我回想我的父亲是在南方一个非常贫穷的家庭长大的。他来自大萧条时期，而我的父亲的奋力养育着孩子们的父亲，也没有对家庭表现出多少慈爱，我的父亲和其他兄弟姐妹在爷爷的铁拳下长大。谁设想过一个在南方长大的黑人的处境？没有尊严，没有希望，想拼力在这个视我父亲为下贱种的世界里争得立足之地。我是第一个登上MTV台的黑人艺人，我还记得那有多艰难，但那还是在80年代！后来我父亲搬到印地安那州并且有了自己的大家庭，他在炼钢厂长时间的工作，那工作很低下，而且对肺有损害，这一切都是为了家。这是否很奇怪，因为他艰于表达？这是否很神秘，因为他的心那样饱经沧桑？最重要的，这是否不可理解，因为他逼他的儿子去走演艺成功之路？--为了免于再过受侮辱和贫穷的生活，我开始明白就连父亲的咆哮也是一种爱，一种不完美的爱，但是尽管如此，他逼我因为他爱我，因为他希望没人会鄙视他的子女，现在，想起曾经的苦难，我感到幸福。在愤怒中，我发现了超脱，在复仇中，我发现了和解，就连最初的愤怒也慢慢变成了宽恕。
I have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the South, in a very poor family. He came of age during the Depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. Who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate. I was the first black artist to be played on MTV and I remember how big a deal it was even then. And that was in the 80s! My father moved to Indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. Is it any wonder that he found it difficult to expose his feelings? Is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? And most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty? I have begun to see that even my father's harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. He pushed me because he loved me. Because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring. And now with time, rather than bitterness, I feel blessing. In the place of anger, I have found absolution. And in the place of revenge I have found reconciliation. And my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.
差不多十年前，我建立了一个叫“拯救世界”的慈善机构，这名字本身正是我潜藏的感觉，就我知道的一点，正如Shmuley后来指出的那样，那两个字是古老预言实现的基础，我们真的能拯救世界吗？这个问题直到今天一直被战争以及人种问题困绕着。我们真的能够拯救孩子吗？那些带枪进学校满怀仇恨甚至向同学开枪的孩子，那些将被打或者已打死的孩子，就像Jamie Bulger的悲剧故事，我们真的可以吗？是的，否则我今晚不会站在这里。
Almost a decade ago, I founded a charity called Heal the World. The title was something I felt inside me. Little did I know, as Shmuley later pointed out, that those two words form the cornerstone of Old Testament prophecy. Do I really believe that we can heal this world, that is riddled with war and genocide, even today? And do I really think that we can heal our children, the same children who can enter their schools with guns and hatred and shoot down their classmates, like they did at Columbine? Or children who can beat a defenseless toddler to death, like the tragic story of Jamie Bulger? Of course I do, or I wouldn't be here tonight.
但是这一切都从宽恕开始，因为要拯救世界我们必须首先拯救自己。而要拯救孩子，我们首先要保护孩子的内心，人人有责，作为一个成年人，我意识到我不能作为一个完整的人存在，或者作为有能力无条件给予爱的父母，直到我童年的灵魂找到依靠。这也是今晚我让大家做的事情。无愧于十大戒律第五条。敬爱你们的父母而不是褒贬他们，这就是为什么我要宽恕我的父亲并且不再评论他，因为我只想要一个“父亲”，这也是我唯一得到的。
But it all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. As an adult, and as a parent, I realize that I cannot be a whole human being, nor a parent capable of unconditional love, until I put to rest the ghosts of my own childhood. And that's what I'm asking all of us to do tonight. Live up to the fifth of the 10 Commandments. Honor your parents by not judging them. Give them the benefit of the doubt. That is why I want to forgive my father and to stop judging him. I want to forgive my father, because I want a father, and this is the only one that I've got.
我想卸掉一切包袱和我父亲和好，来度过我的余生，不受过去阴影的妨碍。如果世界充满仇恨，我们仍然安于**，如果世界充满愤怒，我们仍然敢于安慰，如果世界充满绝望，我们仍然敢于憧憬，如果世界充满猜度，我们仍然敢于信任，今晚让父母失望的人们，我要你们对自己的沮丧失望，今晚感觉被父母亲欺骗的人们，我要你们不要再欺骗自己，今晚所有希望将父母踢开的人们，我要你们把手伸向他们。
I want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders and I want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father, for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past. In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hoe. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe. To all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, I ask you to let down your disappointment. To all of you tonight who feel cheated by your fathers or mothers, I ask you not to cheat yourself further. And to all of you who wish to push your parents away, I ask you to extend you hand to them instead.
我在要求你，我在要求我自己，把无条件的爱给我们的父母，这样他们会从他们的孩子那里学会爱，这样会最终重建一个爱的世界。Shmuley曾提到古书上的预言--新的世界将要到来，--当父母的心换回孩子的心的时候。
I am asking you, I am asking myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that they too may learn how to love from us, their children. So that love will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world. Shmuley once mentioned to me an ancient Biblical prophecy which says that a new world and a new time would come, when "the hearts of the parents would be restored through the hearts of their children."
我的朋友们，我们就是那个世界，我们就是那些孩子。
My friends, we are that world, we are those children.
圣雄甘地曾说：“弱者从不原谅，宽恕是强者的属性。”今晚，作一个强者，并且超越强者，迎接最大的挑战--治愈感情的创伤，我们一定能克服，无论我们童年受的伤害对生活的影响有多大，假定你的父母是无辜的，宽恕每个人，就赢得每个人，成千上万孩子和他们的父母对宽恕的呼唤，或许在这一刻没有结果，但这至少是一个开始，我们所有人都乐意看到的开始。
Mahatma Gandhi said: "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."Tonight, be strong. Beyond being strong, rise to the greatest challenge of all -- to restore that broken covenant. We must all overcome whatever crippling effects our childhoods may have had on our lives and in the words of Jesse Jackson, forgive each other, redeem each other and move on. This call for forgiveness may not result in Oprah moments the world over, with thousands of children making up with their parents, but it will at least be a start, and we'll all be so much happier as a result.
好了女士们先生们，我对我今晚的讲话评价是：自信，有趣，激动。从今往后，或许可以听到一首新歌。
And so ladies and gentlemen, I conclude my remarks tonight with faith, joy and excitement. From this day forward, may a new song be heard.
让这新歌是孩子们的欢笑。
让这新歌是孩子们的玩闹。
让这新歌是孩子们的歌唱。
让这新歌可以让所有的父母听到。
让我们一起创作一首心灵的交响曲，创造一个让我们的孩子们沐浴在爱里的奇迹。
让我们拯救世界，让伤痛枯萎。 我们一同创作最美的音乐。
愿上帝保佑你们，我爱你们。
Let that new song be the sound of children laughing.
Let that new song be the sound of children playing.
Let that new song be the sound of children singing.
And let that new song be the sound of parents listening.
Together, let us create a symphony of hearts, marveling at the miracle of our children and basking in the beauty of love.
Let us heal the world and blight its pain. And may we all make beautiful music together.
God bless you, and I love you." |
