A portrait drawn by 家卿, Ripple Room’s resident artist, alongside a Latin saying. Can you guess who he drew?
Ripple Room 迎賓桌上的留言簿，左頁有一位來賓留下的拉丁文：
Ars longa, vita brevis.
人生短暫，藝術卻能留存。
謝謝這個有心人寫下這句拉丁文。我不知道他當時想到什麼，卻很想知道，這句話放在 Ripple Room，會讓我們想到什麼。
這句話源自希波克拉底（Hippocrates）的《箴言》（Aphorisms），原來談的是醫術：人生有限，學藝需要很長的時間。後來，人們也用它來表達：人生短暫，藝術卻能留存。
但藝術不只在作品裡，也在我們怎麼過日子。
人生，就是不斷創作自己的人生。做一些聰明人不會做的事，做一些自己原本不敢做的事。你我都在生活的藝術中，做著只有自己才能做的事。
這就是藝術。
想到這裡，我就想起 Ripple Room。一個晚上結束以後，我們會在彼此的人生裡，留下什麼？
有些片刻，會跟著我們回家
在 Ripple Room 4，那位正在學小提琴的女孩，希望有一天能在這裡分享琴聲。那晚，她先讓我們認識了她的恐懼，以及願意走上舞台的勇氣。
我們還沒有聽到她的小提琴。但對我來說，那已經是一個會一直記得的晚上。
這當然不是拉丁文的原意，卻是它讓我想到的事。
分享只有幾分鐘，留在心裡的時間，卻可能很長。
一首歌、一段故事，或只是有人認真聽自己說話，都可能在某一天，又被想起。我們未必知道，自己分享的哪一點，會留在誰的心裡。
人生，就是這些小小事的總和
我希望，大家可以帶來一點自己喜歡、在乎，或正在學習的東西。有時分享，有時只是坐下來聽。慢慢地，原本不認識的人，有了一個共同記得的晚上。
我和 Ming 旅行時，也很珍惜那些小小的回憶。同一個早晨，一起看過的日出，日後再看照片，還能想起我們曾經在那裡。
這些小小的回憶，累積起來，就成為我們的人生。
對我來說，Ripple Room 留下的，就是這些小小的回憶。
那個晚上已經結束了。對我來說，也許還沒有。
朱平 Ping Chu
What Stays with Us After the Evening Ends?
On the left-hand page of the guest book at Ripple Room’s welcome desk, a guest wrote:
Ars longa, vita brevis.
Life is short, but art can endure.
I’m grateful to the thoughtful guest who left these Latin words. I don’t know what they had in mind, but I’m curious about what the words might mean to us here at Ripple Room.
The saying comes from Hippocrates’ Aphorisms. It originally concerned medicine: life is brief, and learning a craft takes time. It later came to express another idea—that art can outlive its creator.
But art also lives in the way we live.
We keep creating our lives as we go. Sometimes we do things that smarter people might think twice about. We try things we once lacked the courage to attempt. In the art of living, each of us can do something that only we can do.
To me, that is art.
And that brings me back to Ripple Room. When an evening ends, what might we have left in one another’s lives?
Some Moments Come Home with Us
At Ripple Room 4, a young woman learning the violin hoped she would one day share her music with us. That evening, she shared something of her fear and the courage it took to step onstage.
We hadn’t heard her violin. Yet it was already an evening I would always remember.
That isn’t what the Latin phrase originally meant. It’s simply where it takes my thoughts.
Something shared in a few minutes may stay with us for years.
A song, a story, or the experience of being heard may return to us much later. We rarely know which part of what we share will stay with someone.
The Sum of Small Things
I hope people will bring something they enjoy, care about, or are still learning. Sometimes we share; sometimes we simply listen. Gradually, people who were strangers have an evening they remember together.
When Ming and I travel, I treasure those little memories, too. A sunrise we watched together. A photograph that brings back the morning and the fact that we were there.
Those small memories, gathered over time, make up our lives.
For me, these small memories are what Ripple Room leaves behind.
The evening is over. For me, perhaps it isn’t.
Ping Chu
Discover more from 朱平: 生意人 . 悅日人. 漣漪人
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