‘I Wish You Bad Luck’. 美國首席大法官在Cardigan Mountain中學畢業典禮上的致詞

 

這部影片是2017年在美國新罕布夏州的Cardigan Mountain中學畢業典禮上的致詞片段，演講者是美國首席大法官John Roberts，他的兒子是當年的畢業生之一，因此被邀請上台致詞。致詞內容帶給我們很多思考空間，有別於一般國中畢業典禮上常見的方式，值得記錄與分享。

首先破冰地說，典禮當天下雨，是天堂灑下的五彩色紙，是神在慶祝你們的畢業。接著請畢業生起立向父母們鼓掌，感謝他們將自已送來這裡念書。因為當場有部分家長與畢業生的母語是西班牙語，因此John Roberts也用西語簡單地說了一些祝賀詞。之後告訴畢業生，從入學第一天的孤單害怕，到三年後的自信、成功與順利畢業，不只是自已的努力，也必須感謝同學們的鼓勵與幫助。接下來的重點內容從10:12~13:10。

Now the Commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I'll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal, because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time, so that you don't take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck again from time to time, so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

And when you lose as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you'll be ignored, so you know the importance of listening to others. And I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not they're going to happen, and whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes. 

譯: 畢業典禮上的演講者通常會說: 祝你們幸運，祝你們未來一切順利。但我不會這樣做，我會告訴你們原因。在未來幾年裡，我希望你們有時會受到不公平的對待，這樣你們才能理解「公平正義」的重要。我希望你們遭受背叛，這樣你們才能學到「忠誠」的重要。抱歉這麼說，但我希望你們偶爾會感到孤獨，這樣你才不會將「朋友」視為理所當然。我希望你們有時運氣很差，這樣你才能認知到「機會」是生命中的一部分。並且了解到你的成功不完全是應該的，別人的失敗也不全是他們應得的。而當你失敗時，我希望你的對手會沾沾自喜，嘲笑你的失敗，這樣你才會體會到「運動家精神」的重要性。我希望你會被別人忽視，這樣你才會了解「傾聽他人」的重要。我希望你能遭受相當的痛苦，這樣你才能學會同情心。就算我今天沒有說這些不重聽的話，壞事依然會發生在每個人身上，未來你們能否在這些不幸的遭遇中學到東西，就看你們是否能有所體悟。

Well Commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should be yourself, but you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don't make any changes. In a certain sense you should not be yourself, you should try to become something better. People say be yourself because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can't be yourself if you don't learn who you are, and you can't learn who you are unless you think about it.The Greek Philosopher Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. And while "Just Do It" may be a good model for some things, it's not a good model when it's time to figure out how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to living a good life, is to not to try to live THE good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all. So that's the deep advice.

譯: 畢業典禮上的演講者常被期望要講出一些建議，他們會給宏觀的看法，也會講出一些有用的小秘訣。最常聽到的建議是叫你們「做自己」。對於穿一模一樣制服的人來說，這是一個奇怪的建議。但你的確應該「做自己」，你應該了解它的意思是除非你已經完美了，不然你應該要能改變自已。某種意義上，你不應該做自己，你應該努力讓自已成為更好的人。他們要你做自己，是希望你能拒絕順應別人，拒絕變成大家要你成為的樣子。但如果你不了解自已，你就無法做你自己，除非你不斷思考自已是誰，才能學習到了解自已。希臘哲學家蘇格拉底說過，不懂自省的人生是不值得活的。雖然「做就對了」能套用在某些事情上，但如果你想找到未來方向，你不能「做就對了」。另外，想得到「美好人生」的一個重點是，不要以過美好人生為目標來做每件事。如果你不去思考人生的核心價值是什麼，會很容易失去自我，以上是我最深切的建議。

講者接下來建議畢業生到新學校時，主動跟遇見的每一個人打招呼，不會有任何損失。每周寫一封信給你重要的人，例如教過你的老師、父母、同學，不是用簡訊、社群軟體或電子信箱的方式，他們會因為你親手寫信而對你印象深刻。談到謙遜和關心他人的重要性後，引用獲得諾貝爾文學獎的美國創作歌手Bob Dylan的歌曲「Forever Young」做結尾，象徵父母親對子女的願望。

May God bless you and keep you always, may your wishes all come true,

May you always do for others and let others do for you,

May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung, and may you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous, may you grow up to be true,

May you always know the truth and see the light surrounding you,

May you always be courageous,

stand upright, and be strong, and may you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift,

May you have a strong foundation

when the winds of changes shift,

may your heart always be joyful,

May your song always be sung, and may you stay forever young.

Thank you.