When I recently met with Shirley Temple Black, the great child star of the 1930s and 40s, we said nothing to each other at first, we simply cried together, for she could share a pain with me that only others like my close friends Elizabeth Taylor and McCauley Culkin know.
I do not tell you this to gain your sympathy but to impress upon you my first important point : It is not just Hollywood child stars that have suffered from a non-existent childhood. Today, its a universal calamity, a global catastrophe. Childhood has become the great casualty of modern-day living. All around us we are producing scores of kids who have not had the joy, who have not been accorded the right, who have not been allowed the freedom, or knowing what its like to be a kid.
Today children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster, as if this period known as childhood is a burdensome stage, to be endured and ushered through, as swiftly as possible. And on that subject, I am certainly one of the worlds greatest experts.
前些時(shí)候，我有幸遇到了三，四十年代的一位童星秀蘭·鄧波兒，一見面我們什么都不說，只是一起哭，因?yàn)樗芊謸?dān)我的痛苦，這種痛苦只有我的一些密友，伊麗莎白·泰勒和麥考利·庫(kù)爾金他們才能體會(huì)到。我說這些并不是要博得大家的同情，只是想讓大家牢記一點(diǎn)——這種失去童年的痛苦不僅僅屬于好萊塢的童星?，F(xiàn)在，這已經(jīng)成為全世界的災(zāi)難。童年成了當(dāng)代生活的犧牲品。我們使很多孩子不曾擁有歡樂，不曾得到相應(yīng)的權(quán)利，不曾獲得自由，而且還認(rèn)為一個(gè)孩子就該是這樣的。 現(xiàn)在，孩子們經(jīng)常被鼓勵(lì)長(zhǎng)大得快一些，好象這個(gè)叫做童年的時(shí)期是一個(gè)累贅的階段，大人們很不耐煩地想著法兒讓它盡可能地快些結(jié)束。在這個(gè)問題上，我無疑是世界上最專業(yè)的人士之一了。
Ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant. Psychologists are publishing libraries of books detailing the destructive effects of denying ones children the unconditional love that is so necessary to the healthy development of their minds and character. And because of all the neglect, too many of our kids have, essentially, to raise themselves. They are growing more distant from their parents, grandparents and other family members, as all around us the indestructible bond that once glued together the generations, unravels.
This violation has bred a new generation, Generation O let us call it, that has now picked up the torch from Generation X. The O stands for a generation that has everything on the outside - wealth, success, fancy clothing and fancy cars, but an aching emptiness on the inside. That cavity in our chests, that barrenness at our core, that void in our centre is the place where the heart once beat and which love once occupied.
And its not just the kids who are suffering. Its the parents as well. For the more we cultivate little-adults in kids-bodies, the more removed we ourselves become from our own child-like qualities, and there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life.
我這一代正是廢除親子盟約必要性的見證。心理學(xué)家在書中詳述了不給予孩子絕對(duì)的愛而導(dǎo)致的毀滅性影響，這種無條件的愛對(duì)他們精神和人格的健康發(fā)展是極其必要的。因?yàn)楸缓鲆暎芏嗪⒆泳头忾]自己。他們漸漸疏遠(yuǎn)自己的父母親，祖父母以及其他的家庭成員，我們身邊那種曾經(jīng)團(tuán)結(jié)過一代人的不滅的凝集力就這樣散開了。這種違背常理的行為造就了一代新人，他們擁有所有外在的東西--財(cái)富，成功，時(shí)裝和跑車，但他們的內(nèi)心卻是痛苦和空虛。胸口的空洞，心靈的荒蕪，那些空白的地方曾經(jīng)搏動(dòng)著我們的心臟，曾經(jīng)被愛占據(jù)。其實(shí)，不僅孩子們痛苦，父母親也同樣受煎熬。我們?cè)绞亲尯⒆觽冊(cè)缡?，我們就越來越遠(yuǎn)離了天真，而這種天真就算成年人也值得擁有。
Love, ladies and gentlemen, is the human familys most precious legacy, its richest bequest, its golden inheritance. And it is a treasure that is handed down from one generation to another. Previous ages may not have had the wealth we enjoy. Their houses may have lacked electricity, and they squeezed their many kids into small homes without central heating. But those homes had no darkness, nor were they cold. They were lit bright with the glow of love and they were warmed snugly by the very heat of the human heart. Parents, undistracted by the lust for luxury and status, accorded their children primacy in their lives.
愛，女士們先生們，愛是人類家庭最珍貴的遺產(chǎn)，是最貴重的饋贈(zèng)，是最無價(jià)的傳統(tǒng)，是我們應(yīng)該代代相傳的財(cái)富。以前，我們或許沒有現(xiàn)在所享受的富有，房子里可能沒有電，很多孩子擠在沒有取暖設(shè)施的狹小房間里。但這些家庭里沒有黑暗，也沒有寒冷。他們點(diǎn)燃愛之光，貼緊的心讓他們感到溫暖。父母不為各種享受和權(quán)利的欲望分心，孩子才是他們的生活中最重要的。
As you all know, our two countries broke from each other over what Thomas Jefferson referred to as "certain inalienable rights". And while we Americans and British might dispute the justice of his claims, what has never been in dispute is that children have certain inalienable rights, and the gradual erosion of those rights has led to scores of children worldwide being denied the joys and security of childhood.
I would therefore like to propose tonight that we install in every home a Childrens Universal Bill of Rights, the tenets of which are:
1. The right to be loved without having to earn it
2. The right to be protected, without having to deserve it
3. The right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing
4. The right to be listened to without having to be interesting
5. The right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with the evening news
6. The right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools
7. The right to be thought of as adorable - (even if you have a face that only a mother could love).
我們都知道，我們兩國(guó)在托馬斯·杰弗遜提出的所謂“幾個(gè)不可妥協(xié)的權(quán)利”上決裂。當(dāng)我們美國(guó)人和英國(guó)人在爭(zhēng)執(zhí)各自要求的公平時(shí)，又有什么關(guān)于孩子們不可妥協(xié)的權(quán)利之爭(zhēng)呢，對(duì)這些權(quán)利的逐步剝奪已經(jīng)導(dǎo)致了世界上的很多孩子失去歡快樂趣和童年的安全感。因此我建議今晚我們就為每個(gè)家庭建立一部全體兒童權(quán)利條約，這些條例是：
1. 不必付出就可享受的被愛的權(quán)利
2. 不必乞求就可享有的被保護(hù)的權(quán)利
3. 即使來到這個(gè)世界時(shí)一無所有，也要有被重視的權(quán)利
4. 即使不引人注意也會(huì)有被傾聽的權(quán)利
5. 不須要與晚間新聞和復(fù)活節(jié)抗?fàn)?，就能在睡覺前聽一段故事的權(quán)利
6. 不須要躲避子彈，可以在學(xué)校受教育的權(quán)利
7. 哪怕你只有媽媽才會(huì)愛的臉蛋，也要有被人尊重的權(quán)利。
Friends, the foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human consciousness, must be that each and every one of us is an object of love. Before you know if you have red hair or brown, before you know if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a part, you have to know that you are loved.
朋友們，人類所有知識(shí)的創(chuàng)立，人類意識(shí)的萌芽必然需要我們每一個(gè)人都成為被愛的對(duì)象。哪怕你不知道自己的頭發(fā)是紅色還是棕色，不知道自己是白人還是黑人，不知道自己信仰哪個(gè)宗教，你也應(yīng)該知道自己是被愛著的。
About twelve years ago, when I was just about to start my Bad tour, a little boy came with his parents to visit me at home in California. He was dying of cancer and he told me how much he loved my music and me. His parents told me that he wasnt going to live, that any day he could just go, and I said to him: "Look, I am going to be coming to your town in Kansas to open my tour in three months. I want you to come to the show. I am going to give you this jacket that I wore in one of my videos." His eyes lit up and he said: "You are gonna GIVE it to me?" I said "Yeah, but you have to promise that you will wear it to the show." I was trying to make him hold on. I said: "When you come to the show I want to see you in this jacket and in this glove" and I gave him one of my rhinestone gloves - and I never usually give the rhinestone gloves away. And he was just in heaven.
But maybe he was too close to heaven, because when I came to his town, he had already died, and they had buried him in the glove and jacket. He was just 10 years old. God knows, I know, that he tried his best to hold on. But at least when he died, he knew that he was loved, not only by his parents, but even by me, a near stranger, I also loved him. And with all of that love he knew that he didnt come into this world alone, and he certainly didnt leave it alone.
大概十二年前，我正好在準(zhǔn)備我的真棒巡演，一個(gè)小男孩和他的父母親來加州看我。癌癥正在威脅著他的生命，他告訴我他非常愛我和我的音樂。他的父母告訴我他生命將盡，說不上哪一天就會(huì)離開，我就對(duì)他說:“你瞧，三個(gè)月之后我就要到堪薩斯州你住的那個(gè)城市去開演唱會(huì)，我希望你來看我的演出，我還要送給你一件我在一部錄影帶里穿過的夾克。”他眼睛一亮，說:“你要把它送給我?” 我說:“當(dāng)然，不過你必須答應(yīng)我穿著它來看我的演出?！蔽抑幌氡M力讓他堅(jiān)持住，就對(duì)他說:“我希望在我的演唱會(huì)上看見你穿著這件夾克戴著這只手套?！庇谑?，我又送了一只鑲著萊茵石的手套給他。一般我決不送手套給別人。但他就要去天堂了。不過，也許他離那兒實(shí)在太近，我到他的城市時(shí)，他已經(jīng)走了，他們埋葬他時(shí)給他穿上那件夾克戴上那只手套。他只有10歲。上帝知道， 我知道，他曾經(jīng)多么努力地支持過。但至少，在他離開時(shí)，他知道自己是被深愛著的，不僅被父母親，甚至還有幾乎是個(gè)陌生人的我也同樣愛他。擁有了這些愛，他知道他不是孤獨(dú)地來到這個(gè)世界，同樣也不是孤獨(dú)地離開。