A letter to all who have lost in this era | Anand Giridharadas

翻译人员: Wenkai Li 校对人员: Zifan Meng

June 29, 2016.

2016年6月29日，

My dear fellow citizen:

我亲爱的公民朋友们：

I write to you today,

今天我在这向你们致辞，

to you who have lost in this era.

献给那些迷失在这个时代中的人们。

At this moment in our common life,

在我们平凡生活中的这个时刻，

when the world is full of breaking

在这个充满了分裂，

and spite

恶意，

and fear,

和恐惧的世界，

I address this letter

我为你

simply to you,

写了这封信，

even though we both know

即使我们都知道，

there are many of you behind this "you,"

这里的“你”代表了很多的人，

and many of me behind this "I."

这里的“我”也代表了很多人。

I write to you because at present,

我给你们写这封信的原因，

this quaking world we share scares me.

是我们现处的这个 不安全的世界吓到了我，

I gather it scares you, too.

我猜它也吓到了你们。

Some of what we fear, I suspect,

我怀疑有一些我们所恐惧的

we fear in common.

其实是相同的。

But much of what we fear seems to be each other.

但是我们很多的恐惧似乎源于彼此之间。

You fear the world I want to live in,

你们害怕我想要生活的世界，

and I fear your visions in turn.

我也害怕你们所想的那种。

Do you know that feeling you get when you know it's going to storm

你们了解那种感觉吗？

那种在暴风雨来临前的感觉？

before it storms?

Do you also feel that now,

你们现在有这种感觉吗，

fellow citizen?

我的公民朋友们？

That malaise and worry

那种心神不安又焦虑的感觉，

that some who know

会让你们当中的一些人

feel reminds them of the 1930s?

想起上世纪30年代？

Perhaps you don't,

也许你没有这种感觉，

because our fears of each other

因为我们对彼此的恐惧

are not in sync.

不是同步的。

In this round, I sense that your fears of me,

在这一轮中，我感觉到了 你们对我的恐惧，

of the world that I have insisted is right for us both,

对这个我所坚持的世界的恐惧，

has gathered over a generation.

这些恐惧积累了超过一个时代。

It took time for your fears to trigger my fears,

你们的恐惧需要时间 来激发我的恐惧，

not least because at first,

因为至少在一开始，

I never thought I needed to fear you.

我从未想过我需要惧怕你。

I heard you

我听见了你的声音，

but did not listen,

但是我没有仔细聆听。

all these years when you said that this amazing new world

这些年里每当你们说起 这个令人震惊的新世界，

wasn't amazing for you,

对于你们来说并不震惊，

for many of you,

对于你们中很多人来说，

across the industrialized world;

对于这个工业化的世界；

that the open, liquid world I relished,

这个我享受的开放的、流动的世界，

of people and goods and technologies flowing freely,

这个人力物力和科技都自由流通，

going where they pleased, globally,

在世界范围内 去心之所向之地的时代，

was not, for you, an emancipation.

对于你来说， 并非是一种解放。

I have walked through your towns

当我经过你们的城镇，

and, while looking, failed to see.

观赏时却什么也没看见。

I did notice in Stephenville, Texas,

我在德克萨斯州 斯蒂芬威尔市注意到

that the town square was dominated

那里的市中心广场是被

by one lawyer's office after another,

连排的律师事务所霸占的，

because of all the people rotating in and out of the prison.

因为那些不断进出于监狱的人们。

I did notice the barren shops in Wagner, South Dakota,

我有注意到在南达科他州 瓦格纳市那些荒芜的商店，

and the VFW gathering hall

和那些退伍军人的聚集场所，

that stood in mockery

坐落于城市梦想之上，

of a community's dream to endure.

却忍受嘲讽。

I did notice

我有注意到

at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania Wal-Mart,

在宾夕法尼亚州 兰开斯特市的沃尔玛超市中，

that far too many people in their 20s and 30s

太多二三十岁的年轻人，

looked a decade or two from death,

看起来就像与死亡只差十几二十年，

with patchy, flared-up skin

有着色素沉积的皮肤，

and thinning, stringy hair

稀疏散乱的头发，

and browning, ground-down teeth

泛黄磨损的牙齿，

and a lostness in their eyes.

和迷离的眼神。

I did notice that the young people I encountered in Paris,

我注意到了那些在巴黎街头

in Florence, in Barcelona,

在弗罗里达，在巴塞罗那的青年，

had degrees but no place to take them,

身怀文凭却无处可去，

living on internships well into their 30s,

年近30仍靠实习为生，

their lives prevented from launching,

他们人生展翅高飞的机会被抹杀了

because of an economy that creates wealth --

因为经济创造财富

just not jobs.

而不是工作

I did notice the news about those parts of London becoming ghost quarters,

我注意到了那些关于 伦敦市区空洞化的新闻，

where the global super-rich turn fishy money into empty apartments

在那儿世界级富豪 把现钱变为空洞公寓，

and price lifelong residents of a city, young couples starting out,

为城市定居居民定价， 年轻夫妇从这儿离开，

out of their own home.

离开他们本来的家。

And I heard that the fabric of your life

我听说，

是眼泪编织了你们的生活。

was tearing.

You used to be able to count on work,

你们曾经能指着工作过日子，

and now you couldn't.

而现在不行了。

You used to be able to nourish your children,

你们曾经能富养你们的孩子，

and guarantee that they would climb

至少保证他们在人生中

a little bit further in life than you had,

比你们自己爬得更高一些，

and now you couldn't.

但现在不行了。

You used to be made to feel dignity in your work, and now you didn't.

你们曾经能在工作中找到尊严，但现在不行了。

It used to be normal for people like you to own a home,

在过去，像你们这样的人们 有个家是十分正常的事情，

and now it wasn't.

但现在却不是这样。

I cannot say

我不能否认

I didn't know these things,

我很早就知道这些事，

but I was distracted

但是我却被分了神，

creating a future in which we could live on Mars,

去为人类在火星上的未来生活而奋斗

even as you struggled down here on Earth.

就算你们依然在地球上艰苦的过着日子

I was distracted

我被分了神，

innovating immortality,

去创造永生，

even as many of you began to live shorter lives than your parents had.

就在你们中很多人的寿命已开始 短于你们父母那代人了。

I heard all of these things, but I didn't listen.

这些事都经过了我的耳朵， 可惜我没有去仔细倾听。

I looked

我看了，

but didn't see.

但是没看见。

I read, didn't understand.

我读了，可是没理解。

I paid attention

只有当你们去投票，去喊叫，

only when you began to vote and shout,

只有当事情本身开始

and when your voting and shouting, when the substance of it,

威胁到我自身的时候，

began to threaten me.

我才会去注意到。

I listened only when you moved toward shattering continental unions

只有当你们前往各处大陆工会，

and electing vulgar demagogues.

当你们成为选举煽动者的时候， 我才会真正听见。

Only then did your pain become of interest

只有到那时候，

你们的痛苦才能被我注意。

to me.

I know that feeling hurt

我知道感到难受

is often prologue to dealing hurt.

经常是解决问题序幕。

I wonder now

我在想，

if you would be less eager to deal it

若现在我和你们身处同一战线，

if I had stood with you

而你仅仅是感觉到了，

when you merely felt it.

你们会因此就不想去处理它吗？

I ask myself

我质问自己，

why I didn't stand with you then.

为什么没有和你站在一起。

One reason is that I became entranced

一个原因是

我着迷于改变，

by the gurus of change,

became a worshiper of the religion of the new for novelty's sake,

为了创新成为新新事物理念，

and of globalization and open borders

成为全球化和开放性，

and kaleidoscopic diversity.

成为多样性的拥护者。

Once change became my totalizing faith,

一旦“改变”成为了我的信仰，

I could be blind.

我就开始变得盲目。

I could fail to see change's consequences.

我可能忽视改变带来的后果，

I could overlook the importance

我可能忽视那些

of roots, traditions, rituals, stability --

根源，传统，仪式，稳定性

and belonging.

－归属感的重要性。

And the more fundamentalist I became

当我越发变得崇拜

in my worship of change and openness,

改变和开放，

the more I drove you towards the other polarity,

我就越发把你们推往另一个极端，

to cling,

那些依恋派，

to freeze,

保守派，

to close,

与世隔绝的，

to belong.

或是归属思想。

I now see as I didn't before

我现在比以往看见更多，

that not having the right skin or right organ

没有优越的皮肤和器官，

is not the only varietal of disadvantage.

并不是百害而无一利。

There is a subtler, quieter disadvantage

对于拥有优势特质的那些皮肤器官，

in having those privileged traits

存在一个更加细微，潜在的危险。

and yet feeling history to be moving away from you;

当认为历史在离你而去，

that while the past was hospitable to people like you,

对像你们这样的人有害的历史，

the future will be more hospitable

也许对另一些人，

to others;

未来则更加险恶；

that the world is growing less familiar,

与你们记忆中的相比，

less yours day by day.

世界一天天变得更加生疏。

I will not concede for a moment that old privileges should not dwindle.

我当然不会承认旧权不该被缩减。

They cannot dwindle fast enough.

它们缩减的速度还远远不够。

It is for you to learn to live in a new century in which

你们应该明白在新的历史时代里，

there are no bonuses for showing up with the right skin and right organs.

与生俱来的优势皮肤和器官 不会带来什么奖励。

If and when your anger turns to hate,

如果当你的气愤转化为痛恨，

please know that there is no space for that in our shared home.

请明白在我们共享的家园里 没有容纳那些痛恨的空间。

But I will admit, fellow citizen,

但我会承认，我的朋友们，

that I have discounted the burden of coping with the loss of status.

我忽视了应对地位丧失的压力。

I have forgotten

我忘却了

that what is socially necessary can also be personally gruelling.

那些社会必须的也会成为个人折磨。

A similar thing happened

对于你我共享的经济体，

with the economy that you and I share.

相似地事发生了。

Just as I cannot and don't wish

正如我不能，也不愿

to turn back to the clock on equality and diversity,

背视那平等与多样性的时钟，

and yet must understand

但必须明白

the sense of loss they can inspire,

它们能够激励的那种失去感，

so, too, I refuse and could not if I wished

因此，我拒绝，也不能够去

turn back the clock on an ever more closely knit, interdependent world,

希望时光倒流回相互联系，依赖的世界之前

and on inventions that won't stop being invented.

回到发明不断之前。

And yet I must understand your experience of these things.

但我也必须意识到 你们所经历的这些。

You have for years been telling me that your experience of these things

你们多年来都在诉说 你们经历过的这些种种

is not as good as my theories forecast.

并不向我理论预测中的那么美好。

Yet before you could finish a complaining sentence

但在你们能够诉说完

about the difficulty of living with erratic hours, volatile pay,

关于生活的艰辛， 异常的时间，蒸发的工资，

vanishing opportunities,

消失的机会，

about the pain of dropping your children off at 24-hour day care

关于将孩子寄托给全天托管班

to make your 3am shift,

为了完成凌晨3点的 工作换班的痛苦之前，

I shot back at you -- before you could finish your sentence --

我就用我的信条－在你们完成诉说之前－

my dogma,

驳回你们，

about how what you are actually experiencing was flexibility

告诉你们其实你们经历的

and freedom.

是灵活和自由。

Language is one of the only things that we truly share,

语言是我们真正共有的 唯几样事物之一，

and I sometimes used this joint inheritance

而我有时候却用这共同的遗产，

to obfuscate

去混淆，

and deflect

去转移，

and justify myself;

去为自己辩护；

to re-brand what was good for me

当我抛出例如“共同经济”

as something appearing good for us both,

“混乱”

when I threw around terms like "the sharing economy,"

“共享经济”这样短语的时候，

and "disruption"

去重新辩解对自身有力的，

and "global resourcing."

其实是对大家都有利的。

I see now that what I was really doing,

我意识到我有时

at times,

真正在从事的，

was buying your pain on the cheap,

是廉价买下你们的痛苦，

sprucing it up

稍微改进一下，

and trying to sell it back to you

然后尝试重新卖给你们

as freedom.

凭借自由的旗号。

I have wanted to believe and wanted you to believe

我希望去相信，也希望你们去相信，

that the system that has been good to me,

那对我适用的体系，

that has made my life ever more seamless,

让我的人生天衣无缝的体系，

is also the best system for you.

也是最适合你们的体系。

I have condescended to you

我自带优越感地向你们灌输观点：

with the idea that you are voting against your economic interests --

你们是在对经济利益投反对票－

voting against your interests,

对你们自身的利益投反对票，

as if I know your interests.

仿佛我知道你们利益的样子。

That is just my dogmatic economism talking.

这只是我自身教条的经济论。

I have a weakness

我有这样一个问题，

for treating people's economic interests as their only interest,

就是总把经济利益 看作所有人的唯一利益。

ignoring things like belonging and pride

忽视了那些归属感，骄傲情绪，

and the desire to send a message to those who ignore you.

和对于那些忽视你的人们 发出信息的欲望。

So here we are,

我们就是这样，

in a scary but not inexplicable moment

身处一个可怕但并非莫名奇妙的

of demagoguery, fracture,

躁动的，受挫的，

xenophobia, resentment and fear.

排外的，痛恨的，惧怕的时刻。

And I worry for us both if we continue down this road,

如果我们继续这条道路：

me not listening,

我不听，你感觉没被倾听，

you feeling unheard,

你为了让我听而喊叫。

you shouting to get me to listen.

我将为你我感到担心。

I worry when each of us is seduced by visions of the future

我担心我们中的每一个人都会被

that have no place for the other.

不给别人留出路 的未来景象所诱惑。

If this goes on,

如果这继续下去，

if this goes on,

继续这样下去，

there may be blood.

可能会演变为血案。

There are already hints of this blood

在每天的报纸当中，

in newspapers every day.

已经有一些血案前兆了。

There may be roundups, raids,

可能会出现混乱，暴动，

deportations, camps, secessions.

搜捕，驱逐营，分裂。

And no, I do not think that I exaggerate.

不，我不是在虚张声势。

There may be even talk of war

有可能会有战争，

in places that were certain they were done with it.

出现在口口声声认同 已不会有战争的地方。

There is always the hope of redemption.

一直以来都有补救的希望。

But it will not be a cheap, shallow redemption

但这并非是一个廉价的， 浅显易得的救赎

that comes through blather about us all being in it together.

不仅仅是嘴上说说我们团结一致。

This will take more.

这会需要更多。

It will take accepting that we both made choices to be here.

我们需要承认我们选择在这儿。

We create our "others."

是我们创造了“其他人”的概念。

As parents, as neighbors, as citizens,

作为家长，邻居，公民，

we witness and sometimes ignore each other

我们见证，

into being.

有时也忽视他人的存在。

You were not born vengeful.

我们并非生来就复仇心切。

I have some role

我也饰演一些角色，

in whatever thirst you now feel for revenge,

无论你现在是多么渴望复仇，

and that thirst now tempts me

那些复仇的渴望感诱使我

to plot ever more elaborate escapes

设计前所未有精密的路线，

from our common life,

去逃离我们共同生活，

from the schools and neighborhoods

逃离学校和邻里，

and airports and amusement parks

逃离机场和游乐场，

that we used to share.

逃离那些我们曾经共有的地方。

We face, then,

之后，我们面对的

a problem not of these large, impersonal forces.

不是那些远大的非个人的问题，

We face a problem of your and my relations.

我们面对的是你我的关系问题。

We chose ways of relating to each other

我们选择了相互关联的方式，

that got us here.

让我们走到了今天这地步。

We can choose ways of relating

我们也可以选择相互关联的方式，

that get us out.

让我们脱离这里。

But there are things we might have to let go of,

但我们必须放弃一些，

fellow citizen,

我亲爱的公民伙伴们，

starting with our own cherished versions of reality.

首先是我们自身珍视的现实视角。

Imagine if you let go of fantasies

想像你们放弃那些对

of a society purged of these or those people.

没有这样或那样人的社会的幻想。

Imagine if I let go of my habit

想像我放弃

of saving the world behind your back,

在你们背后拯救世界的习惯，

of deliberating on the future

想像去放弃对在连安保都无法通过地方

of your work,

你未来的工作，

your food,

食物，

your schools,

学校

in places where you couldn't get past security.

的幻想。

We can do this only if we first accept

我们只有先承认我们忽视了彼此，

that we have neglected each other.

才可能做到这一点。

If there is hope to summon

如果在这不详的时刻，

in this ominous hour,

有重新振作精神的希望，

it is this.

那就是这个。

We have, for too long,

我们已经太久

chased various shimmering dreams

追寻各种闪亮的梦想，

at the cost of attention to the foundational dream of each other,

以最基本的对你我之间梦想 的注意力为代价，

the dream of tending to each other,

照顾彼此的梦想，

of unleashing each other's wonders,

释放彼此疑虑的梦想，

of moving through history together.

共同跨越历史的梦想。

We could dare to commit to the dream of each other

我们应该敢于承认对于彼此的梦想，

as the thing that matters before every neon thing.

承认它比其他各色事情更重要。

Let us dare.

让我们敢于这么做。

Sincerely yours,

敬上，

a fellow citizen.

一个公民伙伴。

(Applause)

（掌声）