Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gun

翻译人员: Jiwei Qu 校对人员: Dong Mao

As the highest military commander of the Netherlands,

作为荷兰本土军队

以及荷兰驻外军队的

with troops stationed around the world,

最高指挥官

I'm really honored to be here today.

我很荣幸今天

来到这里

When I look around this TEDxAmsterdam venue,

当我环视着

TEDxAmsterdam讲台

我看到了一群非常特别的观众

I see a very special audience.

——“你们”， 也就是我今天

You are the reason why I said yes

同意来到这里进行演讲

to the invitation to come here today.

的源动力

When I look around, I see people who want to make a contribution.

我环顾四周

我看到

那些想要奉献自己的人

I see people who want to make a better world,

我看到他们想用

自己的努力来创造一个更美好的世界

by doing groundbreaking scientific work,

通过进行开创性的科研工作

通过创造无与伦比的艺术作品

by creating impressive works of art,

by writing critical articles or inspiring books,

通过撰写评论文章

或是励志书籍

通过开创立足长远的企业

by starting up sustainable businesses.

大家都选择了

And you all have chosen your own instruments

各自不同的工具

来达成这些

to fulfill this mission of creating a better world.

创造更好世界的目标

Some chose the microscope as their instrument.

有些人选择了显微镜

作为他们的工具

Others chose dancing or painting,

其他人选择了舞蹈或者绘画

或是谱写出了像刚才我们所听到的音乐

or making music like we just heard.

有些人选择了笔

Some chose the pen.

Others work through the instrument of money.

还有些人则用钱

女士们 先生们

Ladies and gentlemen, I made a different choice.

我的选择有些不同

谢谢

Thanks.

Ladies and gentlemen ...

女士们，先生们——

（笑声）

(Laughter)

(Applause)

（掌声）

我跟你们有相同的愿景

I share your goals.

我有着和刚才我提到的那些人

I share the goals of the speakers you heard before.

相同的目标

I did not choose to take up the pen,

我没有选择

拿起钢笔

the brush,

画笔或是相机

the camera.

I chose this instrument.

我选择了这个工具

I chose the gun.

一把枪

像你现在所感受的 或是曾经所听过的那样

For you, and you heard already,

being so close to this gun may make you feel uneasy.

离这把枪如此之近

也许会让你感觉不舒服

It may even feel scary.

甚至觉得有些可怕

一把真枪

A real gun at a few feet's distance.

就在据你几英尺的地方

Let us stop for a moment and feel this uneasiness.

让我们先稍微停一下

来感受一下这种不适感

You could even hear it.

你甚至能听到这种感觉

Let us cherish the fact

其实这种情况是很值得珍视的

that probably most of you have never been close to a gun.

那就是你们大多数人

从来没有如此靠近过一把枪

这意味着

It means the Netherlands is a peaceful country.

荷兰是一个和平的国家

The Netherlands is not at war.

没有接受战火的煎熬

这意味着士兵们不必去

It means soldiers are not needed to patrol our streets.

巡视街道

Guns are not a part of our lives.

枪支也不是我们生活的一部分

但在很多国家

In many countries, it is a different story.

情况却完全不同

In many countries, people are confronted with guns.

在许多国家里

人们必须和枪支打交道

他们被压迫

They are oppressed.

他们被威胁

They are intimidated --

by warlords,

这可能来自军阀

by terrorists,

也可能来自恐怖分子

或者来自罪犯

by criminals.

武器可以制造很大的伤害

Weapons can do a lot of harm.

它们是众多灾难

They are the cause of much distress.

的根源

Why then am I standing before you with this weapon?

那么为什么我会拿着这把枪站在

你们面前？

Why did I choose the gun as my instrument?

我又为什么会选择枪

作为我的工具呢？

Today I want to tell you why.

今天我来告诉你们原因

今天我来告诉你们

Today I want to tell you

为何我选择枪

why I chose the gun to create a better world.

来创造一个更好的世界

And I want to tell you how this gun can help.

同时我想告诉你们

这把枪是怎样帮助我们的

我的故事

My story starts in the city of Nijmegen

开始于奈梅亨城

in the east of the Netherlands,

它位于荷兰的东部

the city where I was born.

这是我出生的城市

My father was a hardworking baker,

我的父亲

是个勤劳的面包师

但是当他完成了面包房的工作以后

but when he had finished work in the bakery,

he often told me and my brother stories.

他经常给我们两兄弟讲故事

And most of the time,

大多数时间

he told me this story I'm going to share with you now.

他都会讲这个故事，我现在也想和大家一起分享

这个故事发生在

The story of what happened

他正值二战初期

when he was a conscripted soldier in the Dutch armed forces

应征入伍

at the beginning of the Second World War.

加入荷兰军队的时候

纳粹入侵荷兰

The Nazis invaded the Netherlands.

他们侵略野心已经凸显无疑

Their grim plans were evident.

他们希望通过

They meant to rule by means of repression.

镇压来统治

Diplomacy had failed to stop the Germans.

外交途径已经无法阻止德国人

Only brute force remained.

只有残忍的战争这一条路

It was our last resort.

这是最后的手段

My father was there to provide it.

我父亲当时就在那

时刻为战争准备着

作为一个农夫的儿子

As the son of a farmer who knew how to hunt,

他很善于狩猎

我父亲是个神射手

my father was an excellent marksman.

他只要瞄准

When he aimed, he never missed.

就不可能射不中

在荷兰历史生死攸关之际

At this decisive moment in Dutch history

我的父亲被派遣到了

my father was positioned on the bank of the river Waal

瓦尔河河岸驻守

near the city of Nijmegen.

离奈梅亨很近

He had a clear shot at the German soldiers who came to occupy a free country,

他对那些德国士兵进行射击

阻止他们企图占领一个自由的国家

他的国家

his country,

our country.

我们的国家

He fired. Nothing happened.

他开了枪，但什么也没发生

He fired again.

他又开了一枪

No German soldier fell to the ground.

却没有德国军人应声倒地

My father had been given an old gun

我父亲被分配到了一把

老枪

根本不能打到

that could not even reach the opposite riverbank.

河对岸那么远的地方

希特勒的军队逼近

Hitler's troops marched on,

我父亲却不能阻止他们

and there was nothing my father could do about it.

Until the day my father died,

直到我父亲去世的那天

he was frustrated about missing these shots.

他依然对此耿耿于怀

他本可以做些事情

He could have done something.

But with an old gun,

但是拿着一把老枪

not even the best marksman in the armed forces

即使最好的射手也

could have hit the mark.

无法命中目标

So this story stayed with me.

这个故事一直伴随着我

然后在高中时

Then in high school,

I was gripped by the stories of the Allied soldiers --

我被联军的故事

所吸引——

soldiers who left the safety of their own homes and risked their lives

那些战士们远离自己的家乡

冒着生命的危险

to liberate a country

去解放和他们素不相识的国家

and a people that they didn't know.

和人们

They liberated my birth town.

他们解放了我的家乡

It was then that I decided I would take up the gun --

就在那时我决定了

我要拿起枪——

out of respect and gratitude for those men and women

出于对那些解放了我们

的前辈们的尊重

who came to liberate us.

和感激——

也出于意识到

From the awareness that sometimes only the gun

有的时候只有枪

才能斡旋于

can stand between good and evil.

正义和邪恶之间

这也是为什么

And that is why I took up the gun --

我选择拿起枪——

不为射击

not to shoot,

不为杀戮

not to kill,

not to destroy,

不为毁灭

but to stop those who would do evil,

只为阻止邪恶

to protect the vulnerable,

保护弱者

to defend democratic values,

保卫民主价值

to stand up for the freedom we have to talk here today in Amsterdam

也为了捍卫我们今天

所讨论的自由

就在此时此地

about how we can make the world a better place.

关于如何去创造一个更好的世界

女士们，先生们

Ladies and gentlemen,

我今天站在这里

I do not stand here today to tell you about the glory of weapons.

不是想对武器进行赞颂

我其实不喜欢枪

I do not like guns.

And once you have been under fire yourself,

而且如果你曾经饱受战火

那么你就会更加明白

it brings home even more clearly

that a gun is not some macho instrument to brag about.

枪并不是用来展现自己男子气概的

装逼工具

I stand here today

我今天在这里

to tell you about the use of the gun as an instrument of peace and stability.

想告诉大家的是枪是如何被用作

维护和平与稳定的工具

The gun may be one of the most important instruments of peace and stability

枪也许是我们所在的这个世界上

用来维护和平与平稳的

that we have in this world.

最重要的工具之一

你们可能觉得这听起来有点矛盾

Now this may sound contradictory to you.

但我不仅可以作为荷兰国防部长

But not only have I seen with my own eyes

during my deployments in Lebanon, Sarajevo

用我在在黎巴嫩

萨拉热窝和其他某些国家的

and as the Netherlands' Chief of Defence,

的所见所闻去证明

this is also supported by cold, hard statistics.

同时，这个道理也可以被

统计数字所证实

暴力活动在过去的500年中

Violence has declined dramatically over the last 500 years.

大幅减少

除去我们每天

Despite the pictures we are shown daily in the news,

在新闻中看到的画面以外

wars between developed countries are no longer commonplace.

战争在发达国家中

已经不常见了

The murder rate in Europe

谋杀率在欧洲

has dropped by a factor of 30 since the Middle Ages.

自中世纪以来

已经下降到了1/30

And occurrences of civil war and repression

同时内战和镇压

have declined since the end of the Cold War.

自冷战结束后也已经显著减少了

统计显示

Statistics show that we are living in a relatively peaceful era.

我们生活在

一个相对和平的年代

为什么？

Why?

为什么暴力会下降？

Why has violence decreased?

人性改变了吗？

Has the human mind changed?

Well, we were talking about the human mind this morning.

我们今天早晨讨论的就是人性的问题

Did we simply lose our beastly impulses for revenge,

是否我们真的已经不再为某些东西怀着残忍的冲动

比如复仇

for violent rituals,

比如某些暴力仪式

for pure rage?

以及某些纯粹的愤怒？

Or is there something else?

亦或是其他什么原因？

In his latest book, Harvard professor Steven Pinker --

根据最新的一本

哈佛教授史蒂芬·平克所写的书——

and many other thinkers before him --

以及许多在他之前的思想家——

concludes that one of the main drivers

都总结说 使暴力减少

behind less violent societies

的原因之一就是

is the spread of the constitutional state

国家法制化的盛行

以及大规模引入的

and the introduction, on a large scale,

合法使用武力

of the state monopoly on the legitimized use of violence --

的国家垄断——

通过民选政府来合法化

legitimized by a democratically elected government,

通过政府之间相互制衡

legitimized by checks and balances and an independent judicial system.

以及独立的司法系统来合法化

In other words, a state monopoly

换句话说， 国家的垄断

that has the use of violence well under control.

使得暴力使用

被很好控制住了

Such a state monopoly on violence, first of all, serves as a reassurance.

这种在暴力上的国家垄断

首先 它成为了

一种保障

它消除了社会里

It removes the incentive for an arms race

两个潜在的

between potentially hostile groups in our societies.

敌对双方之间

武力竞争的可能性

Secondly, the presence of penalties

其次，处罚这种存在的本身

that outweigh the benefits of using violence

远优于使用武力所带来的好处

它使这种平衡得以更好的维持

tips the balance even further.

放弃暴力

Abstaining from violence

比发起一场战争

becomes more profitable than starting a war.

更加有益

Now nonviolence starts to work like a flywheel.

现在，非暴力的成效已经得以显现

并且有一种继续发展的惯性

It enhances peace even further.

它进一步促进了和平

没有冲突的地方

Where there is no conflict, trade flourishes.

贸易才能繁荣

And trade is another important incentive against violence.

同样，贸易是另一个抑制暴力

的因素

With trade, there's mutual interdependency and mutual gain between parties.

贸易的前提来自相互依存

以及双方的互利

And when there is mutual gain, both sides stand to lose more

当双方处在互利的情况下时

战争的爆发

对于贸易双方来说

than they would gain if they started a war.

弊要远大于利

很明显 战争

War is simply no longer the best option,

不是最好的选择

and that is why violence has decreased.

这也是为什么暴力在逐渐减少

女士们先生们

This, ladies and gentlemen,

这就是军队之所以存在的

is the rationale behind the existence of my armed forces.

本质理由

The armed forces implement the state monopoly on violence.

军队

保证着国家对于暴力的垄断

We do this in a legitimized way

我们在合法的前提下

only after our democracy has asked us to do so.

在民主的要求下继续这种

暴力垄断

这是正当的

It is this legitimate, controlled use of the gun

限制枪支的使用

that has contributed greatly

从而在全球范围内

to reducing the statistics of war, conflict and violence around the globe.

减少战争

冲突与暴力

做出极大的贡献

It is this participation in peacekeeping missions

正是这种维护和平的行动

减少了很多

that has led to the resolution of many civil wars.

内战的爆发

我的战士们用枪

My soldiers use the gun as an instrument of peace.

作为维护和平的工具

And this is exactly why failed states are so dangerous.

这正是为什么没有成功进行暴力垄断的国家

是如此危险

Failed states have no legitimized, democratically controlled use of force.

这些国家

缺少对于武力的法制化管理和民主化的控制

Failed states do not know of the gun as an instrument of peace and stability.

这些国家并不了解

枪其实是维护和平与稳定的工具

That is why failed states can drag down a whole region into chaos and conflict.

这就是为什么这些国家

可以把其所在的整个地区都

带入混乱冲突的深渊

这也是为什么推广

That is why spreading the concept of the constitutional state

法治国家的概念

在我们外事工作中

is such an important aspect of our foreign missions.

是如此的重要

That is why we are trying to build a judicial system

这同样是

我们现在在阿富汗建立司法体系

right now in Afghanistan.

的原因

That is why we train police officers, we train judges,

同样，我们在全世界范围培训警员

培训法官

we train public prosecutors around the world.

培训公诉人的原因也源于此

And that is why --

这也是为什么——

and in the Netherlands, we are very unique in that --

在荷兰，我们在这个方面是很独特的——

that is why the Dutch constitution states

即在荷兰这个法制国家

军队所担负的主要

that one of the main tasks of the armed forces

职责之一

is to uphold and promote the international rule of law.

就是撑起并促进

国际法制体系

女士们，先生们

Ladies and gentlemen,

looking at this gun, we are confronted with the ugly side of the human mind.

看看这把枪

我们面对的是

人性邪恶的一面

Every day I hope that politicians, diplomats, development workers

每一天我都期望

政客们，外交官们

社会发展工作者们

can turn conflict into peace

可以化干戈

为玉帛

and threat

化威胁

into hope.

为希望

And I hope that one day armies can be disbanded

我希望有那么一天

军队可以被解散

同时人类可以找到和平共处的方式

and humans will find a way of living together

远离暴力和镇压

without violence and oppression.

But until that day comes,

但是那一天到来之前

我们还不得不面对

we will have to make ideals and human failure

理想与现实中

meet somewhere in the middle.

人类阴暗面碰撞的现实

在那一天到来之前

Until that day comes, I stand for my father

我支持我的父亲

一位曾经试图用一把旧枪

who tried to shoot the Nazis with an old gun.

射杀纳粹的老人

I stand for my men and women who are prepared to risk their lives

我支持那些

为了全人类对抗暴力的世界

for a less violent world for all of us.

随时准备着牺牲自己的人

我支持这位战士

I stand for this soldier who suffered partial hearing loss

她丧失了部分听力

同时承受着腿部永久性的伤害

and sustained permanent injuries to her leg,

这些伤害是她在阿富汗

when she was hit by a rocket on a mission in Afghanistan.

战场任务中被导弹击中所致

Ladies and gentlemen,

女士们，先生们

until the day comes when we can do away with the gun,

在我们真的可以丢掉枪支

的那一天到来之前

I hope we all agree

我觉得我们都认同一点

that peace and stability do not come free of charge.

那就是和平稳定

不会无故的到来

这需要许多的努力

It takes hard work, often behind the scenes.

大部分并不会为人所知

It takes good equipment and well-trained, dedicated soldiers.

这需要精良的装备

以及良好的训练，勇于献身的战士

I hope you will support the efforts of our armed forces

我希望大家可以支持

军队对子弟兵

的培养

to train soldiers like this young captain

就像这位年轻上尉

and provide her with a good gun,

为她提供一把精良的枪

instead of the bad gun my father was given.

而不是一把像我父亲用过那样的老枪

我希望我们的军人在聚光灯之外

I hope you will support our soldiers when they are out there,

同样可以得到大家的支持

when they come home

当他们回家之后

当他们受伤的时候

and when they are injured and need our care.

当他们需要我们关爱的时候

他们把自己的生命放在了前线

They put their lives on the line, for us, for you,

为我们，也为你们

and we cannot let them down.

我们不应该让他们失望

I hope you will respect my soldiers,

我希望大家可以尊重我的战士们

这位战士手持钢枪

this soldier with this gun.

因为她憧憬一个更美好的世界

Because she wants a better world.

Because she makes an active contribution to a better world,

因为她为了那个更美好的世界做着

积极的贡献

just like all of us here today.

就像我们今天在座的各位一样

非常感谢大家

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

（掌声）