I want to talk today about how reading can change our lives and about the limits of that change. I want to talk to you about how reading can give us a shareable world of powerful human connection. But also about how that connection is always partial. How reading is ultimately a lonely, idiosyncratic undertaking.
Ninataka kuzungumza namna kusoma kunavyoweza kubadilisha maisha yetu na kuhusu mipaka ya mabadiliko hayo Ninataka kuzungumza na wewe namna kusoma kunavyoweza kutupa ulimwengu wa ushirika wa muunganiko wenye nguvu wa kibinadamu pia namna ambavyo muunganiko huo ni sehemu tu mara zote Kusoma mwisho wa siku ni kitendo cha upweke na kisicho cha kawaida.
The writer who changed my life was the great African American novelist James Baldwin. When I was growing up in Western Michigan in the 1980s, there weren't many Asian American writers interested in social change. And so I think I turned to James Baldwin as a way to fill this void, as a way to feel racially conscious. But perhaps because I knew I wasn't myself African American, I also felt challenged and indicted by his words. Especially these words: "There are liberals who have all the proper attitudes, but no real convictions. When the chips are down and you somehow expect them to deliver, they are somehow not there." They are somehow not there. I took those words very literally. Where should I put myself?
Muandishi aliyebadilisha maisha yangu Ni mmarekani mweusi na mwandishi wa riwaya James Baldwin Wakati ninakuwa katika eneo la Magharibi mwa Michigan miaka ya 1980, hakukuwa na wamarekani wenye asili ya asia wengi wanaoandika kuhusu mabadiliko ya kijamii Na ndio maana nilimgeukia James Baldwin kama namna ya kuliziba hili ombwe, kama namna ya kuwamakini na rangi lakini haswa kwa sababu nilifahamu mimi sikuwa mmarekani mweusi, Pia nilisikia kupata changamoto na kuthibitishwa na maneno yake. Hasusani maneno haya: "Ni watu huria walio na mitazamo sahihi, lakini hawana misimamo halisi. pale ambapo vipande vipo chini na unawategemea kuleta matokeo, na huenda hawako hapo kwa namna fulani". Hawako hapo kwa namna fulani. Nikayachukua hayo maneno nikitafakari. Nijiweke wapi?
I went to the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions in the United States. This is a place shaped by a powerful history. In the 1960s, African Americans risked their lives to fight for education, to fight for the right to vote. I wanted to be a part of that change, to help young teenagers graduate and go to college. When I got to the Mississippi Delta, it was a place that was still poor, still segregated, still dramatically in need of change.
Nilikwenda kwenye delta ya Mississippi, mojawapo ya maeneo masikini sana ya Marekani. Hii ni sehemu ambayo imejengwa na historia yenye nguvu. Katika mwaka wa 1960, Wamarekani weusi walijitoa maisha yao kupigania Elimu, kupigania haki ya kupiga kura. Nilitaka kuwa sehemu ya badiliko hilo, kuwasaidia vijana wadogo wamalize shule na kujiunga na vyuo. Nilipoenda kwenye Delta ya Mississipi, Palikuwa ni mahali duni bado, bado pametengwa, Bado panahitaji mabadiliko ya kasi.
My school, where I was placed, had no library, no guidance counselor, but it did have a police officer. Half the teachers were substitutes and when students got into fights, the school would send them to the local county jail.
Shule yangu, pale nilipokuwa nasoma, haikuwa na maktaba, hakuna mshauri, lakini ilikuwa na afisa wa polisi. Nusu ya walimu walikuwa ni mbadala na wanafunzi walipoingia kwenye ugomvi, Shule iliwapeleka kwenye jela ya mahali hapo.
This is the school where I met Patrick. He was 15 and held back twice, he was in the eighth grade. He was quiet, introspective, like he was always in deep thought. And he hated seeing other people fight. I saw him once jump between two girls when they got into a fight and he got himself knocked to the ground. Patrick had just one problem. He wouldn't come to school. He said that sometimes school was just too depressing because people were always fighting and teachers were quitting. And also, his mother worked two jobs and was just too tired to make him come. So I made it my job to get him to come to school. And because I was crazy and 22 and zealously optimistic, my strategy was just to show up at his house and say, "Hey, why don't you come to school?" And this strategy actually worked, he started to come to school every day. And he started to flourish in my class. He was writing poetry, he was reading books. He was coming to school every day.
Hii ndiyo shule nilipokutana na Patrick. Alikuwa na miaka 15 na alikamatwa mara mbili, alikuwa darasa la nane. Alikuwa ni mkimya na mndani, ni kama kila wakati alikuwa mwenye mawazo. Na alichukia kuona wengine wakipigana. Nilimuona mara moja akiruka kati ya mabinti wawili walipokuwa wakipigana Na akajikuta akidondoka na kuanguka chini. Patrick alikuwa na tatizo moja. Hakuwa akifika shuleni. Alisema kuwa shule wakati mwingine humfanya kuwa na msongo Sababu wanafunzi hupigana mara zote na walimu wanaondoka. Lakini pia, mama yake anafanya kazi mbili na huwa anachoka kuweza kumfanya aje shule. Hivyo nikafanya iwe kazi yangu kumfanya awe anakuja shule. Na sababu nilikuwa na wazimu na miaka 22 na mwenye bidii ya matumaini Njia yangu ilikuwa ni kwenda nyumbani kwao na kusema "Eti, kwanini hauji shuleni?" Na njia hii ilifanya kazi, akaanza kuja shuleni kila siku. Na akaanza kufanikiwa katika darasa langu. Aliandika mashairi, alisoma vitabu. Alikuja shuleni kila siku.
Around the same time that I had figured out how to connect to Patrick, I got into law school at Harvard. I once again faced this question, where should I put myself, where do I put my body? And I thought to myself that the Mississippi Delta was a place where people with money, people with opportunity, those people leave. And the people who stay behind are the people who don't have the chance to leave. I didn't want to be a person who left. I wanted to be a person who stayed. On the other hand, I was lonely and tired. And so I convinced myself that I could do more change on a larger scale if I had a prestigious law degree. So I left.
takriban muda ule ule Nilipogundua namna ya kushirikiana na Patrick, Nilikwenda shule ya sheria Harvard. Nilikutana tena na swali hili, nijiweke wapi, niuweke wapi mwili wangu? Na nikawaza mwenyewe Kuwa Mississipi Delta ni mahali ambapo watu wenye fedha, watu wenye fursa, watu hao huondoka. Na watu wanaobakia ni watu ambao hawana fursa ya kuondoka. Sikutaka kuwa mtu anayeondoka. Nilitaka kuwa mtu anayebakia. Kwa upande mwingine, nilikuwa mpweke na mchovu. Na hivyo nilijishawishi mwenyewe kuwa ninaweza kufanya mabadiliko Kwa kiasi kikubwa kama ningekuwa na shahada yenye heshima ya sheria. Hivyo nikaondoka.
Three years later, when I was about to graduate from law school, my friend called me and told me that Patrick had got into a fight and killed someone. I was devastated. Part of me didn't believe it, but part of me also knew that it was true. I flew down to see Patrick. I visited him in jail. And he told me that it was true. That he had killed someone. And he didn't want to talk more about it. I asked him what had happened with school and he said that he had dropped out the year after I left. And then he wanted to tell me something else. He looked down and he said that he had had a baby daughter who was just born. And he felt like he had let her down. That was it, our conversation was rushed and awkward.
Miaka mitatu baadaye, Nilipokaribia kuhitimu shule ya sheria, rafiki yangu alinipigia simu na kuniambia kuwa Patrick amepigana na kuua mtu. Nilitaharuki. Sehemu ya mimi haikuamini, na sehemu ya mimi pia iliamini kuwa ni kweli. Nilisafiri kwenda kumuona Patrick. Nilimtembelea gerezani. Na aliniambia kuwa ilikuwa kweli. Ya kwamba ameua mtu. Na asingependa kuzungumzia suala hilo. Nilimuuliza nini kiliendelea kuhusu shule na akasema aliacha shule mwaka mooja baada ya mimi kuondoka. Na alitaka kuniambia kuhusu kitu kingine Alitazama chini akasema ya kwamba amepata mtoto wa kike ambaye ndiye kwanza amezaliwa. Na anahisi kuwa amemuangusha binti yake. Hivyo ndivyo ilivyokuwa, mazungumzo yetu yalikuwa ya haraka na mabaya.
When I stepped outside the jail, a voice inside me said, "Come back. If you don't come back now, you'll never come back." So I graduated from law school and I went back. I went back to see Patrick, I went back to see if I could help him with his legal case. And this time, when I saw him a second time, I thought I had this great idea, I said, "Hey, Patrick, why don't you write a letter to your daughter, so that you can keep her on your mind?" And I handed him a pen and a piece of paper, and he started to write.
Nilipotoka nje ya gereza, sauti ndani yangu iliniambia, "Rudi. Usiporudi sasa, hutarudi kamwe". Hivyo nikahitimu shule ya sheria na nikarudi. Nikarudi kumuona Patrick, Nikarudi kuona kama ninaweza kumsaidia na kesi yake ya sheria. Muda huu, nilipomuona kwa mara ya pili, Nilidhani nina hili wazo zuri, nikamwambia, "Hey, Patrick, kwanini usiandike barua kwa binti yako, ili uweze kumuweka katika fikra zako?" Nikampatia kalamu na kipande cha karatasi, na akaanza kuandika.
But when I saw the paper that he handed back to me, I was shocked. I didn't recognize his handwriting, he had made simple spelling mistakes. And I thought to myself that as a teacher, I knew that a student could dramatically improve in a very quick amount of time, but I never thought that a student could dramatically regress. What even pained me more, was seeing what he had written to his daughter. He had written, "I'm sorry for my mistakes, I'm sorry for not being there for you." And this was all he felt he had to say to her. And I asked myself how can I convince him that he has more to say, parts of himself that he doesn't need to apologize for. I wanted him to feel that he had something worthwhile to share with his daughter.
Lakini nilipoiona karatasi aliyonipatia, Nilipigwa na butwaa. Sikuutambua mwandiko wake, alikuwa amefanya makosa machache ya matamshi. na nikawaza mwenyewe kama mwalimu, Ninafahamu ya kuwa mwanafunzi anaweza kufanya vizuri kwa kasi Kwa muda mfupi sana, lakini sikuwahi kuwaza kuwa mwanafunzi anaweza kurudi nyuma kwa kasi. kilichoniumiza zaidi, ni kuona kile alichokiandika kwa binti yake. aliandika, "Ninasikitika kwa makosa yangu, ninasikitika kutokuwa pamoja nawe." Na hiki ndicho alichojisikia anataka kusema naye. Nikajiuliza ni namna gani ninaweza kumshawishi kuwa anaweza kumwambia zaidi, ile sehemu yake ambayo hahitaji kuomba radhi kwayo. Nilitaka yeye ajisikie kuwa anakitu cha thamani kumshirikisha binti yake.
For every day the next seven months, I visited him and brought books. My tote bag became a little library. I brought James Baldwin, I brought Walt Whitman, C.S. Lewis. I brought guidebooks to trees, to birds, and what would become his favorite book, the dictionary. On some days, we would sit for hours in silence, both of us reading. And on other days, we would read together, we would read poetry.
Kwa kila siku kwa miezi saba iliyofuatia, Nilimtembelea na kumpelekea vitabu. Mkoba wangu uligeuka kuwa maktaba ndogo. Nilimpelekea James Baldwin, Nilipeleka Walt Whitman, C.S.Lewis. Nilileta vitabu vya mwongozo wa miti, wa ndege, na kitabu alichotokea kukipenda zaidi, kamusi. Kwa baadhi ya siku, tulikaa kimya kwa masaa, wote wawili tukisoma. Na siku nyingine, tulisoma pamoja, tulisoma mashairi.
We started by reading haikus, hundreds of haikus, a deceptively simple masterpiece. And I would ask him, "Share with me your favorite haikus." And some of them are quite funny. So there's this by Issa: "Don't worry, spiders, I keep house casually." And this: "Napped half the day, no one punished me!" And this gorgeous one, which is about the first day of snow falling, "Deer licking first frost from each other's coats." There's something mysterious and gorgeous just about the way a poem looks. The empty space is as important as the words themselves.
tulianza kwa kusoma haikus, mamia ya haikus, ni kito rahisi na danganyifu. Na ningemuuliza, "Nishirikishe haiku zako unazozipenda". Na baadhi yake ni za kufurahisha sana. Kuna hii ya Issa: "Usijali, buibui, ninaweka nyumba kikawaida." Na hii: "Nimelala nusu ya siku, na hakuna aliyeniadhibu!" Na hii nyingine ya kuvutia, inayohusu siku ya kwanza barafu ilipodondoka, "Kulungu wakilamba baridi ya kwanza kutoka kwenye koti la kila mmoja wao." Kuna kitu cha ajabu na cha kuvutia kuhusu namna shairi linavyoonekana. Nafasi ya shairi ni muhimu kama maneno yenyewe.
We read this poem by W.S. Merwin, which he wrote after he saw his wife working in the garden and realized that they would spend the rest of their lives together. "Let me imagine that we will come again when we want to and it will be spring We will be no older than we ever were The worn griefs will have eased like the early cloud through which morning slowly comes to itself" I asked Patrick what his favorite line was, and he said, "We will be no older than we ever were." He said it reminded him of a place where time just stops, where time doesn't matter anymore. And I asked him if he had a place like that, where time lasts forever. And he said, "My mother." When you read a poem alongside someone else, the poem changes in meaning. Because it becomes personal to that person, becomes personal to you.
Tunasoma shairi hili lililoandikwa na W.S.Merwin, ambalo aliliandika baada ya kumuona mkewe akifanya kazi kwenye bustani na akakumbuka kuwa wataishi maisha yao yote yaliyobaki wakiwa pamoja. "Wacha nifikiri kuwa tutakuja tena tutakapotaka na itakuwa wakati wa masika hatutakuwa na umri mkubwa kuliko tulivyowahi kuwa na majonzi yatakuwa mepesi kama mawingu ya mapema ambayo kwayo asubuhi huja yenyewe taratibu" Nikamuuliza Patrick mstari alioupenda zaidi ni upi, na akasema "Hatutakuwa na umri mkubwa kuliko tulivyokuwa." Alisema inamkumbusha mahali ambapo muda husimama, pale ambapo muda haumaanishi kitu chochote. Na nikamuuliza kama amewahi kuwa na mahali pa jinsi hiyo. pale ambapo muda hudumu milele. Na akasema, "Mama yangu". Na pale unaposoma shairi pamoja na mtu mwingine, shairi hubadilika katika maana. Kwa sababu huwa la kibinafsi kwa mtu huyo, huwa la kibinafsi kwako.
We then read books, we read so many books, we read the memoir of Frederick Douglass, an American slave who taught himself to read and write and who escaped to freedom because of his literacy. I had grown up thinking of Frederick Douglass as a hero and I thought of this story as one of uplift and hope. But this book put Patrick in a kind of panic. He fixated on a story Douglass told of how, over Christmas, masters give slaves gin as a way to prove to them that they can't handle freedom. Because slaves would be stumbling on the fields. Patrick said he related to this. He said that there are people in jail who, like slaves, don't want to think about their condition, because it's too painful. Too painful to think about the past, too painful to think about how far we have to go.
Halafu tulisoma vitabu, tulisoma vitabu vingi sana, tulisoma kumbukumbu za Frederick Douglass, Mtumwa wa Marekani aliyejifunza mwenyewe kusoma na kuandika na aliyetoroka na kuwa huru sababu ya kuelimika kwake. Nimekua nikimfikiria Frederick Douglass kama shujaa na niliiona hii simulizi kama iliyojaa matumaini na yenye kuinua Lakini kitabu hiki kilimuweka Patrick katika hofu. Alibakia katika simulizi aliyoielezea Douglass jinsi ambavyo, katika Christmas, Mabwana waliwapa watumwa jini(pombe kali) kama namna ya kuwaaminisha kuwa hawawezi kuumudu uhuru. Kwa sababu watumwa waliweweseka katika mashamba. Patrick alisema anajifananisha na hili. Alisema kuwa kuna watu gerezani ambao, kama watumwa, hawataki kuwaza juu ya hali zao, kwa sababu inawaumiza sana. Inaumiza sana kuwaza mambo ya nyuma, inaumiza sana kuwaza kuhusu umbali gani tunapaswa kwenda.
His favorite line was this line: "Anything, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me." Patrick said that Douglass was brave to write, to keep thinking. But Patrick would never know how much he seemed like Douglass to me. How he kept reading, even though it put him in a panic. He finished the book before I did, reading it in a concrete stairway with no light.
Mstari alioupenda sana ulikuwa huu: "Chochote kile, bila kujali chochote, kujiondoa katika kuwaza! Ilikuwa ni huku kuwaza kusiko koma kuhusu hali yangu ndiko kunako kipa mateso." Patrick alisema Douglass alikuwa jasiri kuandika, ili aendelee kuwaza. Lakini Patrick hakufahamu kuwa alionekana kufanana sana na Douglass kwangu. Namna alivyoendelea kusoma, ijapokuwa ilimuweka katika hofu. Alimaliza kitabu kabla yangu, akisoma katika ngazi za zege zisizo na taa.
And then we went on to read one of my favorite books, Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead," which is an extended letter from a father to his son. He loved this line: "I'm writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you've done in your life ... you have been God's grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle."
Halafu tukaendelea kusoma mojawapo ya vitabu ninavyovipenda, Cha Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead," ambayo ni barua endelevu kutoka kwa baba kwenda kwa mwanae. Alipenda mstari huu: "Ninaandika hii kwa sehemu kukuambia ya kwamba kama umewahi kujiuliza kile umekifanya katika maisha yako... umekuwa neema ya Mungu kwangu, muujiza, kitu ambacho ni zaidi ya muujiza."
Something about this language, its love, its longing, its voice, rekindled Patrick's desire to write. And he would fill notebooks upon notebooks with letters to his daughter. In these beautiful, intricate letters, he would imagine him and his daughter going canoeing down the Mississippi river. He would imagine them finding a mountain stream with perfectly clear water. As I watched Patrick write, I thought to myself, and I now ask all of you, how many of you have written a letter to somebody you feel you have let down? It is just much easier to put those people out of your mind. But Patrick showed up every day, facing his daughter, holding himself accountable to her, word by word with intense concentration.
Kitu kimoja kuhusu hii lugha, upendo wake, subira yake, sauti yake, iliamsha shauku ya Patrick katika kuandika. Na alijaza daftari kwa daftari na barua kwenda kwa binti yake. katika barua hizi nzuri na imara, alijiwazia yeye na binti yake wakipanda mtumbwi katika mto Mississipi Alijiwazia yeye na binti yake wakipata vijito vya milimani vikiwa na maji masafi bila kasoro. Nilipomtazama Patrick akiandika, Nilijiwazia mwenyewe, na sasa ninawaulizeni nyote, ni wangapi wenu mmewahi kuandika barua kwa mtu unayehisi umemwangusha? Ni rahisi sana kuwaweka hao watu nje ya fikra zako. Lakini Patrick alijitokeza kila siku, akimkabili binti yake, akijiwajibisha kwake, neno kwa neno kwa umakini wa hali ya juu.
I wanted in my own life to put myself at risk in that way. Because that risk reveals the strength of one's heart. Let me take a step back and just ask an uncomfortable question. Who am I to tell this story, as in this Patrick story? Patrick's the one who lived with this pain and I have never been hungry a day in my life. I thought about this question a lot, but what I want to say is that this story is not just about Patrick. It's about us, it's about the inequality between us. The world of plenty that Patrick and his parents and his grandparents have been shut out of. In this story, I represent that world of plenty. And in telling this story, I didn't want to hide myself. Hide the power that I do have.
Ningependa katika maisha yangu binafsi kujiweka katika hatari kwa namna hiyo. Kwa sababu hatari hiyo inadhihirisha nguvu za moyo wa mtu. Ngoja nirudi hatua moja nyuma na niulize swali ambalo linaleta wasiwasi. Mimi ni nani kusimulia simulizi hii, hii simulizi ya Patrick? Patrick ndiye aliyeishi kwenye maumivu haya na mimi sijawahi kukaa na njaa hata kwa siku moja kwenye maisha yangu Ninawaza sana kuhusu swali hili, lakini ninachotaka kusema ni kuwa hii simulizi sio tu kuhusu Patrick. Inatuhusu sisi, ni kuhusu tofauti kati yetu. Ulimwengu wa vingi ambao Patrick na wazazi wake na mababu zake hawajawahi kuuona. Katika simulizi hii, mimi ninawakilisha huo ulimwengu wa vingi. Na katika kueleza simulizi hii sikutaka kujificha mwenyewe. Kuficha nguvu ambazo ninazo.
In telling this story, I wanted to expose that power and then to ask, how do we diminish the distance between us? Reading is one way to close that distance. It gives us a quiet universe that we can share together, that we can share in equally.
Katika kueleza simulizi hii, ninataka kuifichua nguvu hiyo halafu kuuliza, tunawezaje kuipunguza umbali kati yetu? Kusoma ni njia mojawapo ya kuipunguza hiyo nafasi. Kunatuma ulimwengu wa ukimya ambao tunaweza kuushiriki pamoja, ambao tunaweza kuushiriki kwa usawa.
You're probably wondering now what happened to Patrick. Did reading save his life? It did and it didn't. When Patrick got out of prison, his journey was excruciating. Employers turned him away because of his record, his best friend, his mother, died at age 43 from heart disease and diabetes. He's been homeless, he's been hungry.
Inawezekana unajiuliza sasa kuwa ni nini kilitokea kwa Patrick. Je kusoma kuliokoa maisha yake? Kuliyaokoa na hakukuyaokoa. Patrick alipotoka gerezani, safari yake ilikuwa ya maumivu. Waajiri hawakumkubali kwa sababu ya historia yake, rafiki yake mpenzi, mama yake, alifariki katika umri wa miaka 43 kwa ugonjwa wa moyo na kisukari. Alikuwa hana pa kuishi, amekuwa hana chakula.
So people say a lot of things about reading that feel exaggerated to me. Being literate didn't stop him form being discriminated against. It didn't stop his mother from dying. So what can reading do? I have a few answers to end with today.
Kwa hiyo watu wanasema mengi kuhusu kusoma ambayo kwangu ninahisi wanazidisha chumvi. Uwezo wa kusoma haukumzuia yeye asitengwe na jamii. Hakukumzuia mama yake asifariki. Kwa hiyo kusoma kunaweza kufanya nini? Nina majibu machache ninapomalizia leo.
Reading charged his inner life with mystery, with imagination, with beauty. Reading gave him images that gave him joy: mountain, ocean, deer, frost. Words that taste of a free, natural world. Reading gave him a language for what he had lost. How precious are these lines from the poet Derek Walcott? Patrick memorized this poem. "Days that I have held, days that I have lost, days that outgrow, like daughters, my harboring arms."
Kusoma kulibadili utu wake wa ndani kwa mambo yaliyofichika na uwezo wa kuwaza kwa picha. kwa uzuri. Kusoma kulimpa taswira zilizompa furaha: milima, bahari, kulungu, theluji. Maneno yenye ladha ya ulimwengu huru na halisi. Kusoma kulimpa lugha kwa yale aliyopoteza. Ni jinsi gani yalivyo mazuri haya maneno kutoka kwa mshairi Derek Walcott? Patrick alilikariri hili shairi. "Siku ambazo nilizishikilia, siku ambazo nilizipoteza, siku ambazo zinakuwa kupitiliza, kama mabinti, mikono yangu inayoshikilia."
Reading taught him his own courage. Remember that he kept reading Frederick Douglass, even though it was painful. He kept being conscious, even though being conscious hurts. Reading is a form of thinking, that's why it's difficult to read because we have to think. And Patrick chose to think, rather than to not think. And last, reading gave him a language to speak to his daughter. Reading inspired him to want to write. The link between reading and writing is so powerful. When we begin to read, we begin to find the words. And he found the words to imagine the two of them together. He found the words to tell her how much he loved her.
Kusoma kulimfundisha ujasiri wake mwenyewe. Kumbuka kwamba aliendelea kusoma Frederick Douglass, ijapokuwa ilikuwa ya kuumiza. Aliendelea kuwa makini, ijapokuwa kuwa makini kunauma. Kusoma ni aina ya kutafakari, ndio maana ni vigumu sana kusoma kwa sababu tunataka kutafakari. Na Patrick alichagua kutafakari, badala ya kutokutafakari. Na mwishoni, kusoma kulimpa lugha ya kuongea na binti yake. Kusoma kulimpa shauku ya kutaka kuandika. Muunganiko kati ya kusoma na kuandika ni wenye nguvu sana. Tunapoanza kusoma, tunaanza kupata maneno. Na alipata maneno ya kutafakari wao wawili wakiwa pamoja. Alipata maneno ya kumwelezea ni namna gani anampenda.
Reading also changed our relationship with each other. It gave us an occasion for intimacy, to see beyond our points of view. And reading took an unequal relationship and gave us a momentary equality. When you meet somebody as a reader, you meet him for the first time, newly, freshly. There is no way you can know what his favorite line will be. What memories and private griefs he has. And you face the ultimate privacy of his inner life. And then you start to wonder, "Well, what is my inner life made of? What do I have that's worthwhile to share with another?"
Kusoma pia kulibadilisha mahusiano baina yetu. Kunatupa nyakati za kuwa karibu, kuweza kuona zaidi ya mitazamo yetu. Na kusoma kulichukua mahusiano ya kutokuwa sawa na kulitupa usawa wa muda mfupi. Ukikutana na mtu kama msomaji, unakutana naye kwa mara ya kwanza, kwa upya kabisa. Hakuna namna unaweza kufahamu mstari anaoupenda sana ni upi. Ni kumbukumbu zipi na huzuni zipi za siri alizonazo. Na unakutana na sitara ya hali ya juu ya utu wake wa ndani. Na halafu unaanza kushangaa, "Eti,utu wangu wa ndani umejengwa na nini? Ni kitu gani nilichonacho cha thamani cha kumshirikisha mwingine?"
I want to close on some of my favorite lines from Patrick's letters to his daughter. "The river is shadowy in some places but the light shines through the cracks of trees ... On some branches hang plenty of mulberries. You stretch your arm straight out to grab some." And this lovely letter, where he writes, "Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the words. I know this poem by heart and I would like you to know it, too."
Ninataka kufunga kwa mistari yangu ninayoipenda kutoka kwa barua za Patrick kwa bintiye. "Mto una kivuli kwenye baadhi ya maeneo lakini mwanga unaangaza kupitia mianya ya miti... Kwenye baadhi ya matawi muliberi nyingi zimening'inia. Unanyoosha mkono wako ili uweze kuyachukua baadhi". Na barua hii ya upendo, anapoandika, "Fumba macho yako na usikilize sauti ya maneno. Ninafahamu shairi hili kwa moyo na ningependa pia wewe ulifahamu."
Thank you so much everyone.
Ninawashukuruni nyote.
(Applause)
(Makofi)