Nothing to Sell and Nothing to Buy

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.47]Lesson 27
[00:03.79]Nothing to sell and nothing to buy
[00:13.45]What is the most important thing for a tramp?
[00:18.53]It has been said that everyone lives by selling something.
[00:23.16]In the light of this statement, teachers live by selling knowledge,
[00:28.12]philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort.
[00:35.20]Though it may be possible to measure the value of material goods in terms of money,
[00:40.50]it is extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us.
[00:47.94]There are times when we would willingly give everything we possess to save our lives,
[00:53.46]yet we might grudge paying a surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service.
[01:00.53]The conditions of society are such that skills have to be paid for
[01:05.27]in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop.
[01:09.07]Everyone has something to sell.
[01:12.77]Tramps seem to be the only exception to this general rule.
[01:18.05]Beggars almost sell themselves as human beings to arouse the pity of passers-by.
[01:24.27]But real tramps are not beggars.
[01:27.26]They have nothing to sell and require nothing from others.
[01:31.67]In seeking independence, they do not sacrifice their human dignity.
[01:37.45]A tramp may ask you for money, but he will never ask you to feel sorry for him.
[01:43.80]He has deliberately chosen to lead the life he leads and is fully aware of the consequences.
[01:51.51]He may never be sure where the next meal is coming from,
[01:55.08]but he is free from the thousands of anxieties which afflict other people.
[02:01.03]His few material possessions make it possible for him to move from place to place with ease.
[02:07.76]By having to sleep in the open,
[02:09.88]he gets far closer to the world of nature than most of us ever do.
[02:14.97]He may hunt, beg, or steal occasionally to keep himself alive;
[02:20.27]he may even, in times of real need, do a little work;
[02:24.20]but he will never sacrifice his freedom.
[02:27.93]We often speak of tramps with contempt and put them in the same class as beggars,
[02:34.26]but how many of us can honestly say
[02:36.95]that we have not felt a little envious of their simple way of life
[02:40.81]and their freedom from care?