我的分享来自美国首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨(John Roberts),在他的儿子中学毕业典礼上的致辞《祝你遭遇失败、背叛和不幸》。他不同于以往的致辞者,逆向思维,反其道而行之,让自己的演讲别具一格,耳目一新又引人深思。
在接下来的一年一年,我希望你被不公平对待过,这样你将认识到公正的价值。
我希望你遭受背叛,这样你才领悟到忠诚的重要。
抱歉地说,我会祝福你时常感到孤独,这样你才明白良师益友的珍贵。
我祝福你人生旅途中时常运气不佳,这样你才意识到机遇在人生中扮演的角色,进而明白成功并不是天经地义,而他人的失败也不是命中注定。
我希望你的对手会因为你的失败而幸灾乐祸,这样才能让你懂得有风度的竞争精神之重要。
我希望你们被忽视,这样才会意识到倾听他人的重要性。
我祝福你遭受痛苦,从而让你感同身受懂得同情与理解他人。
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.
奥德修斯及其朋友的经历绝对称得上a manifestation of this speech:injustice,betrayal,loneliness,misfortune,failure ,disregard。演讲中所提及到的,无一缺漏。甚至更甚,称得上是brutal blows and hardships。遭受众多blows的英雄奥德修斯,出了眼泪多一些之外,仍旧矢志不移。
文中多次提到,英雄同为凡人。只不过,他们复杂的人生历练使得他们在面对相同的处境时不同于一般人。心随境迁,诚然如此。但当他们到达更高的人生格局之后,他们会以不同的心境和处事态度,理智且淡然处之。
当奥德修斯归来,与Eurmaeus对坐夜谈时,他对奥德修斯说的话也很打动我。夜很长,不必太早入眠,又何必终日忙于吃饭、睡觉、工作。不拘泥于凡事。用不同的方式表达我们不同的情怀。是否有着苏轼“何日功成名遂了,返乡,醉笑陪公三万场,不用诉离殇。”中的些许豪情。但这却是只有两人的归来夜谈。
Agamemnon 也曾提到自己并不是lawless。安分守己,声名显赫的英雄却在自己妻子的情人手中结束了不平凡的一生。奥德修斯来到阴间地府之后,悔恨莫及的Agamemnon 也再三告诫自己的好兄弟防人之心不可无。所以奥德修斯希望给自己洗脚的不是其他女仆,而是指的自己信任的nurse。
最后,在这20多章里让我印象最深刻的是奥德修斯认为自己以前年轻气盛,欲望膨胀,可以无所不有。但失去神祇相助,自己是受尽苦难。不仅害了自己也连累了家人兄弟。但所幸的是,他自己并没有被苦难所压垮,在逆境重生。二十年,奥德修斯似乎并未苍老半分,不论流落何处,人们对他的描述都是godlike具有王者气质的男人。
演讲的最后还引用了鲍勃·迪伦的歌词:
So these are the lyrics from "Forever Young" by Bob Dyan.
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 light 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
《永远年轻》——鲍勃·迪伦
愿上帝保佑你,愿你美梦成真。
愿你无私助人,也接受他人的馈赠。
愿你筑梯摘星,步步拾级,愿你永远年轻。
愿你成长为正直的人,愿你保持真诚。
愿你世事洞明,看到光明。
愿你勇往直前,昂首挺立,坚强不惧,愿你永远年轻。
愿你的双手永远充实,愿你的步伐永远轻快。
愿你有一个坚实的基地,任凭世事变化,愿你心中欢乐满溢。
愿你的歌声一直唱响,愿你永远年轻。
最后一句话也送给我自己:“愿历尽千帆,归来仍少年”。