今天看到今周刊的文章
雖然他的電子報只能看部份內容
但是還是被這份致詞給吸引了
跨國界服務練就自力更生本事
美國第一夫人蜜雪兒．歐巴馬五月十六日在華盛頓大學的畢業典禮中演講。她答應成為主講人的條件就是：全校師生要達成總數十萬小時的公共服務。而華盛頓大學做到了。歐巴馬夫人期許畢業生繼續奉獻努力，並跨出國界，增加視野，進而推動整個世界。
你們所處的這個時代，是個令人驚嘆的時代。你們看到的東西實在太多了，想想在求學中，你們見證了恐怖主義踐踏美國、看到了我們為戰爭付出代價。你們看到了海嘯、颶風等天災之後那不可思議的苦難。而你們現在正處在一個影響遍布每個角落的金融災難餘波之中。
承受這些，比任何一代的孩子都還要辛苦。所以沒有人可以怪罪你們退而求其次，和現實妥協；這個世代的你們，只能先求明哲保身。
篤定地說「我們做得到」
但是請記住，你們永遠不該停下腳步。你們不必理會「不可能」這個字的意義。相反的，每當有人告訴你，這些事超過你的能力所及，你就該篤定地回答他們：「不，我們做得到。」
當然，你們總有可能還是會遇到一些人，他們或許十分認同你的理想，但卻總是警告你眼光不該太高遠，他們會勸你把野心放小一點，或者，向現實環境達成一定程度的妥協。
他們可能都是出於善意。怕你發現理想與現實的殘酷落差，怕你在一古腦兒地往前衝之後才發現到這個令人沮喪的事實：你所努力的目標可能要好幾年、甚至數十年才能達成。畢竟，現今的文化總是告訴我們，人生應該是要輕鬆過，甚至，我們往往不用太過努力，就能享受自己想要的東西。
現實或許真是如此，但你們也該銘記在心，唯有耗費許多時間心力所完成的事，那種「所有努力可能會在最後關頭毀於一旦」的事，往往，才足以被稱為「有意義」。
我會提到這個，是因為我和副總統夫人拜訪了海地，而那裡充滿了太多苦難和毀滅，而這一切的災禍都只發生在幾分鐘之內。看到這些，你不得不想：在這樣的頹圮之中，怎麼可能有任何東西能重生？在這麼多失去後，人怎麼可能還存有希望？
但我告訴你們，每個我在海地遇到的人都教導我一件事：「循序漸進，終有成就的一天。」我知道你們每個人都急著想走出校園，這是好事，但是你們也要有耐心。
所以，諸位畢業生，我對你們還有一個要求，那就是：繼續前進，繼續付出，繼續做你們現在正在做的事。
另一方面，相對於我，或是你們的父母，你們應該懂得更多事情。因為在我們這個世代，和世界的溝通仍然阻礙重重，但現在，世界各地已經沒有隔閡了。現在我們有足夠的能力可以看得更遠，將視野拓展到全球其他人身上，甚至為自己設定超越自我利益的目標。
各項挑戰跨國界而來
現今有太多挑戰跨越國界而來，不論是經濟動態、恐怖主義或是氣候變化。要想解決這些問題，我們必須要和他人合作。而你們比其他世代更具備了處理這些議題的能力。
我知道你們會想：「等等，第一夫人，我有問題。我現在要在這麼壞的經濟中想辦法找一份工作，而你現在要我去做什麼？」家長們也會想：「等等，第一夫人，我有問題。我才花了一大筆錢讓我的孩子讀到畢業，而你現在要他們去做什麼？」...
節錄的原文在這裡...整個就如同哈根達司的新口味一樣的激動我的心阿！
You have fully joined a generation of activists and doers. And when you think about how your generation has come of age, that’s pretty astounding. I mean, you all have seen so much. Just since you were in middle school, you’ve witnessed terrorism touch our soil, you’ve seen the cost of war reach into our communities. You’ve watched unimaginable devastation and suffering in the aftermath of a tsunami; a hurricane; an earthquake. You’ve felt the wrath of a recession that’s changed your towns and even your families.
Now, that’s a whole lot to bear for any generation. So, no one would have blamed you had you chosen to hunker down and turn inward; if you had simply focused on making sure that your own lives were secure.
But so many of you have done the exact opposite. Instead, you’ve dived in. You’ve reached out. You have volunteered and applied to organizations like Teach for America and the Peace Corps in record numbers. In fact, this year is the second year in a row that GW led universities of this size in the number of undergraduate alumni serving in the Peace Corps. (Applause.)
So for every ill of this interconnected world, you’ve tried to find a way to make good. Where there’s hate, you’ve tried to heal it. Where there’s need, you’ve tried to fill it. Where there’s devastation, you’ve tried to rebuild it.
You guys can’t be stopped. You don’t know the meaning of the word "can’t." And every time someone’s tried to say to tell you that, you’ve replied what -- "Oh, Yes We Can." (Laughter and applause.)
In fact, you remind me of something President Wilson once said. He said, "Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that’s the way I know I’m an American."
Even so, you’ve probably also run up against people who love your idealism, but warn you to lower your sights; to scale back your ambitions a bit; to settle for something less.
And you know their hearts may be in the right place. They may be worried that you’re in for a letdown once you realize that it can take years and even decades for your best efforts to bear fruit. See, we live in a culture, after all, that tells us that our lives should be easy; that we can have everything we want without a whole lot of effort.
But the truth is -- and you know this -- creating anything meaningful takes time. And sometimes, the only thing that happens in an instant is destruction.
And I say this because during our trip to Haiti, Jill Biden and I, we got to visit the people there, and there amidst so much misery and destruction, all of which occurred in a matter of minutes, it is so easy to ask: After so much ruin, how can anything rise again? After so much loss, how can anyone still have hope?
But let me tell you that everyone I met during that visit -- doctors, relief workers; Haitians, Americans, citizens of the world -- they were focused on the task of answering those questions. Yeah, they were exhausted and they were heartbroken. But they were equally unyielding in their determination to help that country heal, and fully aware of how many years that would take.
And by the way, I also met with President Preval and his wife, Elisabeth, who’s a GW graduate herself. And she just went on and on about how GW, the community, has been there at the forefront of the efforts to help Haiti from the very beginning.
But the point is, everyone I encountered during my trip embodied a Haitian proverb that I learned which says that, "little by little, the bird builds its nest." And your generation is doing its best to live by this idea.
You see, as impatient as you may be to get out there and change the world -- and that’s a good thing -- you’re equally patient for that change to come. As idealistic as all of you may be, what your generation has lived through has also tempered you with a deep realism.
You understand things that perhaps your parents and I even don’t always have to consider when our world was still separated by walls of concrete and communication.
That we are no longer isolated from what happens on the other side of the world. That it’s in our best interest to look beyond our immediate self-interest, and look out for one another globally. That so many of today’s challenges are borderless, from the economy to terrorism to climate change, and that solving those problems demands cooperation with others. And more than any other generation, yours is fully convinced that you’re uniquely equipped to solve those challenges. You believe that you can change your communities and change the world. And you know what, I think you’re right. Yes, you can.
So today, graduates, I have one more request to make of you, one more challenge, and that is: Keep going. Keep giving. Keep engaging.
I’m asking you to take what you’ve learned here and embrace the full responsibilities that a degree from an institution like GW gives you. I’m asking your generation to be America’s face to the world. It will make the world safer, it will make America stronger, and it will make you more competitive.
個人並不贊同演講全文 但就上述充滿理想及夢想的堅持
有一種無法自拔的沈溺
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