此文為蕾哈娜在哈佛大學(xué)的演講,一語動(dòng)人心腸。
When I was five or six years old, I remember watching TV and I would see these commercials and I was watching other children suffer in other parts of the world and you know the commercials were like, "you can give 25 cents, save a child's life," you know? And I would think to myself like, I wonder how many 25 cents I could save up to save all the kids in Africa. And I would say to myself you know, "when I grow up, when I can get rich, I'll save kids all over the world."I just didn't know I would be in the position to do that by the time I was a teenager.
At 17 I started my career here in America, and by the age of 18, I started my first charity organization.I went on to team up with other organizations in the following years and met, helped, and even lost some of the most beautiful souls. We're all human. And we all just want a chance: a chance at life, a chance in education, a chance at a future, really.
People make it seem way too hard, man.The truth is, and what I want the little girl watching those commercials to know, is you don't have to be rich to be a humanitarian. You don't have to be rich to help somebody. You don't gotta be famous. You don't even have to be college-educated. I mean, I wish I was, I'm not saying, you know… Especially today. It's true, I might come back, but all right.
But it starts with your neighbour, the person right next to you, the person sitting next to you in class, the kid down the block in your neighbourhood, you just do whatever you can to help in any way that you can. And today I want to challenge each of you to make a commitment to help one person: one organization,one situation that touches your heart. My grandmother always used to say, 'If you've got a dollar, there's plenty to share.' Thank you ladies and gentlemen. It was my honour.
我五六歲的時(shí)候,我記得看電視我會(huì)看這些商業(yè)廣告,我看到世界其他地方的其他孩子們?nèi)淌苷勰ィ阒郎虡I(yè)廣告就是“如果你獻(xiàn)出25分錢,那么就可以拯救一個(gè)孩子的生命,”你知道嗎?我會(huì)自己這樣想,我想我能夠存下多少25分錢來拯救非洲的所有孩子。你知道,我會(huì)對(duì)自己說,“當(dāng)我長(zhǎng)大時(shí),我富裕了,我要拯救全世界的孩子?!蔽也恢牢以谑畮讱q的時(shí)候就這樣做了。
17歲的時(shí)候,我在美國(guó)開始了自己的事業(yè),18歲的時(shí)候,我開始了自己的首個(gè)慈善機(jī)構(gòu)。在接下來幾年里,我繼續(xù)與其他組織合作,我們遇見、幫助,甚至是失去過一些最為美麗的靈魂。我們都是人。我們都想有個(gè)機(jī)會(huì):一個(gè)生活的機(jī)會(huì),一個(gè)接受教育的機(jī)會(huì),一個(gè)把握未來的機(jī)會(huì),真的。
人們把這個(gè)弄得看起來太難了。事實(shí)上,我希望看到那些商業(yè)廣告的小女孩知道的是,成為一個(gè)人道主義者,你不一定要有多富有。幫助別人不一定得腰纏萬貫。你不必聲名遠(yuǎn)播,甚至不必接受過大學(xué)教育。我的意思是,我希望我是,我不是說,你知道……尤其是今天。是的,我說不定還會(huì)回來念書呢。
幫助別人始于從你的身邊人做起,現(xiàn)在正在你旁邊的人,教室里坐在你旁邊的人,樓下鄰居的孩子,你可以盡你所能用一切方法去幫助他們。今天,我希望你們每一個(gè)人承諾幫助一個(gè)人,一個(gè)組織,一個(gè)感動(dòng)你內(nèi)心的場(chǎng)合。我的祖母過去常說,“如果你有一美元,那么你就有很多東西來分享。”女士們、先生們,謝謝你們。這是我的榮耀。