So I thought, "I will talk about death." Seemed to be the passion today. Actually, it's not about death. It's inevitable, terrible, but really what I want to talk about is, I'm just fascinated by the legacy people leave when they die. That's what I want to talk about.
我原先在想:「我会谈论死亡。」 那似乎是我今天要跟你分享的主题。 但事实上,我将分享的与死亡无关。 死亡是不可避免而又令人愄惧的,但我真正想谈论的是 我被人们死去时所留下的遗产吸引着 这就是我想分享的主题。
So Art Buchwald left his legacy of humor with a video that appeared soon after he died, saying, "Hi! I'm Art Buchwald, and I just died." And Mike, who I met at Galapagos, a trip which I won at TED, is leaving notes on cyberspace where he is chronicling his journey through cancer. And my father left me a legacy of his handwriting through letters and a notebook. In the last two years of his life, when he was sick, he filled a notebook with his thoughts about me. He wrote about my strengths, weaknesses, and gentle suggestions for improvement, quoting specific incidents, and held a mirror to my life.
如包可华(Art Buchwald) 透过影像留下他那一丝幽默 影带在他死后随即出现,说着: 「嗨! 我是包可华(Art Buchwald),我刚刚死了。」 我透过TED的旅程,在加拉巴哥(Galapagos)遇到米可 当时他透过互联网在个人空间上记述 他患上癌症的经历。 而我的父亲则透过一些信件和一本记事本 留下他那手写的遗产。 爸爸在他生命中的最后两年,在生病的状态中, 把他对我的看法都写满在记事本上。 他写下我的长处和短处 并提出一些能助我改正的方法 同时亦引用特殊的例子,为我的生活提供反思。
After he died, I realized that no one writes to me anymore. Handwriting is a disappearing art. I'm all for email and thinking while typing, but why give up old habits for new? Why can't we have letter writing and email exchange in our lives? There are times when I want to trade all those years that I was too busy to sit with my dad and chat with him, and trade all those years for one hug. But too late. But that's when I take out his letters and I read them, and the paper that touched his hand is in mine, and I feel connected to him.
在他离世后,我发现没有人再写信给我了。 书写这门艺术正渐渐地消失。 我平日会用电子邮件,也会一面思考一面打字 但为何要为了新的事物而舍弃旧有的习惯? 为何书信和电子邮件不能与我们的生活融合在一起? 有一段时间我因为太忙碌而没有坐下来跟我父亲聊聊天 有时,我真的很想换回那几年 然后再以那些时光来换爸爸的一个拥抱。 可是已经太迟了。 但每当我拿出并细阅他的信 我感到与他紧密相连, 因为他触摸过的那张信纸就在我手中。
So maybe we all need to leave our children with a value legacy, and not a financial one. A value for things with a personal touch -- an autographed book, a soul-searching letter. If a fraction of this powerful TED audience could be inspired to buy a beautiful paper -- John, it'll be a recycled one -- and write a beautiful letter to someone they love, we actually may start a revolution where our children may go to penmanship classes.
也许,我们需要留给我们的孩子的不是金钱上的遗产 而是那种拥有真正的价值和意义的遗产。 透过触碰去留下有价值的物品-- 一本手写书,一封真摰的信。 假如这些甚有影响力的TED观众的其中小部分 能被感动而去买一张漂亮的纸-- 约翰,那会是一张环保再生纸-- 然后写一封美丽的信 给他们深爱的人,我们或许要开始实行一个大变革 让我们的孩子去上手写课。
So what do I plan to leave for my son? I collect autographed books, and those of you authors in the audience know I hound you for them -- and CDs too, Tracy. I plan to publish my own notebook. As I witnessed my father's body being swallowed by fire, I sat by his funeral pyre and wrote. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I am committed to compiling his thoughts and mine into a book, and leave that published book for my son.
那么,我应该留些什么给我的儿子呢? 我在搜集手写书, 同时也在搜集一些唱片, 翠丝。 而坐在观众席上的一些作家都知道 我正为这出版的事宜而紧跟著他们-- 我亦计画出版自己的笔记。 在我目睹我父亲的遗体被火吞噬时, 我坐在他葬礼的柴火旁,写下 我不知道我将如何过日子 但后来我决定要将他和我的一些想法 辑录成一本书、出版, 然后留给我的儿子。
I'd like to end with a few verses of what I wrote at my father's cremation. And those linguists, please pardon the grammar, because I've not looked at it in the last 10 years. I took it out for the first time to come here. "Picture in a frame, ashes in a bottle, boundless energy confined in the bottle, forcing me to deal with reality, forcing me to deal with being grown up. I hear you and I know that you would want me to be strong, but right now, I am being sucked down, surrounded and suffocated by these raging emotional waters, craving to cleanse my soul, trying to emerge on a firm footing one more time, to keep on fighting and flourishing just as you taught me. Your encouraging whispers in my whirlpool of despair, holding me and heaving me to shores of sanity, to live again and to love again." Thank you.
我想以一首我在父亲葬礼中写的短诗 来结束今天的分享。 语言学学者们, 请饶恕我的文法 因为我至少有十年没读到这首诗了。 这是我第一次将它公开在这里。 「在相框中的照片,在瓮里的骨灰, 无穷的力量被紧封于瓮内 它迫使我面对现实 迫使我逐渐成长。 我确实听到你的话, 而我知道你想我坚强 但此刻, 我被这些肆虐的情绪浪潮 吞没、包围,这一切令我窒息 就如你所敎导一样 我渴望我的灵魂能被洗涤, 让我能尝试浮出水面 再一次踏稳每一步, 继续奋斗和茁壮地成长。 当我陷入绝望的漩涡时, 我听到你在我耳边低声鼓励我、 扶持我、并把我拉到岸边, 使我清醒, 让我能重生和再次去爱。」 谢谢。