楊天江于2024年6月21日從瑪麗克萊爾學校校長手中接過小學畢業證書

 

我很快就十三歲了

（中英雙語版）

 

作者：楊天江

 

他們告訴我，我長得太快了；他們說，我看起來比實際年齡更成熟。我很快就十三歲了。

我的父母仍然談論著我小時候的記憶，就像昨天一樣。而我，也仍然在看我小時候的照片。我很快就十三歲了。

我覺得我的七歲或十二歲生日就像昨天一樣，直到昨天，我才終于滿 2 位數；直到昨天，我才舉辦了第一次派對。直到昨天，我才第一次搬到加拿大……我很快就十三歲了。

他們說，十三是一個不吉利的數字，但事實并非如此，無論美國人從多少部電梯上移除了十三，或者有多少棟建筑將排除在十三層之外，十三，永遠是一個神圣的數字。它代表著你從童年時代邁向人生下一步的第一個階段。你是一個青少年了，你開始自己做決定，用新的眼光看待世界，脫下外套，感受清新的春風。雖然這段時間很短，但，青少年時期總是黃金時期，在如此短暫的時間里，會發生很多事情：

你可能會交許多的朋友，或許會嘗試一點點酒，甚至，做一些冒險的事情，但，這是反復試驗、學習和成功以及為真正的最終考試做準備的黃金時刻：大學。

小時候，我希望成為一個“酷酷的青少年”；十歲的時候，我希望自己更成熟、更獨立，或者希望自己長大一點，成為一個“冷靜的成年人”；想想快要成年了，我又感到壓力和恐懼，希望自己能回到小時候，躲在父母的保護傘下，只擔心床底下的怪物或黑暗中令人毛骨悚然的陰影，而不是如何支付房租，或者這段感情是否是你的最后一段感情。

我的朋友昨天給我發短信說：“再過二十天，你就十三歲了。”我突然意識到，這就像一桶冰水。再過二十天就十三歲了……已經這樣了？但是……哦，天哪，我的意思是，已經有一段時間了，對吧？我已經呼吸著這種空氣，沐浴著這種陽光，站在這片土地上將近十三年了……三十年呢？六十年呢？未來……好吧，想想也沒用。青少年時代即將到來，雖然 Youtube Shorts 看起來很無用，但實際上它也有一些幫助：真正的成年人分享他們自己的經歷，許多人給我們這些年輕的觀眾提供建議，告訴我們，如何不完全浪費我們的青少年時代。

需要一所好學校，我就讀于一所好學校，這是一件好事。那里如此平靜祥和。當然，學習是一項艱巨的工作，但，那將是一件有趣的事情。除了未來，沒有人知道未來會發生什么，你不是未來，所以不要再為未知的事情感到壓力。專注于現在，這樣，它就會成為過去，未來就成為現在。

每一滴珍貴的時間都是神圣的，童年和成年一樣精彩，而青少年就是要跨過那座橋，享受你最好的青春，過著最瘋狂的生活，努力學習，甚至可能參加派對。

他們告訴我，我長得太快了。他們說，我看起來比實際年齡成熟。

我很快就十三歲了。

 

附英文版：

 

Thirteen

 

They told me that I’m growing up too fast. Then they say I look so old for my young age. I’m turning thirteen soon.

My parents still talk about my baby memories like they were yesterday. I still see pictures of my baby self. I’m turning thirteen soon.

I feel like my tenth or seventh birthday was only yesterday, only yesterday had I finally reached 2 digits, only yesterday had I had my first ever party. Only yesterday had I first moved to Canada… I’m turning thirteen.

They say thirteen is an unlucky number. It is anything but that, no matter how many elevators Americans remove it from or how many thirteenth floors are excluded from buildings, thirteen is forever a sacred number. It represents your first leap from a child to the next step of life. You’re a teen, starting to make your own decisions and seeing the world under a new light, taking off your jacket and feeling the fresh winter wind. It’s a small amount of time, but the teenage years are always golden, in so little amount of time so many things can happen:

You can get your first boyfriend, get drunk or even break the law for this first time. It’s the golden hour for trial and error, learning and succeeding and prepping yourself for the real and final test: university. As a child, we wish to be a ‘cool teen’, as a teen, we wish to be more mature and independent or wish to be older and a ‘collected adult’, as an adult we are stressed and scared and wish we were a kid again, hiding under our parent’s umbrella and only worrying about the monsters under the bed or the creepy shadows in the dark, not how to pay for rent or if this relationship will be your last.

My friend texted me yesterday, said “You’ll be turning thirteen in twenty days.” That’s when it hit me like a bucket of ice water. Thirteen in twenty days..? Already? But… Oh well, ah geez, I mean, it’s been a while huh? I’ve been breathing this air, bathing under this sun, standing on this ground for a near solid thirteen years… What about thirty? And sixty? The future… Well, thinking about it doesn’t help. The teenage years are coming, and as much as Youtube Shorts seems stupid, it’s actually really helpful: actual adults share their own experiences and many give tips to us younger audiences on how to not completely flop our teenage years.

A good school is needed, that’s a good thing. I go to one. It’s so calm and peaceful, sure, studying is a tough job but that’ll be one of the fun parts. Maybe I’ll get a boyfriend, maybe I’ll wake up one day and say ‘hell, I want a girlfriend’ alright then. Nobody except the future knows what the future holds, you’re not the future, so stop stressing about what can’t be known. Focus on the present so it becomes the past and the future becomes the present.

Every single precious droplet of time is sacred, childhood is just as amazing as adulthood is and being a teenager is crossing that bridge by being in your best youth and living your wildest life while studying your hardest and maybe even partying.

They told me I was growing up too fast. Then they said I looked too old for my age. I’m turning thirteen soon.

 

楊天江在多倫多大學附屬中學（UTS）留影

 

作者簡介：楊天江，英文名Ayesha Yang，祖籍湖南漢壽縣，2011年10月13日出生于長沙，現就讀于多倫多大學附屬中學（UTS），為該校辯論隊、籃球隊成員。

 

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