願我們的情常青
讀英國雜誌，冬節一期寫送禮首選，推介二千英鎊的皮書夾或紙鎮。所謂的文案，落筆中帶著成年人的苦澀，寫得好所以善抄之：
“one of the saddest epiphanies of adulthood is the realisation that practically everything your parents taught you is wrong. experience teaches us that flattery gets you nowhere, and the office sociopath shows that while there may be no ‘i’ in team, there is certainly a big fat ‘me’. one piece of advice that turned out to be true, however, is that everyone likes to receive thank-you letters. and that is an important thing to remember at this time of year: showing some prompt, handwritten gratitude could pay big dividends in 12 months. save the laptop for facebook and spare your real friends and business associates some quality desk time. “
epiphany 為希臘文，指一月六日的「主顯日」，傳統上以示東方三博士參見聖嬰，也因此在以外邦人為主的東方教會的意義尤大。文首開題以主顯節暗示智慧、成人饕餐中體味到恭維未必能令事事如意，但又不得不有時行之以微潤人事，使之如春常青。親手落墨寫一箋小記給友人與合作夥伴是人情，像舊情人中學畢業旅行時，在瑞士雪山頭上寄來一張明信片，開結只一句「到此一遊」，但已意思滿溢而意在言中。我惜字如金，自從高中公開試後也鮮親手落筆寫一封信或幾個字，但最近人大了，感世事複雜，上一份工作離職前有點搞得不歡而散，高層一句問候也不見，可難得general office 的同事給我餞行。新工作崗位一安，我就親手寫一張卡給他們、另一張是給主管及組員。他們都是老一輩，手寫比電郵來得重情，舊主管甚歡，回信也是生花之筆。
今天在辦公室下遇見故友國雄梁議員，話不多只說「大哥你為何音訊全無」，我遞上名片賠道他日定必拜訪他。回到案頭，急急叫助手給我找來學校的信紙信封，我得親筆寫一寫信給「國雄弟」。成人饕餐的冷漠無情，總得有人來一把手添暖添色，開首一句「別來無恙」加一個感嘆號，並不是要士別三日，而是有力的邊思「幾人相憶在江樓」，邊倔強的道出世途險惡但我還安然活著。
那不過又是，我想說一句：「願我們的情常青」
