The odd thing is that we do not even really believe that the man in the water lost his fight. "Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature," said Emerson. Exactly. The man in the water had his own natural powers. He could not make ice storms, or freeze the water until it froze the blood. But he could hand life over to a stranger, and that is a power of nature too. The man in the water set himself against an immovable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with kindness; and he held it to a standoff. He was the best we can do.
奇怪的是，我们居然不相信“水中人”在抗争中失败了。“大自然中的万物蕴藏着大自然的全部力量。”爱默生如是说。的确如此。水中的这位英雄有着他自己的自然力量。他不能制造冰暴，或是让水结冰直至使血液凝固，但是，他能把生命让给一个陌生人，这也是大自然的一种力量。“水中人”与一个冷漠、无情的敌人抗争着，他以仁慈之心与之对抗，与大自然打了一个平手。他是人性最高境界的代表。