美国国家公共电台 NPR Clint Smith: What Do We Risk If We Don't Speak Up?

 

GUY RAZ, HOST:

On the show today, Speaking Up. We're talking about when people choose to speak up and what happens if they don't. So when Clint Smith was a high school teacher, he wanted the students to understand the importance of speaking up and the dangers of staying quiet. Clint tells that story from the TED¹ stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)

CLINT SMITH: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in a 1968 speech where he reflects upon the civil rights movement, states, in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. As a teacher, I've internalized this message. Every day, all around us, we see the consequences of silence manifest themselves in the form of discrimination, violence, genocide and war. In the classroom, I challenge my students to explore the silences in their own lives through poetry.

I have four core principles posted on the board that sits in the front of my class, which every student signs at the beginning of the year - read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tell your truth. I find myself thinking a lot about that last point, tell your truth. And I realized that if I was going to ask my students to speak up, I was going to have to tell my truth and be honest with them about the times where I failed to do so.

So I tell them that growing up as a kid in a Catholic family in New Orleans, during Lent, I was always taught that the most meaningful thing one could do was to give something up, sacrifice something you typically indulge in to prove to God you understand his sanctity. I've given up soda², McDonald's, french fries, French kisses and everything in between.

But one year, I gave up speaking - figured the most valuable thing I could sacrifice was my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized that I had given that up a long time ago. I had spent so much of my life telling people the things they wanted to hear instead of the things they needed to, told myself I wasn't meant to be anyone's conscience because I still had to figure out being my own.

So sometimes, I just wouldn't say anything, appeasing³ ignorance with my silence, unaware⁴ that validation⁵ doesn't need words to endorse⁶ its existence. When Christian⁷ (ph) was beat up for being gay, I put my hands in my pocket and walked with my head down as if I didn't even notice. Couldn't use my locker⁸ for weeks because the bolt on the lock reminded me of the one I had put on my lips when the homeless man on the corner looked at me with eyes up merely searching for an affirmation that he was worth seeing.

I was more concerned with touching⁹ the screen on my Apple than actually feeding him one. When the woman at the fundraising gala said, I'm so proud of you. It must be so hard teaching those poor, unintelligent kids, I bit my lip because apparently¹⁰ we needed her money more than my students needed their dignity. We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.

Silence is the residue¹¹ of fear. I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision. I will tell a Christian that he is a lion, a sanctuary¹² of bravery and brilliance¹³. I will ask that homeless man what his name is and how his day was because sometimes all people want to be is human. I will tell that woman that my students can talk about transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau. And just because you watch one episode of "The Wire" doesn't mean you know anything about my kids.

So this year, instead of giving something up, I will live every day as if it were a microphone tucked under my tongue, a stage on the underside of my inhibition because who has to have a soapbox when all you've ever needed is your voice? Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

RAZ: Clint Smith is a writer, a teacher and doctoral candidate at Harvard University. You can see his entire talk at ted.com

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

3 appeasing   

安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• Mr. Chamberlain had cherished the hope of appeasing and reforming him and leading him to grace. 张伯伦先生则满心想安抚他，感化他，教他温文知礼。
• A pleasing preacher is too often an appeasing preacher. 一昧讨好的传道人通常是姑息妥协的传道人。

4 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

5 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

9 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

10 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

11 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

12 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

13 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。