In uncertain times, think like a mother | Yifat Susskind

翻译人员: Kai Bian 校对人员: Wanting Zhong

One morning, 18 years ago,

18 年前的九月，

I stepped out of a New York City subway on a beautiful day in September.

在一个风和日丽的早上， 我刚从纽约地铁中走出来。

The sun was warm and bright, the sky was a clear, perfect blue.

阳光温暖明媚， 天空晴朗湛蓝。

I had my six-month-old son in one of those front-facing baby carriers,

我让六个月大的儿子 坐在视野朝前的婴儿背带里，

you know, so he could see everything.

这样他就能看到所有事物了。

And when I turned right on Sixth Avenue,

就当我在第六大道右转的时候，

what he saw

他看见的是

was the World Trade Center on fire.

世贸中心化为了火海。

As soon as I realized that this was an attack,

当我意识到这是一场袭击时，

the first thing I did, without even really thinking about it,

我下意识做的第一件事

was to take my baby and turn him around in that carrier.

就是抱住我的宝贝， 在背带里把他转过来。

I didn't want him to see what was going on.

我不想让他看到正在发生的事。

And I just remember feeling so grateful that he was still young enough

我只记得当时很庆幸，他还小，

that I didn't have to tell him that someone had done this on purpose.

我不需要告诉他 这是有人蓄意而为。

9/11 was like crossing a border,

9/11 事件就像跨越边境一样，

a hostile border into dangerous, uncharted territory.

跨越敌军边境， 进入危险而陌生的领域。

The world was suddenly in this terrifying new place,

世界突然之间 变成了可怕的新局势，

and I was in this place as a new mother.

而我则是这里的一位新手母亲。

I remember my thoughts kind of ping-ponging around

我记得我当时的思绪如一团乱麻，

from, "How am I ever going to protect this baby?"

一会儿想着 “我究竟该怎样保护好这孩子？”，

to, "How am I ever going to get some sleep?"

一会儿想着 “我到底有没有办法睡个好觉？”。

Well, my son turned 18 this year,

我儿子今年 18 岁了，

along with millions of other people who were babies on 9/11.

和数百万经历 9/11 事件的婴儿一样。

And in that time,

在那段时间里，

we have all crossed into this hostile, uncharted territory

我们都跨进了这片 充满敌意的未知区域，

of climate breakdown,

充斥着气候恶化、

of endless wars,

战火不断、

of economic meltdowns,

经济崩溃、

of deep political divisions,

和深深的政治分歧，

of the many crises around the world that I don't need to list off,

世界各地危机四起， 我甚至不需要一一列举，

because they are blaring at you every single day from your news feed.

因为每天的新闻动态 都会大声地提醒大家。

But there is something I've learned in these 18 years of parenting

但在做母亲的 18 年时间

以及领导国际女性权益组织 的多年经验中，

and in my years leading a global women's rights organization.

我学会了一件事。

There is a way to face these big crises in the world

我们是有办法 不被窒息、不带绝望地

without feeling overwhelmed and despairing.

面对世界上这些大型危机的。

It's simple, and it's powerful.

方法很简单，也很有效：

It's to think like a mother.

那就是像母亲一样思考。

Now, to be clear, you don't have to be a woman

需要说明的是， 你不一定要是女性，

or a parent to do this.

也不一定要有孩子。

Thinking like a mother is a lens that's available to everybody.

像母亲一样思考 是每个人都可以做到的事。

The poet Alexis De Veaux writes,

诗人亚历克西斯 · 德 · 维奥 （Alexis De Veaux）写过，

"Motherhood is not simply the organic process of giving birth.

“身为人母不仅仅是 分娩的生物过程；

It's an understanding of the needs of the world."

它还是对世界需求的理解。”

Now, it's easy to focus on all of the obstacles

我们容易关注到

阻止世界成为我们 想要的模样的各种障碍：

to making this the world we want:

greed, inequality, violence.

贪婪、不公、暴力。

Yes, there is all of that.

没错，存在这些障碍。

But there's also the option to plant a seed, a different seed,

但我们还可以选择播下种子， 一颗不同的种子，

and cultivate what you want to see grow,

并培养出你们想让其生长的事物，

even in the midst of crisis.

即便在危机之中也是如此。

Majid from Iraq understands this.

来自伊拉克的玛吉德 （Majid）明白这一点。

He is a housepainter by trade

他是一名房屋油漆工，

and someone who believes deeply in equal rights for women.

他坚信女性应该获得平等的权利。

When ISIS invaded northern Iraq where he lives,

当伊斯兰国 ISIS 入侵他所住的伊拉克北部时，

he worked with a local women's organization

他和当地一个女性组织合作，

to help build an underground railroad,

帮助建造了地下铁路。

an escape network for women's rights activists

这个铁路网络帮助了 女性权益活动人士

and LGBTIQ folks who were targeted with assassination.

以及 LGBTIQ 人士 这些被暗杀的目标逃脱。

And when I asked Majid why he risked his own life

当我问玛吉德为什么要冒着生命危险

to bring people to safety,

将人们带到安全的地时，

he said to me,

他对我说：

"If we want a brighter future,

“如果我们想要更光明的未来，

we have to build it now in the dark times

我们现在就必须在 黑暗时刻中创造未来，

so that one day we can live in the light."

唯此我们有朝一日 才能在光明之下生活。”

That's what social justice work is, and that's what mothers do.

这就是社会正义的事业， 这也是母亲们所做的事。

We act in the present with an idea of the future

我们在当下行动，

心怀想要创造的未来。

that we want to bring about.

All of the best ideas seem impossible at first.

所有伟大的想法 一开始都看似不可能。

But just in my lifetime,

但就在我的有生之年，

we've seen the end of apartheid,

我们见证了种族隔离的终结，

the affirmation that women's rights are human rights,

女权被确立为人权，

marriage equality,

婚姻平等，

the fall of dictators who ruled for decades

统治数十年的独裁者下台，

and so much more.

以及很多其他的事情。

All of these things seemed impossible

这些事情曾经都看似不可能，

until people took action to make them happen,

直到人们采取了行动，将它们实现，

and then, like, almost right away,

随后，几乎是在转瞬间，

they seemed inevitable.

这些事情似乎变成了必然。

When I was growing up,

在我小时候，

whether we were stuck in traffic or dealing with a family tragedy,

无论我们遇到了堵车， 还是要面对家庭的不幸，

my mother would say,

我母亲都会说，

"Something good is going to happen, we just don't know what it is yet."

“会有好事发生的， 我们只是还不知道是什么好事。”

Now, I will admit that my brothers and I make fun of her for this,

我得承认，我和兄弟们都会借此笑话她，

but people ask me all the time

但人们一直问我，

how I deal with the suffering that I see in my work

我是怎么面对工作中

in refugee camps and disaster zones,

在难民营和灾区所见到的苦难，

and I think of my mom and that seed of possibility

这时我就会想到我的母亲，

以及她在我心中种下的 那颗可能性的种子。

that she planted in me.

Because, when you believe that something good is coming

因为当你相信会有好事发生，

and you're part of making it happen,

并且你也在促成它发生的时候，

you start to be able to see beyond the suffering

你就会开始看到苦难以外的东西，

to how things could be.

看到事物可能的样子。

Today, there is a new set of necessary ideas

今天，有一套必要的新想法，

that seem impossible but one day will feel inevitable:

虽然看似不可能， 但终有一天会变为必然：

that we could end violence against women,

我们可以终结对女性的暴力，

make war a thing of the past,

让战争成为过去式，

learn to live in balance with nature before it's too late

及时学会与自然和谐相处，

and make sure that everybody has what they need to thrive.

并确保大家都有 蓬勃发展所需的条件。

Of course, being able to picture a future like this is not the same thing

当然，能够构想 这样的未来并不等同于

as knowing what to do to make it come about,

知道该怎样将未来化为现实，

but thinking like a mother can help with that, too.

但是，像母亲一样思考 也能帮助我们实现未来。

A few years ago,

几年前，

East Africa was gripped by a famine,

东非遭遇饥荒，

and women I know from Somalia

我所认识的一些索马里女性

walked for days carrying their hungry children

背着饥饿的孩子徒步数天，

in search of food and water.

寻找食物和水。

A quarter of a million people died,

25 万人在饥荒中死亡，

and half of them were babies and toddlers.

其中一半是婴幼儿。

And while this catastrophe unfolded,

灾难席卷而来时，

too much of the world looked away.

世界上太多国家都视而不见。

But a group of women farmers in Sudan,

但苏丹有一群女性农民，

including Fatima Ahmed -- that's her holding the corn --

其中包括法蒂玛 ·艾哈迈德 （Fatima Ahmed)——

拿着玉米的那个就是她——

heard about what was happening.

她们听说了发生的事情。

And they pooled together the extra money that they had from their harvest

于是，她们把收成所得的结余凑在一起，

and asked me to send it to those Somali mothers.

请我送给那些索马里的母亲们。

Now, these farmers could have decided that they didn't have the power to act.

这些农民本可以表示 自己没有行动的力量。

They were barely getting by themselves,

她们中的一些人 自己也只能勉强维持生计。

some of them.

They lived without electricity, without furniture.

她们没有电，没有家具。

But they overrode that.

但是她们毫不在意。

They did what mothers do:

她们做了母亲们会做的事：

they saw themselves as the solution and they took action.

她们认为自己能够解决问题， 并采取了行动。

You do it all the time if you have kids.

如果你有孩子的话， 你一直都在这么做。

You make major decisions about their health care,

你会做很多重大决定， 比如孩子的医疗、

their education, their emotional well-being,

教育、情感健康，

even if you're not a doctor or a teacher or a therapist.

即使你并不是医生、 老师或心理治疗师。

You recognize what your child needs

你能看出孩子的需求，

and you step up to provide it the best you can.

并挺身而出，尽自己所能 去满足他们的需求。

Thinking like a mother means seeing the whole world

像母亲一样思考，意味着

要尽可能像弱者一样 去感受整个世界。

through the eyes of those who are responsible

for its most vulnerable people.

And we're not used to thinking of subsistence farmers as philanthropists,

我们并不习惯将勉强糊口的农民 与慈善家联系起来，

but those women were practicing the root meaning of philanthropy:

但是那些女性展示的 正是慈善的根本意义：

love for humanity.

对人类的爱。

What's at the core of thinking like a mother shouldn't be a surprise:

像母亲一样思考的核心 应该并不出人意料：

it's love.

那就是爱。

Because, love is more than just an emotion.

因为爱不仅仅是一种情感。

It's a capacity, a verb,

它还是一种能力，一个动词，

an endlessly renewable resource --

一份无穷无尽的可再生资源——

and not just in our private lives.

不仅限于我们的个人生活里。

We recognize hate in the public sphere.

我们能认出公共领域里的仇恨。

Right? Hate speech, hate crimes.

对吧？仇恨言论、仇恨犯罪。

But not love.

但我们认不出爱。

What is love in the public sphere?

公共领域里的爱是什么？

Well, Cornel West, who is not a mother but thinks like one,

康奈尔 · 韦斯特（Cornel West） 并非母亲，但他像母亲一样思考，

says it best:

他一针见血地说：

"Justice is what love looks like in public."

“正义就是爱在公众面前的样子。”

And when we remember that every policy is an expression of social values,

当我们想起每一项政策 都是社会价值观的表现，

love stands out as that superstar value,

爱就是其中独树一帜的明星价值观，

the one best able to account for the most vulnerable among us.

它最能够支持 我们当中最弱势的群体。

And when we position love as a kind of leading edge

当我们把爱作为制定决策

in policy making,

的首要因素时，

we get new answers to fundamental social questions,

我们就获得了解答 社会根本问题的新答案：

like, "What's the economy for?"

比如，“经济增长是为了什么？”

"What is our commitment to those in the path of the hurricane?"

“我们对遭受飓风侵袭的人们 应做出什么承诺？”

"How do we greet those arriving to our borders?"

“我们该如何应对 抵达我们边境的人们？”

When you think like a mother,

当你像母亲一样思考的时候，

you prioritize the needs of the many,

你就会将多数人的需求放在首位，

not the whims of the few.

而不是去迎合少数人的兴致。

When you think like a mother,

当你像母亲一样思考的时候，

you don't build a seawall around beachfront property,

你就不会在滨海区的房子 周围建造防波堤，

because that would divert floodwaters

因为那会将洪水引开，

to communities that are still exposed.

冲击到没有防护的社区。

When you think like a mother,

当你像母亲一样思考的时候，

you don't try to prosecute someone

你就不会因某人 把水留给穿越沙漠的人

for leaving water for people crossing the desert.

而对其提出起诉。

Because, you know --

因为，你明白——

(Applause)

（掌声）

Because you know that migration,

因为你明白，

移居就像身为人母一样，

just like mothering,

is an act of hope.

是怀抱希望的行为。

Now, not every mother thinks like a mother.

并不是每一位母亲 都会像母亲一样思考。

When presented with a choice, some of us have made the wrong one,

在面临选择时，有些人会选错，

hiding behind weapons or barbed wire or privilege

躲在武器、铁丝网或特权后面，

to deny the rest of the world,

否定世界上的其他一切，

thinking they can see their way to safety in some kind of armed lifeboat

认为自己能够在武装救生船上， 借着种族主义和仇外情绪的燃料，

fueled by racism and xenophobia.

找到通往安全的路。

Not every mother is a role model,

并非每位母亲都是榜样，

but all of us have a choice.

但我们所有人都可以选择。

Are we going to jump on that armed lifeboat

我们是要跳上那条武装救生船，

or work together to build a mother ship that can carry everyone?

还是要合作建造一艘 能承载所有人的母亲之船？

You know how to build that mother ship,

你知道该如何建造那艘母亲之船，

how to repair the world and ease the suffering.

如何修复世界，缓解苦难。

Think like a mother.

像母亲一样思考。

Thinking like a mother is a tool we can all use

像母亲一样思考 是我们都能运用的方法

to build the world we want.

去打造我们想要的世界。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）