What to do when everything feels broken | Daniel Alexander Jones

翻译人员: Lark Yu 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

"I've got people in me."

“有一个人驻在我心中。”

So sang the late Abbey Lincoln.

已故歌手艾比 · 林肯 （Abbey Lincoln）曾这样唱到。

I take that lyric as mantra.

我把这句歌词奉为箴言。

"I've got people in me."

“有一个人驻在我心中。”

Jomama Jones is the person in me I turn to as a guide.

乔玛玛·琼斯（Jomama Jones） 驻在我心中，她是我的向导。

She's my alter ego.

她是另一个我。

I've been embodying her in performance since 1995,

从 1995 年开始， 我就开始在表演中展现她，

and she comes around when she has some insight to offer folks.

当她有想分享的见解给大家， 就会来到我身边。

At this time of radical change,

在充满巨变的时期，

I'm glad to be the vessel for her message to you.

我很荣幸成为她向你传递信息的媒介。

Jomama Jones: What if I told you

乔玛玛·琼斯：如果我告诉你

it's going to be alright ...

一切都会好起来......

but what if I told you not yet?

那如果我告诉你，一切尚不可知呢？

What if I told you there are trials ahead

如果我告诉你，前方有艰难考验

beyond your deepest fears?

远远超出你的极端恐惧呢？

What if I told you will you fall ...

如果我告诉你，你会摔倒......

down, down, down?

一直往下呢？

But what if I told you you will surprise yourself?

但如果我告诉你， 你会带给自己惊喜呢？

What if I told you will be brave enough?

如果我告诉你，你足够勇敢呢？

What if I told you

如果我告诉你，

we won't all make it through?

我们无法完全克服困难呢？

But what if I told you

但如果我告诉你，

that is as it must be?

那就是它该有的情况呢？

What if I told you I've seen the future?

如果我告诉你，我遇见了未来？

Do you like my hands?

你喜欢我的双手吗？

They're expressive, yeah?

他们太有表现力了，对吗？

Now look at your hands -- now go on.

那么请看看你的双手——大家看看。

There's so much history recorded through their touches

通过它们的触摸， 记录了太多的历史往事

and marks of the future sketched on their palms.

以及展现于手掌上的未来印记。

Sometimes hands grip tight,

有时双手紧握，

sometimes hands let go.

有时双手摊开。

What if I told you

如果我告诉你，

it's all going to come undone?

这一切都会消失吗？

Hm.

嗯。

Ladies and gentlemen

女士们和先生们，

and otherwise described,

还有在座的其他人，

I am Jomama Jones.

我是乔玛玛·琼斯。

Some call me a soul sonic superstar,

有人叫我“灵魂呐喊的巨星”，

and I agree,

对于这点，我同意，

though even in my past that was from the future.

虽然即使在我的过去， 那也是来自未来。

Let me take you back to girlhood.

说回少女时期。

Picture this:

想象一下：

it was Planting Day,

在植树日里，

which was a holiday I invented

是为了纪念我成立的黑人青年社团

for the Black youth community group I founded.

而发明的假日。

I dashed home to put on my gardening ensemble

我飞奔回家带上我的园艺工具，

when I caught my uncle Freeman red-handed.

正好碰到弗里曼叔叔正在作案。

He was standing over my piggy bank with his hammer raised high.

他高举着锤子站在我的存钱罐旁，

He was fixing to steal my coins.

他要偷走我的零钱。

And you see,

大家知道，

my uncle Freeman was a handyman.

我叔叔弗里曼是一名工匠。

He could fix anything --

他能修理任何东西——

a broken chair, a shattered pot --

损坏的椅子，碎掉的水壶——

even bring grandmother's plants back to life.

甚至能让祖母的植物起死回生。

He had that magic touch with broken things ...

他有那种让坏掉东西...... 和伤心绝望之人

and broken people.

复原的奇迹魔力。

He would take me with him on his jobs

他会带我到他工作的地点

and say, "C'mon Jo,

说：“来吧，乔，

let's go do something to make this world a better place."

让我们做点事情，让世界变得更好。”

His hands were wide and calloused,

他的手掌宽大但布满老茧，

and they always reminded me of displaced tree roots.

它们让我想起四处散布的树根。

As we worked he would talk with folks

在我们工作的同时， 他也会和人们讲述

about the change he was sure was just around the corner.

他确信就近在咫尺的变化。

I saw him mend flagging hopes

我看到他修补失落的希望，

and leave folks with their heads held high.

让人们开始挺胸抬头。

His hands stirred the sunshine.

他用双手带来阳光，

And now he was about to break my piggy bank.

而现在他要敲碎我的存钱罐。

I said "Step back, man, and show me your hands."

我喊道，“退后，老兄，把手举起来。”

You know the irony was

你知道讽刺的是

he used to give me all the old coins he'd find under floorboards while working.

工作时在地板下发现的钱币， 他曾经全部给了我。

And I put them in the piggy bank

而我把它们都放进了存钱罐

along with the money I earned through my childhood side hustles.

连同我的儿时副业所挣的钱一起。

But by the spring of 1970,

但是到了 1970 年的春天，

Uncle Freeman had lost his touch ...

弗里曼叔叔与外界失去联系......

along with most of his jobs.

连同他大部分的工作。

He saw a heavy future

他看到国内不法行为和 黑色势力充斥的暗淡前景

of civil wrongs and Black power outages in his palms.

愤怒地在掌中蔓延。

The last straw had come the previous winter

当他们枪杀了弗莱德·汉普顿 （Fred Hampton）

when they had gunned down Fred Hampton.

那年冬天最后一根救命稻草来了。

Overwhelmed with fear

恐惧排山倒海

and rage

带着愤怒、

and grief,

还有悲伤，

Uncle Freeman tried to game his future.

弗里曼叔叔想把未来当成一场游戏。

He gripped too tight,

他死死抓住机会，

and he started playing the numbers.

开始玩彩票。

"Well, one of these numbers is gonna hit, little girl.

“是的，这些数字里 肯定有一个会中，小姑娘，

You got a quarter for your uncle Free -- "

给你的弗里曼叔叔拿二十五美分吧——”

Now some of y'all have that relative.

此刻，你们中都有那种亲戚吧。

But I knew right then and there I had to do something.

但我知道那时那地，我要做些什么。

I jumped up and I grabbed that hammer

我跳起来抓住那把锤子，

and I brought it crashing down on that pig.

我敲碎了那个存钱罐。

And Uncle Freeman started to weep as I gathered up all the coins.

而在我捡起那些硬币时， 弗里曼叔叔开始哭了。

"We're not buying no lottery ticket, Uncle Freeman.

“我们不能再买彩票了，弗里曼叔叔。

C'mon."

来吧。”

We spent every last cent at the seed store.

我们把最后的每分钱 都花在了种子商店。

You know, the kids in my gardening group?

你知道的，那些在我园艺群的孩子们？

They didn't bat an eye when I had Uncle Freeman get down

在我让弗里曼叔叔蹲下 再把双手放进泥中，

and put his hands in the earth again

把泥块捏碎来掩埋种子，

and start breaking up that soil for our seeds.

他们眼睛都没眨一下。

And my little friend Taesha even came over and started slapping him on the back

而我的小朋友缇莎甚至跑过来， 开始在叔叔后背敲打

saying, "Cry it out, Uncle Freeman.

并安慰：“弗里曼叔叔，哭出来吧。

Cry it out."

哭出来。”

"I can't fix this," he sobbed.

“我做不到，” 他啜泣道。

It's an ancient-future truism, that.

这是亘古不变的道理。

He wasn't the first to feel that way, and he wouldn't be the last.

他不是第一个有这种感觉的人， 也不会是最后一个。

Right now, it feels as though everything is breaking beyond repair.

现在，感觉一切似乎无法修复。

It is.

是的。

But that breaking apart can be a breaking open,

那种困境可以成为突破口，

no matter how violent and uncertain

无论多么暴力或未知

and fearsome it seems.

或者看起来多么恐怖。

The thing is ...

问题在于......

we can't do it alone.

我们不能独自完成。

Uncle Freeman cried so much that day as we planted our seeds,

在我们种下种子的时候， 弗里曼叔叔泪流不止，

he was our very own irrigation system.

他就是我们的灌溉系统。

"I don't know who I am anymore, little girl,"

“我不知道自己是谁了，小姑娘，”

he said to me at sundown.

他在黄昏时对我说道。

"Good, Uncle Freeman.

“好的，弗里曼叔叔。

Good.

好的。

You're new again,

你又获得新生了，

and that's just how we need you."

这正是我们需要你的样子。”