Tony Blair's （英国前首相托尼。布莱尔)speech to the Yale
2013-06-25 13:14阅读：
Tony Blair’s speech to the Yale College Class of
2008
（英国前首相托尼。布莱尔2008年5月在美国耶鲁大学对准毕业生之演说）
Cherishing what you have now, and striving for the
future:-
(珍惜现在，努力未来)
'Above all, however, have a purpose in
life.
Life is not about living but about
striving.
When you get up, get up motivated. Live with a perpetual
sense of urgency.
And make at least part of that purpose about something
bigger than you.'
So, after over 100 years of Class Days, finally you get a
British speaker.
What took you so long? Did that little disagreement of 1776
really rankle so much? And why now? Is it because British election
campaigns only last four weeks?
(Note: If an event or situation rankles you or
rankles
with you, it makes you feel angry or bitter afterwards, because you
think that it was unfair or wrong. Thus, you may say 'His
unreasonable refusual of my request still rankles me'.)
(Note: Through the American War of Independence
(1775–83),13 British colonies in North America fought against the
British Empire for independence. In July 1776, the Second
Continental Congress unanimously adopted a Declaration of
Independence, which now rejected the British monarchy in addition
to its Parliament, and established the sovereignty of the new
nation external to the British Empire. The Declaration established
the United States, which was originally governed as a loose
confederation with a weak central government.)
For whatever reason, it is an honour to be here and to say to
the Yale College Class of 2008: you did it; you came through; from
all of us to you: congratulations.
The invitation to a former British Prime Minister to address
a college which boasts five former Presidents, many former Vice
Presidents and Senators too numerous to mention, is either to give
mean exaggerated sense of my own importance or you a reduced sense
of yours.
It was Churhchill or Oscar Wilde – and there is a difference
– who called us two nations divided by a common language, as you
may judge me by the show, and so we are.
Here I am at Yale and set to come back for the fall semester.
My old Oxford tutor was, I’m afraid, horrified to hear I had been
taken on by Yale. His worries were all for Yale I may say. He said:
“I only hope for their sake you are going there to learn rather
than teach.”
Now I know you Yale guys are smart. So what can I tell you
that you don’t already think you know?
I can tell you something of the world as I see it. Three days
ago, in my role as Middle East envoy, I stood in the heart of
Bethlehem. On one side of me, lay the concrete barrier which now
separates Israeland Palestine. On the other, the historic
birthplace of Jesus and the land of Palestine beyond.
A few days before that, I was in Jericho. If you look up from
the town centre, to the left is the Mount of Temptation, where
Jesus stayed 40 days and nights. To the right, you can see Mount
Nebo where Moses looked down on the Promised Land. And right in
front of you is the Valley of Jordan.
My guide, a Muslim, turned to me and said: “Moses, Jesus,
Mohammed – why in God’s name did they all have to come
here?”
But in God’s name they came and for centuries their followers
have waged war in the name of prophets whose life’s work was in
pursuit of peace.
Today, though the land that encompasses Israel and Palestine
is small, the conflict symbolises the wider prospects of the entire
vast region of the Middle East and beyond. There, the forces of
modernisation and moderation battle with those of reaction and
extremism. The shadow of Iran looms large.
What is at stake is immense. Will those who believe in
peaceful co-existence triumph, matching the growing economic power
and wealth with a politics and culture at ease with the 21st
Century? Or will the victors be those that seek to use that
economic wealth to create a politics and culture more relevant to
the feudal Middle Ages?
Thousands of miles from here, this struggle is being played
out in the suburbs of Baghdad and Beirut and the Gaza strip. But
the impact of its outcome on our security and way of life will
register in the core of our well-being.
(Note: If something will register in the core of
one's well-being, it will show or manifest itself in
or affect his well-being.)
In fact, if I had to sum up my view of the world, I would
say to you: turn your thoughts to the East. Not just to the Middle
East. But to the Far East.
For the first time in many centuries, power is moving
East. China and India each have populations roughly double those of
America and Europe combined.
In the next two decades, these two countries together
will undergo industrialisation four times the size of the USA’s and
at five times the speed.
We must be mindful that as these ancient civilisations
become somehow younger and more vibrant, our young civilisation
does not grow old. Most of all, we should know that in this new
world, we must clear a path to partnership, not stand off against
each other, competing for power.
The world in which you, in time to come, will take the reins,
cannot afford a return to 20th century struggles for
hegemony.
The characteristic of this modern world is the pace, scope
and scale of change. Globalisation is driving it and people are
driving globalisation.
The consequence is that the world opens up; its boundaries
diminish; we are pushed closer together.
The conclusion is that we make it work together or not at
all.
The issues you must wrestle with – the threat of climate
change, food scarcity, and population growth, worldwide terror
based on religion, the interdependence of the world economy – my
student generation would barely recognise. But the difference today
is they are all essentially global in nature.
You understand this. Yale has become a melting pot of
culture, language and civilisation. You are the global generation.
So be global citizens.
Each new generation finds the world they enter. But they
fashion the world they leave. So: what do you inherit and what do
you pass on?
The history of humankind is marked by great events but
written by great people.
People like you.
Given Yale’s record of achievement, perhaps by
you.
So to you as individuals, what wisdom, if any, have I
learnt?
First, in fact, keep learning. Always be alive to the
possibilities of the next experience, of thinking, doing and
being.
When Buddha was asked, near the end of his life, to describe
his secret, he answered bluntly: “I’m awake”.
So be awake.
Understand conventional wisdom, but be prepared to change
it.
Feel as well as analyse; use your instinct alongside your
reason. Calculate too much and you will
miscalculate.
Be prepared to fail as well as to succeed, and realise it
is failure not success that defines character.
I spent years trying to be a politician failing at every
attempt and nearly gave up. I know you’re thinking: I should
have.
Sir Paul McCartney reminded me that the first record company
the Beatles approached rejected them as a band no-one would want to
listen to.
Be good to people on your way up because you never know
if you will meet them again on your way down.
Judge someone by how they treat those below them, not
those above them.
Be a firm friend, not a fair-weather friend. It is your
friendships, including those friends you made here at Yale, at this
time, that sustain and enrich the human spirit.
(Note: A fair-weather friend is someone who offers to
help, or takes part in certain activity, only when it is easy or
pleasant for them to do so. For example, 'He is just a fair-weather
friend. You can't count on him in times of
trouble.)
A good test of a person's qualities is who turns
up at his funeral, and with what sincerity. Try not to sit the test
too early, of course.
Recently, I attended a funeral and the speaker said he would
like to begin by reading a list of all those whose funerals he
would rather have been attending, but the list was too long. It was
a sweet compliment to our friend.
Alternatively there was Spike Milligan, the quintessential
English comic who when he was asked what he would like as the
epitaph on his tombstone, replied: “They should write: I told you I
was ill.”
(Note: Quintessential means representing a perfect or
typical example of something.
For example, 'Everyone thinks of him as a quintessential
New Yorker'; 'This is a familiar, quintessential British,
ritual'.)
There was a colleague of mine in the British Parliament who
once asked another:
“Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?” and got
the reply:
“Because it saves time.”
So, when others think of you, let them think not with
their lips but their hearts of a good friend and a gracious
acquaintance.
Above all, however, have a purpose in life. Life is not
about living but about striving. When you get up, get up motivated.
Live with a perpetual sense of urgency. And make at least part of
that purpose about something bigger than you.
There are great careers. There are also great
causes.
At least let some of them into your lives. Giving lifts the
heart in a way that getting never can. Maybe it really was Oscar
Wilde who said:“No one ever died, saying if only I had one more day
at the office.”
One small but shocking sentence: each year three million
children die in Africa from preventable disease or
conflict.
The key word? Preventable.
When all is said and done, there is usually more said
than done.
Be a doer not a commentator. Seek responsibility rather
than shirk it. People often ask me about leadership, I say:
leadership is about wanting the responsibility to be on your
shoulders, not ignoring its weight but knowing someone has to carry
it and, reaching out for that person to be you. Leaders are
heat-seekers not heat-deflectors.
And luck?
You have all the luck you need. You are here, at Yale, and
what - apart from the hats - could be better?
You have something else: your parents.
When you are your age, you can never imagine being our age.
But believe me, when you’re our age we remember clearly being your
age. That’s why I am so careful about young men and my daughter,
“Don’t tell me what you’re thinking. I know what you’re
thinking.”
But as a parent let me tell you something about parents.
Despite all rational impulses, despite all evidence to the
contrary, despite what we think you do to us and what you think we
do to you – and yes, it is often hell on both sides – the plain,
unvarnished truth is we love you. Simply, profoundly,
utterly.
I remember, back in the mists of time, my Dad greeting me off
the train at Durham railway station. I was a student at Oxford.
Oxford and Cambridge are for Britain kind of like Yale and Harvard,
only more so. It was a big deal. I had been away formy first year
and was coming home.
I stepped off the train. My hair was roughly the length of
Rumpelstiltskin’s and unwashed.I had no shoes and no shirt. My
jeans were torn – and this was in the days before this became a
fashion item. Worst of all, we had just moved house. Mum had thrown
out the sitting room drapes. I had retrieved them and made a
sleeveless long coat with them.
My Dad greeted me. There were all his friends at the station.
Beside me, their kids looked paragons of
respectability.
(Note: A paragon is one who is a model, perfect,
or have a lot of good qualities. For example, 'He is a
paragon of neatness, efficiency and responsibility'; 'They
appeared to be paragons of respectability.')
He saw the drapes, and visibly winced. They did kind of stand
out. I took pity on him.
'Dad”, I said. “There is good news. I don’t do
drugs.”
He looked me in the eye and said: “Son, the bad news is if
you’re looking like this and you’re not doing drugs we’ve got a
real problem.”
Your parents look at you today with love. They know how hard
it is to make the grade and they respect you for making
it.
And tomorrow as I know, as a parent of one of this class, as
you receive your graduation, their hearts will beat with the
natural rhythm of pride. Pride in what you have achieved. Pride in
who you are.
They will be nervous for you, as you stand on the threshold
of a new adventure for they know the many obstacles that lie
ahead.
But they will be confident that you can surmount them, for
they know also the strength of character and of spirit that has
taken you thus far.
To my fellow parents: I say, let us rejoice and be glad
together.
To the Yale College Class of 2008, I say: well done; and
may blessings and good fortune be yours in the years to
come.
Jerry
2013.06.25
(Notes: In the above speech of
Tony Blair, emphasis added is mine).
