Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Ben Peng 校对人员: Zheqing Fang

I was one of the only kids in college who had a reason

上大学时，我是唯一一个需要

to go to the P.O. box at the end of the day,

在一天结束的时候去开邮箱的人，

and that was mainly because my mother has never believed

主要是因为我妈妈从不信赖

in email, in Facebook, in texting or cell phones in general.

电子邮件、社交网站、短信，甚至电话。

And so while other kids were BBM-ing their parents,

于是，别人在和父母转短信的时候

I was literally waiting by the mailbox

我却等在邮箱旁边

to get a letter from home to see how the weekend had gone,

等待家书，了解家人怎么度过周末的，

which was a little frustrating when Grandma was in the hospital,

这在祖母住院的期间真让我有些抓狂，

but I was just looking for some sort of scribble,

我只能通过母亲手写的

some unkempt cursive from my mother.

有点潦草的只言片语来了解情况。

And so when I moved to New York City after college

所以在我大学毕业后，来到了纽约，

and got completely sucker-punched in the face by depression,

当时正经历人生的低谷，无法自拔，

I did the only thing I could think of at the time.

我做了唯一能想到的一件事。

I wrote those same kinds of letters that my mother had written me

就像妈妈给我手写家书一样

for strangers, and tucked them all throughout the city,

我也给遍布全城的陌生人写信。

dozens and dozens of them. I left them everywhere,

十多封十多封地写，我把它们留在城市的各个角落，

in cafes and in libraries, at the U.N., everywhere.

咖啡馆、图书馆，甚至联合国总部，到处都有。

I blogged about those letters and the days

我也在博客中提过这些信件，

when they were necessary, and I posed

有时出于需要，我也会

a kind of crazy promise to the Internet:

在博客上作疯狂的保证：

that if you asked me for a hand-written letter,

如果你想我给你亲手写封信，

I would write you one, no questions asked.

我会给你写一封，不问任何问题。

Overnight, my inbox morphed into this harbor of heartbreak --

一夜之间，我的邮箱成了寄托心碎故事的港湾---

a single mother in Sacramento, a girl being bullied

住在萨克拉门托（美国加州首府）的单身妈妈、来自堪萨斯乡下的

in rural Kansas, all asking me, a 22-year-old girl

被欺负的女孩，都来问我这么一个22岁的

who barely even knew her own coffee order,

她们素未谋面，连点咖啡时都犹豫不决的女生，

to write them a love letter and give them a reason

给她们写一封情书，

to wait by the mailbox.

好让她们也有个理由守候在邮箱旁。

Well, today I fuel a global organization

今天我推行着一个国际组织，

that is fueled by those trips to the mailbox,

通过这些发往邮箱的信件，

fueled by the ways in which we can harness social media

通过这样的方式我们放慢新兴社交媒体的脚步，

like never before to write and mail strangers letters

在陌生人最需要的时候，

when they need them most, but most of all,

给他们写信寄信，但最重要的是

fueled by crates of mail like this one, my trusty mail crate,

通过这些邮箱，像我的这个可靠邮箱，

filled with the scriptings of ordinary people,

里面装满普通人的字迹，

strangers writing letters to other strangers not because

给素未谋面的陌生人写信不是因为

they're ever going to meet and laugh over a cup of coffee,

他们会见面，一起喝咖啡聊聊天，

but because they have found one another by way of letter-writing.

而是因为通过写信而找到彼此。

But, you know, the thing that always gets me

你们知道吗，这些信件最常让我触动的地方是

about these letters is that most of them have been written

大多数的信件都是由

by people that have never known themselves loved on a piece of paper.

这些从来不知道情书为何物的人写来的。

They could not tell you about the ink of their own love letters.

他们压根不知道什么是手写情书。

They're the ones from my generation,

他们是我这一代的人，

the ones of us that have grown up into a world

在我们这一代成长的世界，

where everything is paperless, and where some

一切都是无纸化的，

of our best conversations have happened upon a screen.

而我们一些最好的对话都发生在屏幕里。

We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook,

我们学会把伤心事记录在社交网站Facebook上，

and we speak swiftly in 140 characters or less.

我们的话精简在140个字符或以内。

But what if it's not about efficiency this time?

但如果说写信无关效率呢？

I was on the subway yesterday with this mail crate,

我昨天提着这个邮箱坐地铁，

which is a conversation starter, let me tell you.

我跟你们说，它真是个搭讪利器。

If you ever need one, just carry one of these. (Laughter)

如果你想和别人搭讪，你就带一个邮箱在身边。（笑声）

And a man just stared at me, and he was like,

有个男人看着我，像是说，

"Well, why don't you use the Internet?"

“你怎么不用网络呢？”

And I thought, "Well, sir, I am not a strategist,

我想，“先生，我不是军事家，

nor am I specialist. I am merely a storyteller."

我也不是专家。我只是个说故事的人。”

And so I could tell you about a woman

我可以告诉你们一个女人的故事，

whose husband has just come home from Afghanistan,

她的丈夫刚从阿富汗归来，

and she is having a hard time unearthing this thing called conversation,

她不知道该如何开展对话，

and so she tucks love letters throughout the house

所以她就把这些情书藏到屋子的各个角落，

as a way to say, "Come back to me.

作为一种方式，说“回到我身边。

Find me when you can."

随时来找我谈谈吧。”

Or a girl who decides that she is going to leave love letters

或是一个女孩的故事，她决定把情信

around her campus in Dubuque, Iowa, only to find

放在她所在位于爱荷华州迪比克的校园各处，

her efforts ripple-effected the next day when she walks out

第二天发现她的心思引起了涟漪效应

onto the quad and finds love letters hanging

她走进广场的时候发现树上挂有情信

from the trees, tucked in the bushes and the benches.

灌木丛中，长凳上也塞有情信。

Or the man who decides that he is going to take his life,

还有一个男子，他决定结束生命，

uses Facebook as a way to say goodbye

他在Facebook上面告别

to friends and family.

亲朋好友。

Well, tonight he sleeps safely with a stack of letters

而今他安然睡在一堆信件上面

just like this one tucked beneath his pillow,

就像说这样一封信塞在他的枕头下面，

scripted by strangers who were there for him when.

这些信是陌生人写的，他们在他最需要的时候支持他。

These are the kinds of stories that convinced me

这些故事让我相信

that letter-writing will never again need to flip back her hair

这些手写信件永远都不需要挠首弄姿

and talk about efficiency, because she is an art form now,

讲究时效，因为她现在就是一种艺术形式，

all the parts of her, the signing, the scripting, the mailing,

她所有的一切，署名，手写体，邮寄，

the doodles in the margins.

页边的涂画都是艺术。

The mere fact that somebody would even just sit down,

事实上仅仅是有人会真的坐下来，

pull out a piece of paper and think about someone

摊开一张纸，花一天时间想念一个人，

the whole way through, with an intention that is so much

注意力是如此的集中

harder to unearth when the browser is up and the iPhone

甚至不知道浏览器开了，苹果手机在响，

is pinging and we've got six conversations rolling in at once,

有六个对话框在同时滚动，

that is an art form

就说明写信是一种艺术形式，

that does not fall down to the Goliath of "get faster,"

不管我们加入了多少社交网络，

no matter how many social networks we might join.

写信不会是一种“更快速”的方式。

We still clutch close these letters to our chest,

我们依然会把这些信紧握胸前，

to the words that speak louder than loud,

大声说出想说的话，

when we turn pages into palettes to say the things

在信纸上尽情抒发

that we have needed to say,

我们需要说的话，

the words that we have needed to write, to sisters

写出我们需要写的文字，给姐妹们，

and brothers and even to strangers, for far too long.

兄弟们，甚至陌生人们，抒写情怀。

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢。（掌声）

(Applause)

（掌声）