，我们依然能够直接从后备基金拨出充分的支持，而且这像天赐一样在第二年帮助我们乡村项目渡过了的一次大危机。反对者可以而且应该像任何其它问题一样去冷静面对！

In my thinking, when someone boldly challenges you, that “this is impossible,” the correct response is to go back to the drawing board, and think and pray about it to see what you could do about making it possible, given the major challenges. Calmly, and without panic, nor anger. Then after a great deal of thought, including asking the advice of many solid advisors, solicit many objections deliberately, so that, point by point, you can thoughtfully respond to these objections, without any need for drama! Do your homework, be passionately focused, and work step-by-step towards your goal. It’s really like a major grant writing exercise, methodical and yet “hypothesis driven,” and here I think that my large experience with writing grants, helps me tremendously! Just slog it out!

在我看来，当有人来大胆地挑战你说“这是不可能的”，正确的反应是重新开始，祈祷思考你在这些大挑战之下可以做一些什么能够让它成为可能。要冷静下来，不要惊慌或者生气。经过大量的思考，包括向很多可靠的导师和顾问寻求指导之后，有意去征求大量的意见，好让你可以认真地一一回答那些意见，并不需要任何戏剧场面。要做好你的作业，投入精力去一步一步地往目标走。确实很像在写一件重要的补助金申请一样，要有条理而且“根据假设”。在这一点上我觉得写补助金申请的丰富经验给我极大的帮助！只要一决雌雄！

One of the largest number of naysayers must be the USA population, 300 million let’s say. Being a full democracy, we have millions and millions of voices saying, “You can’t do it, that’s impossible, that’s crazy, that’s racist, that’s cruel.” US national leadership must be the most difficult in the world, with everyone a critic, so it’s fascinating to watch the process and results. My usual simple approach to life at many complex levels is to “watch the ball” and see where it goes, don’t get side-tracked by naysayers, but keep your mind calm and clear. And “let’s see what happens.”

数量最多的一群反对者肯定是美国人，大概三个亿的人口。作为民主制我们有千万的声音不停地说“你做不到，那是不可能的，那是荒唐的，那是种族主义的，那是残酷的”。在美国当国家领导人一定是世界上最不好做的，因为大家都是批评家，所以观察整个过程和结果也是很有趣的。我对人生中的很多复杂问题的看待简单是“把注意力放在球上”看它到底落到哪里，保持冷静清晰的心态而不被反对者分心，“看看最后发生什么”。

A final story, back to my academic roots. As a baby doctor working in the intensive care units, we encountered huge clinical problems in newborn babies whose mothers were diabetic (the insulin requiring type). Their babies had in particular often many major body malformations, and very low blood sugar. Challenged by this great concern, I came up with a rather dramatic idea, and got together an excellent medical and health team, to start a major clinical trial of whether we could strictly control the mother’s diabetes, basically from the very beginning of pregnancy, to prevent the major baby problems. The objections were numerous and sharp. Such as, “it cannot be done!” “No woman would come to see the doctor so early in pregnancy, and to undergo such strict control.” “This study would be much too difficult, requiring management of the diabetes at 2 levels throughout the entire pregnancy, in order to prove it.” And so it went.

最后的一段故事要回到我的学术基础中。作为一个在重症监护室里工作的婴儿医生，我们在患有糖尿病（需要补胰岛素的那种）的妈妈们生的新生婴儿身上会遇到巨大的临床问题。她们的孩子尤其经常出现身体畸形及血糖低的情况。这些令人担忧的大问题激励我想出一个比较特殊的主意，组织了一个优秀的医疗团队来进行一项大规模的临床试验，调查的目标是通过从怀孕初期开始严谨控制母亲的糖尿病而预防这些婴儿身上的严重问题。反对的声音又多又犀利，例如“这是不可能做得到的”，“没有一个女性会刚怀孕就来见大夫而且接受如此严格的控制”，“这种研究太难了，需要在整个怀孕期间进行两个糖尿病患者对照组才能够证明”等等。

All of these criticisms were real, and again, we went through the objections, and met them, one by one, devising various ways of countering the criticisms, to make the study viable. After submission of our large grant proposal to tackle this issue, I remember vividly the remark of one of the site visit reviewers, from the NIH (National Institutes of Health), who basically said, “This is an extremely challenging study, practically an impossible study, but no one else is willing to do it, so we are awarding the study to you!” One reviewer said something like, “This is a crazy study, but you all have the guts to do it, and we respect that.” They respected us so much that ultimately, in 3 stages, we were given a total of $15 million to study the problem, a huge sum at the time. Naysayers must have been somehow swayed, I guess convincingly.

这全部意见都是现实的，于是我们再一次，一个一个地面对了这些反对，想方设法应对它们以至于让研究成为可行的。我记得很清楚，我们用来对付以上问题的重大拨款提案上交之后有一位NIH（国家卫生研究院）的工作人员过来实地考察并说了一句话，意思基本上是“这是一项非常具挑战性的，几乎不可能的研究。不过没有其他人愿意做，所以我们要授予你们！”另有一位审稿人说“这项研究很疯狂，但是你们都有胆子去做，这是我们敬佩的”。他们对我们的敬佩足以在三个阶段总共给了我们一千五百万美元的拨款来研究该问题，当时算是一笔巨款。好像反对者果然被说服了。

Even though it seemed like many people were against the study, we proved that, given enough education and encouragement, women could indeed come early in pregnancy, and half of them (as part of the study design) also were even willing to stick to a very strict program to vigorously control their diabetes from the beginning of pregnancy to the end of it. We surmised a major reason was that the women were highly motivated to protect their baby, and therefore they were willing to do much more to allow their diabetes to be well studied, more than any other period in life when they were not bearing a child.

尽管看起来有很多人在反对我们的研究，我们仍然能够证明受过足够的教导和鼓励的女性确实会在怀孕早期过来治疗。而且（按照研究设计的一部分）其中一半甚至愿意从孕期开始到结束为止坚持遵守很严格的方案来有力控制她们的糖尿病。我们推测，主要原因是这些女性有很大的动力保护自己的孩子，所以她们比起在自己没有怀孕生孩子的时候，更加愿意采取措施来配合自己糖尿病的研究。

By the time our study was over, and till today, when women are diagnosed with severe diabetes and are planning pregnancy, there is little question that they should be, and would be enrolled in intensive diabetes treatment programs, from the very beginning of their pregnancy, and even before that. The great result is that nowadays we barely see any extra baby malformations (like severe heart and brain malformations) from the mother’s diabetes, which were so common in past days. Sometimes, the young modern doctor might even wonder if there really were malformations in this situation, since they have never seen them.

在我们的研究结束的时候，一直到今天，当打算怀孕的女性被诊断出严重的糖尿病，对于她们从怀孕最早期甚至怀孕之前开始是否应该或者愿意参加一个强化的糖尿病治疗方案来说，是毫无疑问的。一个重大结果就是当今几乎看不到在过去很普遍存在的母亲的糖尿病引起的婴儿畸形（例如说严重的心脏和大脑畸形）。有时候年轻的医生甚至会想，在这种情况下真的有没有过畸形，因为自己从来没见过。

Further, the younger generation of doctors easily forget, and think that, strict control of diabetes in pregnancy is no big deal nowadays, and “of course” mothers come into treatment very early on in pregnancy! It’s always funny that naysayers might turn into nonchalant acceptors, but the best is when the problem goes away so much that no one even remembers it as a problem! I guess to that extent, it’s just like no modern doctor has seen polio, rabies, or plague, and might even begin to doubt their existence!

另外，年轻一代的大夫容易忘记，会觉得在怀孕期间严谨控制糖尿病这事没什么了不起的，妈妈们“理所当然”在怀孕早期会过来治疗！当反对者变成一个若无其事的接受者总是很搞笑的，不过最好玩的是一个问题消失得没人记得它曾经是一个问题！我想，这一点好像当今的医生没有见过麻痹症、狂犬病或者瘟疫，便甚至开始怀疑它们的存在一样！

In truth, naysayers can be quite valuable! They are often considered an irritant, I suppose. But the irritants can irritate us so much, that we produce a much better product, and I think we become better persons through our naysayer “friends.”

事实上，反对者也有所价值！他们好像常常被看待成烦人的。可是，这些烦人的人可以使我们因为烦恼而去生产出一个更好的结果。我还认为，通过我们当反对者的“朋友们”我们还可以学会更好做人。