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发表于 2017-7-14 20:15:27
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When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the
person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn
their name and call them by their name during your time at the school.
当你到了新学校时，见到那些扫落叶、铲雪、倒垃圾的人，走上前去做自我介绍，同时记住他们名字。在学校的日子里，记得称呼他们的名字。
演讲最后，罗伯茨引用了一段歌词作为结语。这首歌来自美国著名音乐人鲍勃•迪伦(Bob
Dylan)。(对，就是去年获诺贝尔文学奖的那位有个性的老爷子。)罗伯茨将鲍勃•迪伦称为“伟大的美国哲人(the great American
philosopher)”
演讲全文
◆ ◆ ◆
Thank you very much.
Rain, somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens are
celebrating this morning, joining the rest of us at this wonderful commencement
ceremony.
Before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform
because behind you are your parents and guardians.
Two or three or four years ago, they drove into Cardigan, dropped you off,
helped you get settled and then turned around and drove back out the gates. It
was an extraordinary sacrifice for them. They drove down the trail of tears back
to an emptier and lonelier house.
They did that because the decision about your education, they knew, was
about you. It was not about them. That sacrifice and others they made have
brought you to this point. But this morning is not just about you. It is also
about them, so I hope you will stand up and turn around and give them a great
round of applause. Please.
Now when somebody asks me how the remarks at Cardigan went, I will be able
to say they were interrupted by applause.
Congratulations, class of 2017. You’ve reached an important milestone. An
important stage of your life is behind you. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you
it is the easiest stage of your life, but it is in the books. While you’ve been
at Cardigan, you have all been a part of an important international community as
well. And I think that needs to be particularly recognized.
Now around the country today at colleges, high schools, middle schools,
commencement speakers are standing before impatient graduates. And they are
almost always saying the same things. They will say that today is a commencement
exercise. ‘It is a beginning, not an end. You should look forward.’
And I think that is true enough, however, I think if you’re going to look
forward to figure out where you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been
and to look back as well.
And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at Cardigan,
perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will recall that you
were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are surrounded
by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident in facing the next step
in your education.
It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when you do, I think you
may appreciate that it was because of the support of your classmates in the
classroom, on the athletic field and in the dorms. And as far as the confidence
goes, I think you will appreciate that it is not because you succeeded at
everything you did, but because with the help of your friends, you were not
afraid to fail.
And if you did fail, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again,
you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think
about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being afraid to
fail that brought you to this point.
Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and
extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why.
From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated
unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.
I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the
importance of loyalty.
Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you
don’t take friends for granted.
I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious
of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely
deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and
then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to
understand the importance of sportsmanship.
I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others,
and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish
these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them
or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.
Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give
grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they
give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people
dressed identically, but you should — you should be yourself. But you should
understand what that means.
Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a
certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something
better. People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to resist the impulse to
conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don't
learn who are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.
The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth
living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not
a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before
you. And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the
good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is
frankly not to think about them at all.
So that’s the deep advice. Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new
school. Other the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young
men pretty well, and I know you are good guys. But you are also privileged young
men. And if you weren’t privileged when you came here, you are privileged now
because you have been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.
When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the
person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn
their name and call them by their name during your time at the school. Another
piece of advice: When you pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks,
smile, look them in the eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is
that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that
is not a bad thing to start with.
You’ve been at a school with just boys. Most of you will be going to a
school with girls. I have no advice for you.
The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could
make a big difference in your life.Once a week, you should write a note to
someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10
minutes. Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the
stamp on the envelope. Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you, right
now. I will dictate to you the first note you should write. It will say, ‘Dear
[fill in the name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say: ‘I have
started at this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or
soccer practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’
Put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great
deal to people who — for reasons most of us cannot contemplate — have dedicated
themselves to teaching middle school boys. As I said, that will take you exactly
10 minutes a week. By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to 40
people. Forty people will feel a little more special because you did, and they
will think you are very special because of what you did. No one else is going to
carry that dividend during your time at school.
Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I
cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These lyrics are from the great
American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old. He wrote them for
his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that
a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a
son and a daughter.
The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good
and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its
refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish.
So these are the lyrics from Forever Young by Bob Dylan:
May God bless you and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
And may you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young
Thank you. |
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