儿子作为2017毕业生代表在美国加州他就读的高中毕业典礼上讲话，坦率地讲，那天烈日炎炎，我坐在后排座位上，忍受着高温酷暑，精力难免有些分散，他的讲话我也就断断续续听懂了个大概。不过有一句话我到是听得很清楚：妈妈，对不起，这是真的。
我当时心头一震，心想：小子，当着全校毕业生家长，学生和老师的面，你，不会拿我说什么事吧？
毕业典礼过后忙忙碌碌地照相，拥抱，献花，太多的事情，就把他讲话的事给PASS过去了。
直到有一天，老大给我写了一个邮件说：妈妈，弟弟讲的不错，我年轻的时候就是他说的那种批评现状，愤世嫉俗的人！现在随着年龄的增长，我理解了很多，也改变了很多。妈妈，你好好读一读吧。
看了老大的邮件，我才定下心来，向老二要了原稿，仔细读他的发言。
第一遍，没读太懂，感觉就是真抽象。我当时心里就想，你说这毕业典礼上的讲话，也就3分钟左右，你讲个温馨感人的故事该有多好！
查字典，再读。有几个生字真偏僻。memes，什么是memes啊？这个真不懂。
几遍读下来，终于，我理解了他要表达的意思。
用我通俗的话来说，就是：光埋怨，光批评，光讥讽，有用吗？说一千，道一万，还不如，动一动！
翻译如下：
好吧，我先坦白一件事情：今年，随着时间的流逝，我花了大量的时间在社交媒体上。Facebook, Reddit, 更多的Facebook，从头到尾地浏览。。。。。。我个人是属于社交媒体的菜鸟那类人，所以在这几个月里，当我真正花心思在把自己沉浸在这些社交媒体上的时候，我有一种即新鲜而又奇怪的感觉。在社交媒体上的有些事情，估计家长不了解，而且也许永远也不会了解。（妈妈，对不起。但这是真的！）。
比如说：memes。
什么是memes？好吧，请听我说。
我个人并不是要特别反对memes，其实我也是世界知名的的Facebook Group--伯克利前卫青年memes的成员之一，这个memes对我身后坐着的453个同伴来说，都是很完美的适合。但是今天值得一提的是，memes所主导流行的一种幽默方式，那是一种即批判又讽刺的基调，很多时候，是玩世不恭，愤世嫉俗。
而且，你知道我意识到什么了吗？愤世嫉俗已经成了一种时尚，不仅是在网上，在我们的日常生活中也是如此。
所以，这就是我今天想讲的主题：我们对愤世嫉俗，玩世不恭的验收。
现在很多时候，我都被标榜为乐观主义者，有的时候甚至是过于乐观的乐观主义者。最近我发现乐观主义被赋予了一些负面的含义 -- 脱离现实，盲目天真。乐观主义者被认为是那些忽略现实生活中的不愉快的人，因为他们有意选择忽略痛苦，所以他们很容易快乐。
但其实那不是真正的乐观主义者，真正做一个乐观主义者，并不是一件容易的事。
那让我来告诉你做什么容易吧：做一个愤世嫉俗的人最容易！他们用负面的眼光看待生活中各种事情，觉得世界永远是需要改进和提高的，基于这种现实，他们嘲讽，讥笑，不然的话就会觉得不舒服。
在我看来，愤世嫉俗者就是把自己的双手高高举起面向未来的投降者，他们没有为这个世界上他们每天感同深受的复杂而战，换句话说，愤世嫉俗者除了讥讽，并没做什么努力去改变这些现象，这才是容易呢！
但是，有不容易的事，那就是做一个真正的乐观主义者！乐观主义者并不是只看到生活中美好，光明的一面，而是实实在在地理解明白，其实你的生活也是很渺小，面临很多不公平，你和你的同伴或者前辈比起来，你的生活也没有什么特殊和与众不同。
尽管他们意识到生活的渺小，意识到生活中也充满不愉快的事情，但他们举手双手，并不是向现实投降，他们是握紧拳头，向生活中的这些不公平，不美好而宣战！他们这样做并不是仅仅只为自己，真正的乐观主义者，他们在向这个复杂的社会挑战，是为了这个社会，不是容易的事情。
在我高中四年中，我学到的一个功课就是：任何值得去做的事情，都是不容易的！
所以今天我对坐在听众席上的听众的挑战和建议是：不要把时间浪费在抱怨上，不要费心费神地愤世嫉俗，不要驻足过去，要展望未来。举起你的拳头，来迎接我们这个社会面临的挑战和变化吧！
2017的同伴们，我们一起度过了值得怀念的4年。现在，是我们展望未来的时候了！从今天开始，让我们一起来思考，我们如何共同努力，对这个世界做出改变！
谢谢！
视频：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4BSrOV1sR0
英文：（By William Shan）
So Ihave a little bit of a confession. As the year has winded down, I have beenwasting a WHOLE lot of time on social media: Facebook, Reddit, moreFacebook.... the full package. Now, I personally am a little bit of a rookiewhen it comes to social media. So when I really started getting into it acouple of months ago, there were some things that were kinda new and verystrange to me. Things on social media that I’m guessing most of you parents outthere probably don’t, and honestly probably never will understand. (Sorry mom,it’s true!).
Things like….memes.
Okay—hearme out.
So Idon’t have anything in particular against memes. Indeed, I myself am a memberof the world-renowned Facebook group, UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens, a groupperfect for those 453 really edgy teens sitting behind me right now. What I dofind worth talking about, however, is the type of humor that memes always,always seem to use. It’s this weird mix of sarcasm, of irony, and most of all,of cynicism。
And you know what I’ve noticed? It’s become fashionable to be cynical. Not justonline, but in our daily lives.
That’s what I want to talk about today: our acceptance of cynicism.
Now I’m somebody who is often labeled as an optimist. Sometimes, even an excessiveoptimist. And recently, I’ve noticed that the word “optimist” has begun to takeon a negative meaning—it no longer implies positivity, but unrealistic andnaive positivity. There’s this belief now that optimists are those whoblissfully ignore the unpleasantness in the world. And that because they’re blindto all of that pain, they find it easy to be positive, to be happy. But that’snot what true optimism is. And it’s not at all easy to be an optimist.
Let me tell you what’s easy—what’s easy is to be a cynic. To be a cynic is to seethe world around you in all of its negativity, in all of the ways that it canand should be improved, and accept it—even going so far as to point out itsflaws and laugh at them—because to do otherwise would be uncomfortable, and todo otherwise would be tiring. To be a cynic is to surrender, put your hands upwith palms facing forward, and NOT fight against the complacency that we seeand feel every day. In other words, to be a cynic is to do nothing different.And that’s easy.
But here’s what’s hard. Optimism. True optimism is NOT an unrealistic view of theworld, in which you only see the good and beautiful around you. Rather, it isthe honest understanding that your life IS small. That life IS unfair. Thatyour life is NOT really that special, or that unique from those of your peers,or those of the generations that have come before you. And yet despite thisunderstanding of unpleasant realities, despite being fully aware of thesmallness of your life, you put your hands up, not to surrender, but balled upin fists, because you fight on for a cause that is greater than just yourself.True optimism is fighting against complacency, and that’s hard.
However if there’s one thing I’ve learned from these past four years at Lynbrook, it’sthis: any change worth making will be hard.
So mychallenge, and my advice to all those in the audience today is this: don’twaste your time complaining, don’t waste your energy being cynical. Don’t lookbackwards, but ball up your firsts and look forward to the change that ourworld needs.
It’dbeen a good four years, class of 2017, and we’ve done our fair share of lookingbackwards. Now, it’s time for us to look forward. Starting today, it’s time forus to start thinking about how we want to change the world, together.
Thank you！
| 老来天真 (2017-06-16 18:33:22) |
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你儿子真了不起！ |
| 春阳 (2017-06-17 17:46:07) |
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棒棒哒！！！ |