Light a Fire under Me

今天心情有点糟，随便写写。

【1】
昨晚半夜时分，我还坐在电脑前整理周其仁的一份演讲稿。上学期听这个演讲的时候，我就深有感触。摘抄几句话在这里：

         思想的力量很重要，但思想的力量不能脱离人类的实践。理想要建立在实验的基础上，有时在理想和实验的直接反应中间有一个“理念”。这些对社会制度的形成会产生影响，同时也是广义的说服过程。因为这里有人类共通的价值。

        张五常老说，要降低制度变动的成本。不要认为只有唯一的办法，你可以试试其他的方法，想试本身就是变革的开始。最绝望就说这个是最好的，别的办法没有。要打开这个过程，在这个过程中，第一可以降低信息成本，还有就是很基本的理念性的东西在经验基础上交流。

      对我来说，在任何一个辩论里面，都不要放弃，不能改变他，但也可以影响他。要宽容，要允许不同的实验，允许思想在可以听的情况下，互相交锋，还要有让大家看法一致起来的趋势。

【2】
有些人很有理想，可是懒于实践；还有些人，总在踟蹰，不晓得什么适合自己，最后，都会被生活拖着走。

当然，我们无时无刻不在选择，选择更好更适合自己的路。人，总要自己学着长大。但路总要越走越宽，视野越来越开阔，心越来越包容，生活才更有希望。

没有人能够束缚我们，除了我们自己。不要总是说，“我就是这样的人，我也没有办法。”每个人天性中总有懒惰，贪图享乐，但要是连这些性格上的弱点都克服不了，人与一般的动物又有何异？

不要总埋怨社会、别人，社会到处都有不公平，但也有靠自己努力成功的人。既然无力改变社会和他人，不妨从改造自己做起。否则，只有躲在自己的壳里，自怨自艾，自己疼自己玩儿。

一天到晚垂头丧气，走到哪里都不自信。这么活着，还沉浸其中，不能自已，我实在没办法保持平静。有人教导我，“不要以为自己是上帝，话说到一定程度就够了。”恩，我也不晓得自己今天为啥这么出离的愤怒。

言尽于此，多说亦无益。

【3】
从youtube看了希拉里在民主党代表大会上的演讲，她为奥巴马的助选之用力，大大出乎我的意料。老实说，她的演讲，数次让我黯然神伤。她用词优美，包含深情，极具煽动力。我本想翻译出来，可又觉怎么都译不出原汁原味的感觉。摘抄若干，简单品味：

Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the American people, your lives, and your children's futures.

For me, it's been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America's greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people -- your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.

You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn't have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.

I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said to me: "Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still over there ... .and then will you please help take care of me?"

I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn't know what his family was going to do.

I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administrtation.

以上，希拉里让她的支持者思考：当所有选举的硝烟散去，我们到底为什么选举总统？她指出，选举是为了美国人的生活，为了我们孩子的未来。以此，淡化她和奥巴马之间的硝烟。

希拉里回味了她在选举过程中，走访支持者家庭、工作场所、社区的场景，她和支持者成为彼此生活的一部分，为对方欢喜，为对方忧愁。希拉里特别列举了一个单身母亲，海军士兵和一个贫困的小男孩，以此激发支持者的使命感，也为她的医疗保障政策继续造势。

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

在这里，希拉里要她的支持者思考：你们参加到这场竞选活动中，仅仅是为了我么？或者是为了那个年轻海军战士一样的年轻人？为了那个一边抚养孩子一边与病魔抗争的单身母亲？为了那个在最低工资线上挣扎的小男孩和他的母亲？抑或你们是为了在这个国家所有感到孤独无助的人们？

I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation.

We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.

That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great - and no ceiling too high - for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.

最后，希拉里要求她的支持者，在选举那天，想想自己的孩子以及孙子；就像他们的父母、祖父母，曾经用选票给他们的生活以及国家带来的巨大影响。用选票不辜负先人的牺牲，用选票让孩子的生活充满希望和可能。

特别是这一句，我们的责任在于打开一片光明的未来，告诉我们的孩子：在美国对于所有辛勤工作、永不放弃、勇往直前、信仰上帝和国家、彼此信任的人而言，没有抚不平的裂痕，没有跨越不了的隔阂，没有打不破的天花板。