My mom is a strong black woman who raised her kids to have the same sense of strength and pride. This spirit was epitomized by a single wall in our small, two-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Two pictures hung proudly: one larger-than-life photo of my siblings and I and the other a picture of my mom at 12 years old staring into the eyes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
我媽媽是個很堅強的黑人女子, 她養育孩子時也教導我們 要擁有同樣的力量與自豪感。 這種精神的象徵是一道牆, 就在我們芝加哥南部 只有兩張床的小公寓中。 牆上自豪地掛著兩張照片: 一張是我們兄弟姐妹的放大照片, 另一張是我媽媽十二歲時的照片, 她凝視著金恩博士的眼睛。 (註:Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
When I was younger, I used to stand on my tippy-toes, stare at that picture, close my eyes tightly, and just pretend that it was me gazing up at the man who revolutionized the Civil Rights Movement, who marched on Washington and who transformed a generation by his words, "I have a dream."
我小時候會墊著腳尖, 凝視著那張照片, 緊緊閉上我的眼睛,假裝那是我, 向上凝視著那位 改革了民權運動的人物, 他朝華盛頓前進,並用他的話 轉變了一個世代:「我有一個夢。」
But I did get to meet him. Now, obviously, I didn't meet Dr. King, but I met a man named Dr. Vincent Harding. He worked with Dr. King from day one and even wrote some of his most iconic speeches. You see, this was a really important moment for me as a kid, because it was the first time that I realized that it wasn't just Dr. King who led this revolution, but he was surrounded by a movement made up of anonymous extraordinaries.
但我真的得以見到他。 很明顯,我沒有當面見到金恩博士, 但我見到了一個叫 文森哈定(Vincent Harding)的人, 他從第一天起就和金恩博士合作, 甚至寫了一些他最有代表性的演說。 這是兒時的我一個非常重要的時刻, 因為那是我第一次了解到 領導這場革命的不只是金恩博士, 他身邊圍繞著由一群不具名的 非凡人士所形成的運動。
Anonymous extraordinaries are people who work selflessly and vigorously for what they believe in, people who are motivated by conviction and not recognition. It took me a long time to realize the significance of this moment, until I was much older.
這些不具名的非凡人士, 無私且精力旺盛地投身於 他們所相信的; 驅使他們的是信念,而非認可。 我花了很長的時間, 才了解這個時刻的重要性, 長大很多之後才懂。
And like I said, I grew up in Chicago. I grew up in a rough, poor neighborhood, but it didn't really matter to me as kid because I literally have the most incredible family in the world. Two things that I did struggle with a lot growing up was one -- that my dad has been sick my whole life. He suffers from Parkinson's and pancreatitis, and as a kid, it was so hard for me to watch my hero in so much pain. And my other issue was with me. I guess you could say I had an identity crisis. I had to move four times during high school, and my freshman year I went to an extremely racist high school. Kids were so cruel. They gave us hate letters, wrote terrible things on our lockers and because I'm biracial, they would tell me, "You can't be both. You have to choose, black or white." And in the end I just resented being either. And then all of a sudden, my senior year rolls around, 2008, and being mixed, being racially ambiguous is this new cool fad, like, "Natalie, now it's OK for you to like you. You're pretty now." I was over it. I was tired of caring about what other people thought and I just wanted to hurry up, go through my classes, whatever school I was going to be at next, and graduate.
剛剛說過,我在芝加哥長大, 那是個艱苦、貧窮的街坊, 但我小時候並不在意這些, 因為我有世界上最棒的家庭。 真的讓我很掙扎的事有兩件: 其一是長大—— 我一生中,我爸爸都一直在生病。 他有帕金森氏症和胰臟炎, 身為一個孩子, 我真的很難眼睜睜看著 我的英雄如此受苦。 我的另一個問題與我自己有關。 我想,可以說我有身份認同危機。 高中時期,我經歷四次搬家, 高一時,我去的高中 是極度種族主義的學校。 孩子們很殘酷。 他們會寫仇恨的信給我們, 在我們的櫃子上寫很糟的字句, 因為我是黑白混血,他們會告訴我, 「你不能當兩者。 你得選擇,黑或白。」 最後,我痛恨站在任何一邊。 轉眼間,我高三那年情況 就不同了,2008 年, 混血、模糊的種族 成了很酷的新潮流, 好像是「娜塔莉,現在你可以 做自己了。你現在是美麗的了。」 我釋懷了;我厭倦了 在意其他人的想法, 我只想快一點, 快點把課修完,不論 接下來要去哪所學校, 快點畢業。
It wasn't until I was 17 and I saw a film called "Invisible Children" that something happened. Child soldiers, children as young as my nephews being abducted, given AK-47s and forced to kill, not just anyone, but oftentimes forced to kill their own parents, their own siblings -- a rebel army committing mass murder for no political or religious reason, just because. 25 years. 25 years this conflict has been going on. I'm 20 years old, so that makes this conflict five years older than me. One man, one man with one charismatic voice, started this whole thing. His name is Joseph Kony.
直到我十七歲時, 看了一部電影《被遺忘的天使》, 有什麼事發生了。 孩童士兵, 和我姪子一樣年輕的孩子, 被綁架,被迫拿著 AK-47 步槍去殺人, 不只是殺任何人,通常 還被迫殺掉他們自己的父母、 他們自己的兄妹。 一支叛軍,犯下大屠殺, 不是為了政治或宗教的理由, 只為殺而殺。 二十五年。 這場衝突持續了二十五年。 我二十歲。 所以這場衝突比我還大五歲。 一個人, 一個有著迷人聲音的人, 起始了這一切。 他就是約瑟夫科尼( Joseph Kony)。
When I saw this film, something happened. Something started kind of stirring inside of me, and I couldn't identify what it was. I didn't know if it was rage, if it was pity, if I felt guilty because this was the first time I'd heard about a 25-year-long war. I couldn't even give it a name. All I knew is that it kicked me off my ass and I started asking questions. What do I do? What can one 17-year-old do? You've got to give me something.
我看這部電影時,有什麼發生了。 好像有種感覺在我內在攪動著, 我無法辨視出它是什麼。 我不知道那是不是憤怒或憐憫, 我是否有罪惡感,因為那是我初次 聽說這場二十五年的戰爭。 我甚至說不出它是什麼感覺。 我只知道,它把我打醒, 讓我開始問問題。 我要做什麼? 十七歲的人能做什麼? 你們得要給我一點什麼。
And they gave me something. The founders and filmmakers at Invisible Children told me that there was this bill, that if we could just get this bill passed, it would do two things: one, it would apprehend Joseph Kony and the top commanders in his rebel army, and two, it would provide funding for the recovery of these regions that had been devastated by 25 years of war. And I was like, done. Let me at it. I swear I will do whatever I can to make this happen.
而他們就給了我。 《被遺忘的天使》的創辦人 和製片人告訴我, 有一項法案, 如果我們能讓它通過, 它就能做兩件事:第一, 它能逮捕約瑟夫科尼 以及他的叛軍當中的高層指揮官, 第二,它能提供資金, 讓這些被戰爭蹂躪了 二十五年的區域能夠恢復。 我就說,好,讓我來做。 我發誓我會盡我所能讓法案通過。
So myself and 99 other idealistic 18- to 20-year-olds hopped on a plane to intern in San Diego with Invisible Children. I was postponing college. We weren't getting paid for this and you could call it irresponsible or crazy -- my parents did. But for us, it would have been insane not to go. We all felt this urgency, and we would do whatever it took to pass this bill.
所以,我自己以及另外 99 位 18 到 20 歲的理想主義者 跳上飛機,到聖地牙哥 和《被遺忘的天使》一起實習。 我把大學學業暫緩。 我們做這件事是不拿錢的。 你可以說這樣做很不負責 或瘋狂——我父母就這麼說。 但對我們來說,不去做才是瘋了。 我們都感受到這急迫性, 且我們願意不計代價 讓法案能通過。
So we were given our first task. We were going to plan an event called the Rescue of Joseph Kony's Child Soldiers where participants would come in a hundred cities worldwide and rally in their city center until a celebrity or a political figure came and used their voice on behalf of these child soldiers, and at that point each city was "rescued." But the catch was, we weren't leaving the cities until we were rescued. I was given Chicago and nine other cities and I told my bosses, I was like, "If we're going for big-name people, why not go for the queen bee? Right? Why not go for Oprah Winfrey?" They thought I was a little idealistic, but I mean, we were trying to think big. We were doing an impossible thing, so why not try to reach more impossible things? And so we had from January to April to get this done.
所以,我們得到了第一個任務。 我們要規劃一個活動, 叫「拯救約瑟夫科尼的童兵」, 活動的參與者 會到全球一百個城市, 他們會在市中心集結, 直到有名人或是政治人物 站出來並為這些童兵發聲, 那時,每個城市就被「拯救」了。 但難的地方在於,沒被拯救的話 我們就不能離開城市。 我分配到芝加哥和另外九個城市, 我這樣告訴我的老闆: 「若我們的目標是知名人士, 為何不直接找蜂王?對嗎? 為什麼不找歐普拉? 他們覺得我有點太理想化, 但我們是試著想做大事。 我們在做不可能的事, 所以,為何不去嘗試更不可能的事? 我們要在一月到四月間完成此事。
This is the number of hours that I spent on logistics, from getting permits to rallying participants and finding venues. This is the number of times that I was rejected by celebrities' agents or politicians' secretaries. That is amount of money that I spent personally on Red Bull and Diet Coke to stay awake during this movement.
這是我花在後勤運籌上的時數, 從取得許可,到整合參與者 以及找到集合地。 這是我被拒絕的次數, 被名人的經紀人 或政治人物的秘書拒絕。 那是我個人花費的金額, 用來買紅牛和健怡可樂, 在這個運動中保持清醒。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
You can judge me if you want to. That is my hospital bill from the kidney infection I got from an overconsumption of caffeine due to this event.
若你想評斷我,請自便。 這是我的醫院帳單, 我的腎臟受到感染, 原因是在這個活動中過度消費咖啡因。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
These were just some of the ridiculous things that we did to try and pull this event off.
這些只是我們所做的一些荒謬事, 試著想讓這個活動成功。
And so April 21 rolls around and the event begins. A hundred cities around the world. They were beautiful. Six days later, all the cities were rescued but one: Chicago.
到了 4 月 21 日,活動開始了。 全球一百個城市,它們美極了。 六天後,所有的城市都被拯救了, 只差一個: 芝加哥。
So we were waiting in the city. People started coming from all over the world, all over the country to be reinforcements and join their voice with ours. And finally, on May 1, we wrapped ourselves around Oprah's studio and we got her attention.
我們在城市裡等待, 開始有世界各地的人到來, 全國各地的人都來增援, 將他們的聲音與我們結合。 終於,5 月 1 日, 我們圍在歐普拉的攝影棚外, 我們得到了她的注意。
This is a clip from a film called "Together We Are Free" documenting the rescue event and my attempt to get Oprah.
這片段取自影片 《在一起我們就能自由》, 記錄了拯救活動 以及我努力接觸歐普拉的嘗試。
(Video) Oprah Winfrey: When I drove into the office, there was a giant -- when you came in, was there a group outside?
(影片)歐普拉: 當我開車到辦公室時, 有個巨人——你們來的時候, 外面有一個團體嗎?
Crowd: Yes.
群眾:有。
OW: Holding up signs asking if I would talk to them for just five minutes, so I was happy to do so. And they are with a group called "Invisible Children," and I told this group outside that I'd give them a minute to state their case.
歐:拿著標語, 問我是否願意和他們對談, 只要五分鐘, 我很樂意這麼做。 他們是來自一個 叫做《被遺忘的天使》的團體, 我告訴外面的這群人, 我可以給他們一分鐘 陳述他們的訴求。
Man: Oprah, thank you so much for having us. Basically, these folks out here have seen the story of 30,000 children abducted by a rebel leader named Joseph Kony. And they're out here in solidarity, and they have been out here for six days. This started 100,000 people worldwide. Now it's down to 500 standing strong so that you can raise the profile of this issue and we can end the longest-running war in Africa and rescue those kids that are child soldiers still in East Africa. Oprah, I have to say this girl Natalie here, she's 18 years old. She was an intern for us this year, and she said, "My one goal is to get Oprah." She had 2,000 people come out on Saturday, but it rained. She stood here in the rain with 50 people. When they heard she was here, hundreds started coming. People are here from Mexico, Australia. Natalie's 18. Don't think you're too young. You can change the world any day. Start now. Start today.
男人:歐普拉, 非常謝謝你接受我們。 基本上,這裡的這些人都看過 一個故事:有三萬名孩童 被叛軍領袖約瑟夫科尼給綁架。 他們團結在這裡, 他們已經在這裡六天了。 全球有十萬人參與。 現在剩下五百人還堅強地站著, 希望你能讓這個議題得到關注, 我們就能終止非洲 最長的戰爭,拯救那些孩子, 那些還在東非當童兵的孩子。 歐普拉,我得要說, 這個女孩娜塔莉, 她十八歲。 她是我們今年的實習生, 她說:「我唯一的目標 就是要見到歐普拉。」 她讓兩千人在星期六走出來, 但當時在下雨。 她和五十個人在這裡,站在雨中。 當他們聽說她在這裡, 數百人開始過來, 這裡的人有的來自墨西哥、澳洲。 娜塔莉十八歲。 不要覺得自己太年輕。 任何時候你都可以改變世界。 現在就開始。 今天就開始。
(Cheers)
(歡呼)
Man: Was it worth it?
男人:這值得嗎?
Crowd: Yeah!
群眾:值得!
Natalie! Natalie! Natalie!
娜塔莉!娜塔莉!娜塔莉!
(Music)
(音樂)
Together we are free! Together we are free!
我們在一起就是自由! 我們在一起就是自由!
(Applause)
(掌聲)
So you would think that this is the moment in my life, the pinnacle that made me an extraordinary. And it was an awesome moment. I mean, I was on top of the world. Ten million people watched the "Oprah Winfrey Show." But looking back, that wasn't it. Don't get me wrong. Like I said, it was great moment. It made for a heck of a profile picture on Facebook for a week.
所以,你們可能會覺得這是 我人生中的偉大時刻, 讓我不凡的頂峰時刻。 那是個很棒的時刻。 我是指,我在世界的頂端。 有一千萬人會看歐普拉的節目。 但現在回頭看,並非如此。 別誤會我。 如我所言,那是個很棒的時刻。 有足足一個星期, 它是臉書上最棒的大頭貼。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But I had been extraordinary all along, and I wasn't alone.
但我一直都是不凡的, 且我並不是一個人。
You see, even though my story was featured in this film, I was just one of a hundred interns who worked their tails off to make this happen. I'm up in the air, but the guy that I'm sitting on his shoulders, he's my best friend. His name is Johannes Oberman and Johannes worked with me from day one in Chicago, just as long hours, just as many sleepless nights as I did. The girl on the right, her name's Bethany Bylsma. Bethany planned New York City and Boston, and they were seriously the most beautiful events that we held. The girl on the left, her name's Colleen. Colleen moved to Mexico, moved, for three months, to plan five events there, only to be kicked out the day before the events because of the swine flu. And then there was this family. This family, they didn't get to come to the rescue. They couldn't make it out, but they ordered a hundred boxes of pizza for us, delivered them to the corner of Michigan and Randolph where we were all silently protesting. You see, it was people like this doing whatever they could, simultaneously, single-mindedly, without a care to who was watching, that made this happen. It wasn't about us getting on Oprah, because when I got down from their shoulders, the war hadn't ended. It was about that bill. Oprah was just a checkpoint on the way to that bill. That bill was the point. That bill is what we had our eyes set on from day one. That was going to help us end Africa's longest-running war. And that is what brought a hundred thousand people out to the rescue event from around the world.
雖然在這部影片中 主打的是我的故事, 我只是一百位實習生之一, 他們都用勁全力才讓這件事成真。 我被高舉起來, 但用肩膀扛著我的那個人, 他是我最好的朋友, 名叫約哈納斯歐柏曼 (Johannes Oberman), 從第一天起就 和我一起在芝加哥打拼, 和我花一樣長的時間, 有一樣多無法睡覺的夜晚。 右邊的女孩叫做 貝瑟妮拜歐斯瑪(Bethany Bylsma)。 貝瑟妮規劃了紐約市和波士頓, 它們真的是我們 所舉辦的活動中最美麗的。 左邊的女孩叫做柯琳(Colleen)。 柯琳搬到墨西哥, 搬過去,三個月, 在那裡規劃五個活動, 就在活動的前一天被趕出去, 只因為豬流感。 還有這個家庭。 這個家庭,他們沒能出席拯救活動, 他們無法出席, 但他們為我們訂了一百盒比薩, 外送到密西根街和蘭道夫街的路口, 那是我們沉默抗議的地點。 有像這樣子的人,做自己所能做的, 同時一心一意地在做, 不在乎有誰在看, 是他們讓這件事能成真。 重點不是我們找到了歐普拉, 因為當我從他們的肩膀上下來, 戰爭還沒結束。 重點是那法案。 歐普拉只是通往那法案 路上的一個檢查站, 那法案才是重點。 我們打從第一天就盯上了那法案, 那才能協助我們終止 非洲最長的戰爭。 是它讓全世界十萬人 出來參與拯救活動。
And it paid off: 10 days after we were on Oprah, the bill was introduced into Congress. A year after that, it got unanimously 267 cosponsors in Congress. And then one week after that, President Obama signed our bill into law.
結果成功了: 我們上歐普拉節目的十天後, 法案被引入了國會。 一年之後,它得到國會全體 267 名成員一致的共同贊助。 再過了一星期之後, 歐巴馬總統簽了我們的法案, 讓它成為法律。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
And none of us interns got to be there. We didn't get to be there in this moment. Our founders were there. They're the guys cheesing in the background. But that moment right there is what made all of it worth it. It's what a hundred thousand anonymous extraordinaries worked for so hard to make that happen.
我們這些實習生都不在那裡。 我們沒能參與到這個時刻。 我們的創辦人在那裡, 就是在背景偷笑的人。 但就是那個時刻,讓一切都值得了。 十萬名不具名的不凡人士 如此努力才能實現。
You know, the Oprah moments, they prove that the supposedly impossible can be done. They inspire us. They boost our confidence. But the moment isn't a movement. Even a lot of those moments strung together don't fuel a movement. What fuels a movement are the anonymous extraordinaries behind it.
上歐普拉節目的那個時刻, 證明了不可能的事也能成真。 它鼓舞了我們,提升了我們的信心。 但,那個時刻並非一個運動。 即使有很多那樣的時刻加在一起, 也無法驅動一個運動。 驅動一個運動的,是背後 那些不具名的不凡人士。
You know, for me, what kept me pushing on through the rescue was the thought of those child soldiers. It became personal. I was able to go to Africa at one point. I met these incredible people. I have friends that have been living in this conflict their entire life, and it was personal to me.
對我來說,讓我能堅持 這個拯救活動的推力, 是想到這些童兵。 它變得很個人化; 有次我得以到非洲去, 我見到了一些了不起的人。 我有些朋友一生都活在這個衝突當中, 那對我是很個人化的。
But that doesn't have to be what drives you. You know, you may want to be the next Shepard Fairey or the next JK Rowling or the next whoever. It doesn't matter, but whatever you want, chase after it with everything that you have -- not because of the fame or the fortune, but solely because that's what you believe in, because that's what makes your heart sing. That's what your dance is.
但那不見得要是你的動因。 你可能想要當下一個 謝帕德費爾雷(藝術家), 或下一個 JK 蘿琳(小說家), 或下一個任何人。 那無所謂,但不論你想要的是什麼, 用你所有的一切去追夢—— 不是為了名或利而做, 而單純因為那是你所相信的, 因為那是你心之所在。 那是能讓你爲之起舞的地方。
That's what is going to define our generation, when we start chasing and fighting after the things that we love and that we want to fight for.
這才能定義我們這個世代, 我們要開始為我們 所愛的事物打拼,追逐夢想, 那是我們願意去做的。
I cared too much in high school about what people thought about me. That's what so awesome about this conference, is so many of you are so young. Find that thing that inspires you that you love, and just chase after it. You know, fight for that, because that is what is going to change this world and that is what defines us.
在高中時,我太在乎別人怎麼看待我。 那就是為什麼這場 TED 會議很棒, 你們好多人都好年輕。 找到鼓舞你的那樣東西, 你的所愛,然後去追尋它。 為它而戰, 因為就是這樣才能改變世界, 那才是能定義我們的東西。
Despite what people think, my Oprah moments, my being on TED, doesn't define me, because if you were to follow me home to LA, you would see me waiting tables and nannying to pay the bills as I chase after my dream of becoming a filmmaker. In the small, anonymous, monotonous every-single-day acts, I have to remind myself to be extraordinary. And believe me, when the door is closed and the cameras are off, it's tough. But if there's one thing that I want to drive home to you, one thing that I can say, not just to you but to myself, is that it is the acts that make us extraordinary, not the Oprah moments. Thank you.
不論人們怎麼想, 我的歐普拉時刻、來 TED 演說, 都不是定義我的事物, 因為如果你們跟著 我回到洛杉磯的家, 你們會看見我當服務生 和當褓姆來賺錢付帳單, 同時我才能追尋當製片人的夢想。 在每天渺小、無名、 單調的每一幕中, 我得要提醒我自己,要成就不凡。 相信我,當門關上了,攝影機關機了, 現實是很辛苦的。 但有一件事,我想要告訴你們, 我不只是對你們說, 也是對我自己說, 正是這日常的每一幕, 讓我們成就不凡, 而非歐普拉時刻。謝謝。