Tonight, I'm going to try to make the case that inviting a loved one, a friend or even a stranger to record a meaningful interview with you just might turn out to be one of the most important moments in that person's life, and in yours.
今晚,我想試著說服各位 邀請一位愛人、朋友, 甚至是陌生人, 來和你錄製一段有意義的訪談, 這段對話可能會成為 對方或是你的一生中 非常重要的時刻。
When I was 22 years old, I was lucky enough to find my calling when I fell into making radio stories. At almost the exact same time, I found out that my dad, who I was very, very close to, was gay. I was taken completely by surprise. We were a very tight-knit family, and I was crushed. At some point, in one of our strained conversations, my dad mentioned the Stonewall riots. He told me that one night in 1969, a group of young black and Latino drag queens fought back against the police at a gay bar in Manhattan called the Stonewall Inn, and how this sparked the modern gay rights movement.
我很幸運在 22 歲的時候 發現自己的天職, 當時我投入製作廣播故事。 幾乎就在同一時間, 我發現我的爸爸, 那個我非常非常親密的人, 是個同性戀。 我驚訝不已。 我們是非常親密的家庭。 我幾乎崩潰了。 在一次正式的家庭談話中, 我爸爸提到了石牆暴動。 他告訴我,1969 年的某一晚, 一群年輕黑人和拉丁裔男性的扮裝皇后 在曼哈頓的同性戀酒吧 和警察發生了衝突, 那個酒吧,叫做石牆旅館。 他還說這場活動如何 鼓舞現代同性戀權利運動。
It was an amazing story, and it piqued my interest. So I decided to pick up my tape recorder and find out more. With the help of a young archivist named Michael Shirker, we tracked down all of the people we could find who had been at the Stonewall Inn that night. Recording these interviews, I saw how the microphone gave me the license to go places I otherwise never would have gone and talk to people I might not otherwise ever have spoken to. I had the privilege of getting to know some of the most amazing, fierce and courageous human beings I had ever met. It was the first time the story of Stonewall had been told to a national audience. I dedicated the program to my dad, it changed my relationship with him, and it changed my life.
這是個很棒的故事, 它激起了我的興趣, 於是我決定拿起我的錄音機 去挖掘更多故事。 在一位年輕檔案員 麥克.舍克的幫助下, 我們找到所有能找到的當事人, 那些當晚去過石牆旅館的人們。 在記錄訪談的過程中, 我發現麥克風給予我一種權利, 讓我能去從沒想過要去的地方, 和我從來不會談話的人交流。 我得到了一種特權, 去了解我一生中 見過最了不起、狂熱, 和富有勇氣的人們。 那是第一次,石牆暴動的故事 得到全國人民關注。 我把這個節目歸功於我的父親, 這件事改變了我們的關係, 也改變了我的人生。
Over the next 15 years, I made many more radio documentaries, working to shine a light on people who are rarely heard from in the media. Over and over again, I'd see how this simple act of being interviewed could mean so much to people, particularly those who had been told that their stories didn't matter. I could literally see people's back straighten as they started to speak into the microphone.
在接下來的 15 年裡, 我錄了很多廣播節目, 給予在媒體上很少發言的人 訴說故事的機會。 一次又一次, 我看到這個簡單接受訪談的行為 能帶給那些人非常大的意義, 尤其是對那些認為 自己的故事不值一提的人們。 我確實看見大家挺直後背, 開始對著麥克風傾訴。
In 1998, I made a documentary about the last flophouse hotels on the Bowery in Manhattan. Guys stayed up in these cheap hotels for decades. They lived in cubicles the size of prison cells covered with chicken wire so you couldn't jump from one room into the next. Later, I wrote a book on the men with the photographer Harvey Wang. I remember walking into a flophouse with an early version of the book and showing one of the guys his page. He stood there staring at it in silence, then he grabbed the book out of my hand and started running down the long, narrow hallway holding it over his head shouting, "I exist! I exist." (Applause)
1998 年,我紀錄了 最後幾間廉價旅館, 在曼哈頓的包釐街。 那些人住在這種 便宜的旅館裡數十年。 他們住在斗室裡, 和牢房差不多大, 覆蓋著鐵絲網, 所以你不能從一間房間 跳進另一間房間。 後來我寫了關於這群人的一本書, 和攝影師王哈維合作。 我記得走進一間廉價旅館, 手裡拿著這本書的初版, 給其中一人看有他的那一頁。 他站在那裡安靜的盯著那一頁, 然後從我手中奪走那本書, 快速跑過長長的窄廊, 高舉著書 大喊:「我存在這裡! 我存在這裡!」 (掌聲)
In many ways, "I exist" became the clarion call for StoryCorps, this crazy idea that I had a dozen years ago. The thought was to take documentary work and turn it on its head. Traditionally, broadcast documentary has been about recording interviews to create a work of art or entertainment or education that is seen or heard by a whole lot of people, but I wanted to try something where the interview itself was the purpose of this work, and see if we could give many, many, many people the chance to be listened to in this way. So in Grand Central Terminal 11 years ago, we built a booth where anyone can come to honor someone else by interviewing them about their life. You come to this booth and you're met by a facilitator who brings you inside. You sit across from, say, your grandfather for close to an hour and you listen and you talk. Many people think of it as, if this was to be our last conversation, what would I want to ask of and say to this person who means so much to me? At the end of the session, you walk away with a copy of the interview and another copy goes to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress so that your great-great-great-grandkids can someday get to know your grandfather through his voice and story.
在很多方面,「我存在這裡」 成為故事公司號召的話語, 我在 12 年前有了一個瘋狂想法, 這個想法是,用紀實作品 徹底改變紀實作品。 傳統意義上,廣播紀實 一向只是透過紀錄訪談 製做藝術、娛樂或教育用途的作品, 會有很多人收看、收聽, 但是我想嘗試 讓訪談就是作品本身, 看看能不能讓很多、很多人 有機會以此方式被聆聽。 因此 11 年前, 我們在紐約大中央車站 搭起一個小房間, 每個人都能進來訪問另一個人, 讓他們述說自己的生命故事, 以此來榮耀他們。 你們來到這個小房間, 會見到一位解說員帶你們進來, 你和你的爺爺面對面坐下, 接下來將近一小時, 你傾聽或者訴說。 很多人會想像, 如果這是我們最後一次對話, 我會想對這個對我意義非凡的人 問些什麼、說些什麼? 在結束的時候, 你能拿走訪談的備份音檔, 另外會有一份寄到 美國國家民俗中心, 在國會圖書館內, 所以你的曾曾曾孫 某天可以透過聲音和故事, 了解他的祖父。
So we open this booth in one of the busiest places in the world and invite people to have this incredibly intimate conversation with another human being. I had no idea if it would work, but from the very beginning, it did. People treated the experience with incredible respect, and amazing conversations happened inside.
所以我們在世界上數一數二繁忙的地方 設立這個小房間, 邀請人們和另一個人 來進行一場非常親密的對話, 我不知道能不能成功, 但是從一開始,它就成功了。 大家充滿敬意地面對這次經歷, 許多令人驚訝的對話 就在小房間裡展開。
I want to play just one animated excerpt from an interview recorded at that original Grand Central Booth. This is 12-year-old Joshua Littman interviewing his mother, Sarah. Josh has Asperger's syndrome. As you may know, kids with Asperger's are incredibly smart but have a tough time socially. They usually have obsessions. In Josh's case, it's with animals, so this is Josh talking with his mom Sarah at Grand Central nine years ago.
我想播放一段動畫, 引用在中央車站小房間裡的錄音訪談。 這是一位 12 歲的男孩約書亞.立特曼 訪問他的媽媽莎拉。 約書亞有亞斯伯格症, 但如你所知, 亞斯伯格症患童通常聰穎過人, 但難以與他人社交。 他們通常會沉溺於某種事物, 對於約書亞來說,是動物。 這是約書亞和他的媽媽莎拉, 九年前在大中央車站的談話。
(Video) Josh Littman: From a scale of one to 10, do you think your life would be different without animals? Sarah Littman: I think it would be an eight without animals, because they add so much pleasure to life.
(影片)約書亞.立特曼: 從 1 到 10 來評分, 你覺得如果世界上沒動物, 生活會多不同? 莎拉.立特曼:我覺得會是 8。 因為動物帶給我們太多歡樂和喜悅。
JL: How else do you think your life would be different without them?
約書亞:你的生活還會有什麼不同?
SL: I could do without things like cockroaches and snakes.
莎拉:我可以接受沒有蟑螂和蛇的世界。
JL: Well, I'm okay with snakes as long as they're not venomous or constrict you or anything.
約書亞:嗯,我可以接受有蛇, 只要蛇沒毒, 或是不會纏住你之類的。
SL: Yeah, I'm not a big snake person --
莎拉:好吧,我並不喜歡蛇…
JL: But cockroach is just the insect we love to hate.
約書亞:但是所有人都會討厭蟑螂。
SL: Yeah, it really is.
莎拉:是的,這是真的。
JL: Have you ever thought you couldn't cope with having a child?
約書亞:你有沒有過 對小孩無能為力的時候?
SL: I remember when you were a baby, you had really bad colic, so you would just cry and cry.
莎拉:哈,我記得當你還小的時候 有很嚴重的腹絞痛, 所以你哭個不停。
JL: What's colic? SL: It's when you get this stomach ache and all you do is scream for, like, four hours.
約書亞:什麼是腹絞痛? 莎拉:就是胃痛。 然後你就會尖叫, 說不定有四小時。
JL: Even louder than Amy does?
約書亞:甚至比艾米叫得都大聲?
SL: You were pretty loud, but Amy's was more high-pitched.
莎拉:你真的叫很大聲, 但是艾米的叫聲更尖銳一點。
JL: I think it feels like everyone seems to like Amy more, like she's the perfect little angel.
約書亞:我覺得大家都比較喜歡艾米。 就像她是個完美的小天使一樣。
SL: Well, I can understand why you think that people like Amy more, and I'm not saying it's because of your Asperger's syndrome, but being friendly comes easily to Amy, whereas I think for you it's more difficult, but the people who take the time to get to know you love you so much.
莎拉:好吧,我可以理解為什麼 你會覺得大家都比較喜歡艾米。 但我不是要說這是 因為你有亞斯伯格症, 而是因為大家對艾米好比較簡單, 不過我想對你就會比較難。 但是那些花時間了解你的人 都很愛你。
JL: Like Ben or Eric or Carlos? SL: Yeah --
約書亞:比如阿班、艾瑞克或是查爾斯? 莎拉:是的──
JL: Like I have better quality friends but less quantity? (Laughter)
約書亞:意思是我的朋友品質較好, 但是數量比較少?(笑聲)
SL: I wouldn't judge the quality, but I think -- JL: I mean, first it was like, Amy loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia, she loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia.
莎拉:我不會評論朋友品質的問題,但是… 約書亞:我的意思是一開始 艾米很愛小婭,後來又討厭小婭, 她愛小婭,然後又討厭小婭。
SL: Part of that's a girl thing, honey. The important thing for you is that you have a few very good friends, and really that's what you need in life.
莎拉:部分原因就是女孩子氣,親愛的。 重要的是,你有一些很要好的朋友, 他們才是你人生中不可或缺的一部分。
JL: Did I turn out to be the son you wanted when I was born? Did I meet your expectations?
約書亞:我出生的時候 是你夢想中的兒子嗎? 我有達到你的期待嗎?
SL: You've exceeded my expectations, sweetie, because, sure, you have these fantasies of what your child's going to be like, but you have made me grow so much as a parent, because you think --
莎拉:你的優秀已經 遠遠超出我的期望了,親愛的。 因為,當然,你會對自己的小孩 有一些不切實際的想法, 但是你幫助我成為一個稱職的家長, 因為你想──
JL: Well, I was the one who made you a parent.
約書亞:好吧,我是讓你 變成家長的那個人。
SL: You were the one who made me a parent. That's a good point. (Laughter) But also because you think differently from what they tell you in the parenting books, I really had to learn to think outside of the box with you, and it's made me much more creative as a parent and as a person, and I'll always thank you for that.
莎拉:你是讓我變成家長的人, 說的沒錯。(笑聲) 但也因為你的想法與眾不同, 和我在父母指導手冊上 學到的東西不同, 所以我有時候需要 跳出常規來思考, 而這讓我成為 更創新的母親和成人, 我會永遠因此而感激你。
JL: And that helped when Amy was born?
約書亞:這點有沒有在 艾米出生之後幫上忙?
SL: And that helped when Amy was born, but you are so incredibly special to me and I'm so lucky to have you as my son. (Applause)
莎拉:有。但是你對我而言太特別了, 我真的很開心能有你這樣的兒子。 (掌聲)
David Isay: After this story ran on public radio, Josh received hundreds of letters telling him what an amazing kid he was. His mom, Sarah, bound them together in a book, and when Josh got picked on at school, they would read the letters together. I just want to acknowledge that two of my heroes are here with us tonight. Sarah Littman and her son Josh, who is now an honors student in college. (Applause)
大衛:這個故事在廣播上 播出來的時候, 約書亞收到了上千封信, 告訴他,他是多麼棒的孩子。 他的媽媽,莎拉, 把這些信做成一本書, 當約書亞放學的時候, 他們會一起讀那些信。 我想要告訴大家,這兩位英雄 今晚就和我們一起坐在台下。 莎拉和她的兒子約書亞, 他現在是大學榮譽學生。 (掌聲)
You know, a lot of people talk about crying when they hear StoryCorps stories, and it's not because they're sad. Most of them aren't. I think it's because you're hearing something authentic and pure at this moment, when sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's an advertisement. It's kind of the anti-reality TV. Nobody comes to StoryCorps to get rich. Nobody comes to get famous. It's simply an act of generosity and love. So many of these are just everyday people talking about lives lived with kindness, courage, decency and dignity, and when you hear that kind of story, it can sometimes feel like you're walking on holy ground. So this experiment in Grand Central worked,
很多人說他們聽故事公司的故事會哭, 不是因為悲傷, 大部分不是。 我覺得是因為你所傾聽的 是真實而純粹的情感, 尤其是現在,因為有時候你很難分辨 什麼是真實的,而什麼只是廣告。 這就像是一種反真人實境秀的節目。 沒有人會來故事公司賺大錢, 沒有人為了變有名而來, 只是出於慷慨和愛的舉動。 很多參與者都只是普通人, 講述他們充滿善意、勇氣、 禮貌和尊嚴的生活, 當你聽到這種故事的時候, 有時候會覺得自己走在聖地上。 這個實驗在中央車站成功了,
and we expanded across the country. Today, more than 100,000 people in all 50 states in thousands of cities and towns across America have recorded StoryCorps interviews. It's now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. (Applause)
於是我們拓展到整個國家。 目前,有超過十萬人,來自 50 州, 在成千上萬個城市和鄉鎮 錄製故事公司的訪談。 這是有史以來 數量最多的人類錄音收藏。 (掌聲)
We've hired and trained hundreds of facilitators to help guide people through the experience. Most serve a year or two with StoryCorps traveling the country, gathering the wisdom of humanity. They call it bearing witness, and if you ask them, all of the facilitators will tell you that the most important thing they've learned from being present during these interviews is that people are basically good. And I think for the first years of StoryCorps, you could argue that there was some kind of a selection bias happening, but after tens of thousands of interviews with every kind of person in every part of the country -- rich, poor, five years old to 105, 80 different languages, across the political spectrum -- you have to think that maybe these guys are actually onto something.
我們僱用、訓練了上千名解說員, 引導大家講出他們的故事, 很多人會在故事公司工作一兩年, 走遍全國,收集人類的智慧結晶。 他們稱此為「見證」。 如果你問他們, 所有的解說員都會說 他們在訪談現場學到 最重要的東西, 是人性本善。 我回憶起故事公司的頭幾年, 你會覺得在選擇中絕對會有偏見, 但是在幾萬個訪談過後, 遇到了各種各樣的人, 在國內各地, 無論是富裕、貧窮、5 歲或 105 歲, 80 種不同語言、跨越政治光譜, 你就會覺得也許這些人 其實都置身在某個地方。
I've also learned so much from these interviews. I've learned about the poetry and the wisdom and the grace that can be found in the words of people all around us when we simply take the time to listen, like this interview between a betting clerk in Brooklyn named Danny Perasa who brought his wife Annie to StoryCorps to talk about his love for her.
我也從這些訪談中學到了很多很多, 我學到了每個人心中都有 一份詩意、智慧和優雅, 而我們只需要花點時間聆聽。 像是這個訪談, 他是布魯克林的一位彩票投注員, 丹尼.帕瑞薩, 他帶妻子到故事公司, 告訴她他有多麼愛她。
(Audio) Danny Perasa: You see, the thing of it is, I always feel guilty when I say "I love you" to you. And I say it so often. I say it to remind you that as dumpy as I am, it's coming from me. It's like hearing a beautiful song from a busted old radio, and it's nice of you to keep the radio around the house.
(播音)丹尼:重點是 每次我對你說「我愛你」 都有罪惡感。 我常這樣對你說是為了提醒你, 儘管我看起來又矮又醜, 但我是真心的。 這就像從破爛收音機裡 聽到動人的歌。 你願意讓「收音機」放在房裡真好。
Annie Perasa: If I don't have a note on the kitchen table, I think there's something wrong. You write a love letter to me every morning. DP: Well, the only thing that could possibly be wrong is I couldn't find a silly pen.
安妮.帕瑞薩: 如果我沒在餐桌上看到便條, 我會覺得不對勁。 你每天早晨都會寫情書給我。 丹尼:嗯,問題只會出在 我找不到那可惡的筆。 安妮:『給我的公主:
AP: To my princess: The weather outside today is extremely rainy. I'll call you at 11:20 in the morning.
今天外面下著大雨。 我會在早晨 11 點 20 分 打電話給你。』 丹尼:這是浪漫的氣象報導。
DP: It's a romantic weather report.
AP: And I love you. I love you. I love you.
安妮:我愛你。我愛你。我愛你。
DP: When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens in the rest of the day, there's a shelter when you get home, there's a knowledge knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you downstairs and saying, "Get your hands off me." Being married is like having a color television set. You never want to go back to black and white. (Laughter)
丹尼:如果有人婚姻幸福, 不管工作多麼不順, 不管那一天有多麼不順, 家總是一個避難的港灣。 你知道你可以擁抱一個人, 而不會被扔下樓梯, 還被罵:「把你的手拿開!」 結婚就像擁有彩色電視機, 你永遠不會想看黑白電視了。 (笑聲)
DI: Danny was about five feet tall with crossed eyes and one single snaggletooth, but Danny Perasa had more romance in his little pinky than all of Hollywood's leading men put together.
大衛:丹尼大概 150 公分高, 眼睛斜視,還有一顆暴牙。 但是丹尼.帕瑞薩小小的身體裡 每個毛孔都充斥著浪漫, 甚至比好萊塢電影所有男主角 加在一起都要多。
What else have I learned? I've learned about the almost unimaginable capacity for the human spirit to forgive. I've learned about resilience and I've learned about strength.
我還學到了什麼? 我還學到人類不可思議的 寬恕雅量。 我學到了韌性,我學到了力量。
Like an interview with Oshea Israel and Mary Johnson. When Oshea was a teenager, he murdered Mary's only son, Laramiun Byrd, in a gang fight. A dozen years later, Mary went to prison to meet Oshea and find out who this person was who had taken her son's life. Slowly and remarkably, they became friends, and when he was finally released from the penitentiary, Oshea actually moved in next door to Mary. This is just a short excerpt of a conversation they had soon after Oshea was freed.
比如歐詩亞.伊薩瑞爾 和瑪麗.強生的訪談。 歐詩亞還是青少年的時候, 在幫派鬥毆中 謀殺了瑪麗的獨子 ──拉瑞米爾.拜德。 12 年後,瑪麗去監獄 會見歐詩亞,看看是誰 奪走她兒子性命。 雖然很慢,但驚人的是, 他們成為了朋友。 歐詩亞出獄之後 就搬到瑪麗隔壁,當她的鄰居。 這段簡短的訪談節錄自 歐詩亞剛被釋放的時候。
(Video) Mary Johnson: My natural son is no longer here. I didn't see him graduate, and now you're going to college. I'll have the opportunity to see you graduate. I didn't see him get married. Hopefully one day, I'll be able to experience that with you. Oshea Israel: Just to hear you say those things and to be in my life in the manner in which you are is my motivation. It motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path. You still believe in me, and the fact that you can do it despite how much pain I caused you, it's amazing.
(播音)瑪麗.強生: 我的親兒子已經不在了。 我沒機會看他畢業, 但現在你要去上大學了, 我會有機會看到你畢業。 我沒有看到他結婚, 但是,我希望, 有一天我可以看到你結婚。 歐詩亞.伊薩瑞爾: 你剛剛所說的話, 和你在我生命中扮演的角色, 都深深激勵著我。 它激勵我讓我走在人生的正軌上。 儘管我帶給你極大的痛苦, 你一直信任著我, 真是不可思議。
MJ: I know it's not an easy thing to be able to share our story together, even with us sitting here looking at each other right now. I know it's not an easy thing, so I admire that you can do this.
瑪麗:我知道對我們兩個來說 分享彼此的故事, 甚至只是靜靜坐在這裡看對方, 都不是件容易的事。 所以我很佩服你能夠和我坐在這裡。
OI: I love you, lady. MJ: I love you too, son. (Applause)
歐詩亞:我愛你,女士。 瑪麗:我也愛你,孩子。 (掌聲)
DI: And I've been reminded countless times of the courage and goodness of people, and how the arc of history truly does bend towards justice.
大衛:我一次又一次 看到人們的善良和勇氣, 還有歷史的天平是如何 傾向正義的那一邊。
Like the story of Alexis Martinez, who was born Arthur Martinez in the Harold Ickes projects in Chicago. In the interview, she talks with her daughter Lesley about joining a gang as a young man, and later in life transitioning into the woman she was always meant to be. This is Alexis and her daughter Lesley.
就像出生在芝加哥 哈羅德.伊克斯計畫區, 原名是亞瑟的亞里斯.馬丁尼茲。 在她的訪談中,她告訴女兒雷思麗 她年輕時以男兒身加入黑社會, 並且後來變成自己理想中的女人。 這是亞里斯和她的女兒雷思麗。
(Audio) Alexis Martinez: One of the most difficult things for me was I was always afraid that I wouldn't be allowed to be in my granddaughters' lives, and you blew that completely out of the water, you and your husband. One of the fruits of that is, in my relationship with my granddaughters, they fight with each other sometimes over whether I'm he or she.
(播音)亞里斯.馬丁尼茲: 對於我來說非常困難的是 我一直恐懼有一天你們會不准我 和孫女一起生活, 因為你和你的丈夫 讓我的願望徹底破滅了。 惡果之一就是我和孫女們的關係, 她們會和對方爭吵, 爭辯我到底是男的還是女的。
Lesley Martinez: But they're free to talk about it.
雷思麗:但是她們可以討論這個。
AM: They're free to talk about it, but that, to me, is a miracle.
亞里斯:她們可以討論, 但那對我來說是個奇跡。
LM: You don't have to apologize. You don't have to tiptoe. We're not going to cut you off, and that's something I've always wanted you to just know, that you're loved.
雷思麗:你不用道歉, 你不用小心翼翼。 我們不會把你拒之門外, 我一直想讓你知道,我們都愛你。
AM: You know, I live this every day now. I walk down the streets as a woman, and I really am at peace with who I am. I mean, I wish I had a softer voice maybe, but now I walk in love and I try to live that way every day.
亞里斯:你知道, 我每天就這樣過生活。 我每天用女人的身分在街上行走, 很平靜的做我自己。 不過我希望能有更溫柔的聲音, 但是我現在被愛環繞著, 我希望能一直這樣下去。
DI: Now I walk in love.
大衛:現在我被愛環繞著。
I'm going to tell you a secret about StoryCorps. It takes some courage to have these conversations. StoryCorps speaks to our mortality. Participants know this recording will be heard long after they're gone. There's a hospice doctor named Ira Byock who has worked closely with us on recording interviews with people who are dying. He wrote a book called "The Four Things That Matter Most" about the four things you want to say to the most important people in your life before they or you die: thank you, I love you, forgive me, I forgive you. They're just about the most powerful words we can say to one another, and often that's what happens in a StoryCorps booth. It's a chance to have a sense of closure with someone you care about -- no regrets, nothing left unsaid. And it's hard and it takes courage, but that's why we're alive, right?
我想告訴你們一個故事公司的秘密。 這些對話需要一些勇氣。 故事公司訴說我們的命運。 參與者知道很多人會聽這些錄音, 哪怕他們已經不在了。 臨終關懷醫生艾若.拜克 幫助我們錄下 很多臨終病人的訪談。 他的著作《四件最重要的事情》 是關於四件你最想告訴 你生命中最重要的人的事情, 在他們或者你離開這個世界之前: 謝謝你、我愛你、 請原諒我、我原諒你了。 這些是我們能說出最有力量的話語, 也通常是在故事公司的小房間裡 最常被說的話。 這是一個對你關心的人 表達心意的機會, 讓你沒有遺憾、沒有未說出口的話。 但是這很困難,而且需要勇氣。 但這就是為什麼我們活著,不是嗎?
So, the TED Prize. When I first heard from TED and Chris a few months ago about the possibility of the Prize, I was completely floored. They asked me to come up with a very brief wish for humanity, no more than 50 words. So I thought about it, I wrote my 50 words, and a few weeks later, Chris called and said, "Go for it."
關於這個 TED 大獎, 幾個月前我第一次接到 TED 和克里斯的通知, 他們說我有機會獲得 TED 大獎, 我大吃一驚。 他們請我為全人類 許一個非常簡短的願望, 少於 50 個字。 所以我思考了一下, 寫了 50 個字。 幾週之後,克里斯 打電話給我說:「去做吧!」
So here is my wish: that you will help us take everything we've learned through StoryCorps and bring it to the world so that anyone anywhere can easily record a meaningful interview with another human being which will then be archived for history.
我的願望是: 你會幫助我們 將我們從故事公司學到的所有東西 傳播到世界的每一個角落, 所以任何人在任何地方 都能輕易錄下 和另一個人的訪談, 這份音檔會在史上留存。
How are we going to do that? With this. We're fast moving into a future where everyone in the world will have access to one of these, and it has powers I never could have imagined 11 years ago when I started StoryCorps. It has a microphone, it can tell you how to do things, and it can send audio files. Those are the key ingredients.
我們要怎麼做? 用這個東西。 我們快速邁向的未來世界 是每個人都能輕易取得手機的世界, 而且它擁有的力量 是 11 年前我剛創辦故事公司的時候 無法想像的。 它有一個麥克風, 來告訴你怎麼做, 也可以傳送音檔。 這些就是最重要的組成部分。
So the first part of the wish is already underway. Over the past couple of months, the team at StoryCorps has been working furiously to create an app that will bring StoryCorps out of our booths so that it can be experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Remember, StoryCorps has always been two people and a facilitator helping them record their conversation, which is preserved forever, but at this very moment, we're releasing a public beta version of the StoryCorps app. The app is a digital facilitator that walks you through the StoryCorps interview process, helps you pick questions, and gives you all the tips you need to record a meaningful StoryCorps interview, and then with one tap upload it to our archive at the Library of Congress.
因此我的願望的第一部分 已經開始進行了。 在過去的幾個月裡, 故事公司的員工努力工作, 為了開發出一款應用程式, 讓故事公司突破小房間的限制, 所以每個人可以在任何地方、 任何時間來記錄他們的故事。 記住,故事公司一直都只有 兩名員工和一名解說員 幫大家記錄他們的對話, 這段話會永遠保存下來, 但是在這個時候, 我們會發布一款故事公司的 大眾版應用程式, 這個程式就是一個電子解說員 幫助你練習故事公司的訪談過程、 選擇問題、 給予你所有的指導, 讓你記錄一段有意義的訪談, 然後點一下就能上傳到 我們在國會圖書館的檔案處。
That's the easy part, the technology. The real challenge is up to you: to take this tool and figure out how we can use it all across America and around the world, so that instead of recording thousands of StoryCorps interviews a year, we could potentially record tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or maybe even more.
技術方面是很簡單的。 真正困難的部分是你自己: 找出我們可以怎麼讓這項工具 推廣到全美、全世界, 如此一來,我們每年 不只能錄幾千則訪談, 我們有機會能錄製幾萬、 幾十萬, 甚至更多則故事。
Imagine, for example, a national homework assignment where every high school student studying U.S. history across the country records an interview with an elder over Thanksgiving, so that in one single weekend an entire generation of American lives and experiences are captured. (Applause) Or imagine mothers on opposite sides of a conflict somewhere in the world sitting down not to talk about that conflict but to find out who they are as people, and in doing so, begin to build bonds of trust; or that someday it becomes a tradition all over the world that people are honored with a StoryCorps interview on their 75th birthday; or that people in your community go into retirement homes or hospitals or homeless shelters or even prisons armed with this app to honor the people least heard in our society and ask them who they are, what they've learned in life, and how they want to be remembered. (Applause)
請想像也許有一項 遍行全國的家庭作業, 每一位學習美國歷史的中學生 都要在感恩節那天 錄製對長輩的訪談, 所以在一個週末裡, 美國一整個世代的生活和經驗 就這樣記載下來了。 (掌聲) 或者想像在地球某個角落 爭吵的母親, 坐下來不是談論那件衝突的事, 而是找出她們身而為人的價值, 並且透過這種方式, 建立起信任的橋樑; 也許有一天,這件事 會成為全世界的一種傳統, 大家在 75 歲生日那天 透過接受故事公司的訪談 而獲得榮耀; 或是你的社群夥伴 在養老院、醫院、 收容所,甚至是監獄裡, 拿著這個應用程式,表彰這些 社會上少有機會發聲的人群, 問他們是誰、 他們在生活中學到了什麼, 他們想如何被銘記。 (掌聲)
Ten years ago, I recorded a StoryCorps interview with my dad who was a psychiatrist, and became a well-known gay activist. This is the picture of us at that interview. I never thought about that recording until a couple of years ago, when my dad, who seemed to be in perfect health and was still seeing patients 40 hours a week, was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away very suddenly a few days later. It was June 28, 2012, the anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
十年前,我和父親錄製了 一段故事公司的訪談, 他是精神病學家, 也是知名的同性戀支持者, 這是我們談話時的照片。 我從未想過要這樣做, 直到幾年前, 當時我爸看起來很健康, 每週還看診 40 小時, 卻被診斷出得了癌症。 幾天後他突然病逝。 那天是 2012 年 6 月 28 日, 石牆暴動紀念日。
I listened to that interview for the first time at three in the morning on the day that he died. I have a couple of young kids at home, and I knew that the only way they were going to get to know this person who was such a towering figure in my life would be through that session. I thought I couldn't believe in StoryCorps any more deeply than I did, but it was at that moment that I fully and viscerally grasped the importance of making these recordings.
我第一次聽那段錄音 是在他去世那天, 凌晨三點鐘。 我家有幾個小孩, 我知道唯一讓他們認識 這個我生命中意義非凡的人的方法, 就是聽我們談話。 在那之前,我以為 我對故事公司的信仰已到極限, 但就在那一瞬間, 我發自肺腑的感受到 製作這些錄音的重要性。
Every day, people come up to me and say, "I wish I had interviewed my father or my grandmother or my brother, but I waited too long." Now, no one has to wait anymore. At this moment, when so much of how we communicate is fleeting and inconsequential, join us in creating this digital archive of conversations that are enduring and important. Help us create this gift to our children, this testament to who we are as human beings. I hope you'll help us make this wish come true. Interview a family member, a friend or even a stranger. Together, we can create an archive of the wisdom of humanity, and maybe in doing so, we'll learn to listen a little more and shout a little less. Maybe these conversations will remind us what's really important. And maybe, just maybe, it will help us recognize that simple truth that every life, every single life, matters equally and infinitely. Thank you very much. (Applause) Thank you. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. (Applause)
每天都有人來找我, 對我說:「 我希望早就 訪問過我爸爸、祖母或哥哥了, 但是我等太久了。」 現在,沒人需要等待。 在此時此刻, 當我們不再珍惜 轉瞬即逝的交流的時刻, 加入我們,為那些重要的訪談 製作能長久保存的電子檔案庫, 幫我們為後代創造這個禮物, 證明身為人類的我們是誰。 我希望你們能幫我實現這個願望。 訪談一位家人、朋友,甚至是陌生人。 同心協力,我們就能創造 記錄人類智慧的檔案庫。 也許透過這個方式, 我們能學會聆聽,少點責罵。 也許這些對話能提醒我們 什麼才是最重要的。 也許,只是也許, 會幫助我們看清簡單明瞭的事實, 那就是每個生命,每一個生命 都是平等且有無限的價值。 謝謝。 (掌聲) 謝謝,謝謝。 (掌聲) 謝謝。 (掌聲)