And at an even more practical level, every day I choose not only how I will live, but if I will live. I have no particular religious mandate that forbids contemplating a shorter life, an action that would deny this disease its ultimate expression. But this is where my belief in choice truly finds its power. I can choose to see ALS as nothing more than a death sentence or I can choose to see it as an invitation – an opportunity to learn who I truly am.

而且有时间的话，我每天的选择的不仅仅是我将如何生活，而是我是否要活下去。我没有任何的宗教禁忌阻止我思考是否可以提早结束我的生命，这个选择可以使我不必辛苦的撑到病情发展的最后一刻。就在这时，我一直坚信的选择真的起到了十分重要的作用。我可以选择把肌萎缩性侧索硬化症仅仅看作是一个死亡的宣判，我也可以选择将他看作是一个邀请-一个真正认识我自己的机会。

Even people in the witness protection program must take with them fundamental aspects of themselves which can never change. What are these aspects for me? This is what I learn every day, and so far I have discovered many unique things, but one stands out above the rest. I have discovered in myself an ability to recognize, give, and receive caring in a way far deeper than anything in my life previously. Others have seen this in me as well.

即使是每个在证人保护制度下生活的人也都会带着一些他们永不改变的特制。什么东西对我来说是永不改变的呢？这就是我每天学习的东西，到目前为止我已经发现了许多奇特的事情，但最与众不同的事情是我发现自己较之以往更能认识，给予和接受关怀。其他的人也发现我在这方面改变了许多。

I, who have always been an intensely private and independent person, have allowed a wide circle of family and friends into the most intimate parts of my life. Previously, I would have found such a prospect appalling. I might have felt I had no choice but to embrace the assumption that living with ALS means a life of hardship and isolation. Instead, because I believe that I always have a choice, I opened myself to other possibilities. And now the very thing that at first seemed so abhorrent has graced my life with unaccustomed sweetness. It was always there. Only now I have chosen to see it. This sweetness underscores and celebrates my belief that I always have a choice.

我以前是一个独来独往，过着十分独立生活的人，更多亲密的亲人和朋友进入我个人最私密的生活圈子会让我感到害怕，得了肌萎缩性侧索硬化症之后，我以为，从此我就只能过着艰难而又与世隔绝的生活。但是，因为我相信我可以选择，我愿意尝试一切可能的生活方式。原先一开始看起来十分可怕的病确使我现在的生活变得异常寻常的幸福。其实幸福的生活一直在我身边，只是我现在才选择去发现它的存在。这种幸福感更加使我坚信：我总能选择。