다시 읽어보는 Samuel Ullman의 청춘(Youth)

다시 읽어보는 Samuel Ullman의 청춘(Youth)

2천대 초에 Yahoo Blog부터 동일 표제로 여러번 포스팅한 것으로 기억된다.

20여년의 세월이 흐른 지금 80대 나이에 다시 읽어보니 느낌이 조금 달라진 것 같아 포스팅한다.

 

Youth

Samuel Ullman (1840~1924)

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; It is not a matter of rosy cheeks,red lips and supple knees; It is a matter of the will,a quality of the imagenation, a vigor of the emotions;

It is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

 

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite,for adventure over the love of ease . This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty.
Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grows old by deserting our ideals.

 

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkle the soul. Worry,fear,self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust. Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being`s heart the lure of wonder,the unfailing child-like appetite of what`s next, and the joy of the game of living.

 

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives message of beauty,hope,cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty,but as long as your aerials are up,to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

 

청춘(靑春)

청춘이란 인생의 어느 한 때가 아니라, 마음의 상태이다. 장미빛 볼, 붉은 입술, 유연한 육체가 아니라 강인한 의지,풍부한 상상력,불타는 열정의 문제이다.청춘이란 인생의 깊은 샘에서 솟아나는 신선함이다. 청춘이란 두려움을 물리칠 수 있는 용기,안이함을 버리고 새로운 것에 도전하는 탐구심을 간직하는 탁월한 정신력을 뜻한다.그러기에 20대의 청년보다 60대의 노인이 더 청춘일 수 있다.누구나가 단순히 세월만으로 늙어가는 것이 아니라, 이상(理想)을 잃을 때 비로서 늙어가는 것이다.세월은 피부의 주름을 만들지만 열정을 갖는 영(靈:soul)을 시들게는 못하며 근심,두려움,자신감을 잃는 것이 우리의 영(靈)과 기백을 잃게한다.우리의 마음이 젊어 있으면 예순이건 열여섯이건 우리의 가슴속 깊은 곳에 경이로움을 향한 동경과 어린아이 같은 끊임 없는 탐구심 그리고 인생에서 기쁨을 얻고자 하는 열망은 식지 않는다. 그대와 나의 가슴속에  마음을 연결하여 주는 안테나가 존재하는 바, 사람들로 부터 그리고 하나님으로 부터 아름다움,희망,기쁨,용기 그리고 힘의 영감을 받는다면 우리는 청춘인 것이다.영적 안테나가 꺽이고 영(spirit)이 냉소의 눈에 덮힐 때,비관적 가치관의 얼음에 같힐 때, 그대는 20대라도 늙은이 이며, 반대로 그대가 영적 안테나를 바로 세우고 낙관적 가치관의 물결을 붙잡고 있으면 80이어도 청춘으로 죽을 수 있는 희망이 있는 것이다.

번역 : Moon K.Lee

Samuel Ullman (April 13, 1840 – March 21, 1924)

was an American businessman, poet, humanitarian, and religious leader. He is best known today for his poem "Youth,"[1] which was a favorite of General Douglas MacArthur.The poem was on the wall of MacArthur's office in Tokyo when he became Supreme Allied Commander in Japan.In addition, MacArthur often quoted from the poem in his speeches, leading to it becoming better known in Japan than in the United States. Born in 1840 at Hechingen, Hohenzollern, to Jewish parents, Ullman immigrated with his family, in 1851, to America  to escape discrimination at the age of eleven. The Ullman family settled in Port Gibson, Mississippi. After briefly serving in the Confederate Army, he became a resident of Natchez, Mississippi.There, Ullman married, started a business, served as a city alderman, and was a member of the local board of education.In 1884, Ullman moved to the young city of Birmingham, Alabama, and was immediately placed on the city's first board of education. During his eighteen years of service, he advocated educational benefits for black children similar to those provided for whites. In addition to his numerous community activities, Ullman also served as  president and then lay rabbi of the city's reform congregation at Temple Emanu-El.[2] Often controversial but always  respected, Ullman left his mark on the religious, educational, and community life of Natchez and Birmingham. In his retirement, Ullman found more time for one of his favorite passions: writing letters, essays and poetry. His poems and poetic essays cover subjects as varied as love, nature, religion, family, the hurried lifestyle of a friend,and living "young." It was General Douglas MacArthur who facilitated Ullman's popularity as a poet — he hung a framed copy of a version of Ullman's poem "Youth" on the wall of his office in Tokyo and often quoted from the poem in his speeches. Through MacArthur's influence, the people of Japan discovered "Youth" and became curious about the poem's author. In 1924, Ullman died at the age of 84 in Birmingham, Alabama. [wikipedia]

 

https://youtu.be/Uz7-Yd15ARo