One morning, 18 years ago,
十八年前的九月 一个风和日丽的早上
I stepped out of a New York City subway on a beautiful day in September.
我从纽约地铁站走出来
The sun was warm and bright, the sky was a clear, perfect blue.
阳光温暖而明媚 晴空万里
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线朝前的婴儿背带里
you know, so he could see everything.
这样他就可以看到所有的东西
And when I turned right on Sixth Avenue,
当我在第六大道向右转时
what he saw was the World Trade Center on fire.
他看到的是着火的世贸中心
As soon as I realized that this was an attack,
当我意识到这是一次袭击时
the first thing I did, without even really thinking about it,
甚至来不及思考 我做的第一件事
was to take my baby and turn him around in that carrier.
就是把背带里的孩子转过来
I didn’t want him to see what was going on.
我不想让他看到眼前发生的事
And I just remember feeling so grateful that he was still young enough
我只记得当时感到很庆幸 因为他还小
that I didn’t have to tell him that someone had done this on purpose.
我不需要告诉他 是有人蓄意这样做的
9/11 was like crossing a border,
9·11事件就像是穿越边境
a hostile border into dangerous, uncharted territory.
穿越敌方的边境 进入危险而未知的领域
The world was suddenly in this terrifying new place,
世界突然变成了一个可怕的地方
and I was in this place as a new mother.
我则是这里的一个新晋妈妈
I remember my thoughts kind of ping-ponging around
我记得我的思绪就像乒乓球一样 忽左忽右：
from, “How am I ever going to protect this baby?”
“我该怎么保护我的孩子?”
to, “How am I ever going to get some sleep?”
“我怎么才能睡着呢?”
Well, my son turned 18 this year,
和数百万9·11事件时还是婴儿的孩子一样
along with millions of other people who were babies on 9/11.
我的儿子今年18岁了
And in that time,
那段时间
we have all crossed into this hostile, uncharted territory
我们全都进入了这个充满敌意的未知境域：
of climate breakdown, of endless wars,
气候崩溃 无休止的战争
of economic meltdowns, of deep political divisions,
经济危机 激烈的政治分歧
of the many crises around the world that I don’t need to list off,
世界危机四起 我无需一一列举
because they are blaring at you every single day from your news feed.
因为它们每天都从你的新闻推送中对你大吼大叫
But there is something I’ve learned
但在十八年的教子过程
in these 18 years of parenting
及领导一个全球妇女权利组织的这些年里
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
有一种方法能够应对世界上的这些大危机
without feeling overwhelmed and despairing.
而不会感到不知所措或绝望
It’s simple, and it’s powerful.
这个方法很简单并且很强大
It’s to think like a mother.
那就是——像母亲一样思考
Now, to be clear,
现在 要说明一下
you don’t have to be a woman or a parent to do this.
你不需要是一名女性或父母亲才能这样做
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
The poet Alexis De Veaux writes,
诗人亚历克西斯·德沃写道
“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.”
也是对世界需求的一种理解”
Now, it’s easy to focus on all of the obstacles
关注所有阻止我们
to making this the world we want: greed, inequality, violence.
创造理想世界的障碍 比如贪婪 不公 暴力很简单
Yes, there is all of that.
是的 这些都是
But there’s also the option to plant a seed, a different seed,
但即使处于危机之中
and cultivate what you want to see grow,
你也可以选择种下一颗种子 一颗与众不同的种子
even in the midst of crisis.
培育出你想要的东西
Majid from Iraq understands this.
来自伊拉克的Majid就明白这一点
He is a housepainter by trade
他是一名油漆工
and someone who believes deeply in equal rights for women.
他深信妇女应该享有平等的权利
When ISIS invaded northern Iraq where he lives,
当极端恐怖组织入侵他居住的伊拉克北部时
he worked with a local women’s organization
他与当地一个妇女组织
to help build an underground railroad,
一起修建了一条地下铁路
an escape network for women’s rights activists
它是被暗杀的妇女权利积极分子
and LGBTIQ folks who were targeted with assassination.
和LGBTIQ人群的逃生网
And when I asked Majid
当我问Majid
why he risked his own life to bring people to safety,
为什么要冒生命危险把这些人带到安全的地方
he said to me, “If we want a brighter future,
他告诉我”如果我们想要一个更加光明的未来
we have to build it now in the dark times
现在 我们必须在黑暗时期就建设它
so that one day we can live in the light.”
这样总有一天 我们可以生活在光明中”
That’s what social justice work is,
这就是社会正义
and that’s what mothers do.
这也是母亲应该做的事情
We act in the present with an idea of the future that we want to bring about.
我们带着对美好未来的憧憬 努力着
All of the best ideas seem impossible at first.
所有最棒的想法在一开始似乎都是不可能的
But just in my lifetime, we’ve seen the end of apartheid,
但在有生之年 我见证了种族隔离的终结
the affirmation that women’s rights are human rights, marriage equality,
妇女权利就是人权的主张 婚姻平等
the fall of dictators who ruled for decades and so much more.
统治了几十年独裁者的倒台 还有更多
All of these things seemed impossible
所有这些事似乎都是不可能的
until people took action to make them happen,
直到人们采取行动 让它们变成现实
and then, like, almost right away, they seemed inevitable.
然后 用不了多久 它们看来就像必然会实现一样
When I was growing up,
在我的成长过程中
whether we were stuck in traffic or dealing with a family tragedy,
无论是交通堵塞还是面对家庭变故
my mother would say,
我的母亲总会说
“Something good is going to happen, we just don’t know what it is yet.”
“好事就要发生了 只是我们还不知道是什么”
Now, I will admit that my brothers and I make fun of her for this,
现在 我承认我和我的兄弟们会因此取笑她
but people ask me all the time
但是人们总是问我
how I deal with the suffering that I see in my work in refugee camps and disaster zones,
在难民营和灾区 我如何面对工作中的挫折
and I think of my mom
我想到了我的母亲
and that seed of possibility that she planted in me.
以及她在我心中种的那颗充满可能性的种子
Because, when you believe that something good is coming
因为 当你相信有好事要发生的时候
and you’re part of making it happen,
你就会努力去实现它
you start to be able to see beyond the suffering to how things could be.
你就能看到除了痛苦 其他的事情可能会怎样
Today, there is a new set of necessary ideas
现在 出现了一套新的必要的观念
that seem impossible but one day will feel inevitable:
这些观念现在看似不可能 但总有一天会成为必然：
that we could end violence against women,
我们可以终结对妇女的暴力
make war a thing of the past,
让战争成为过去
learn to live in balance with nature before it’s too late
趁现在还来得及 学会与自然和谐相处
and make sure that everybody has what they need to thrive.
以及确保每个人都拥有维持生存的东西
Of course, being able to picture a future like this is not the same thing
当然 能够描绘出这样的未来
as knowing what to do to make it come about,
与知道怎么做才能实现它 并不是一回事
but thinking like a mother can help with that, too.
但像母亲一样思考对此也有帮助
A few years ago, East Africa was gripped by a famine,
几年前 东非陷入饥荒
and women I know from Somalia
我在索马里认识的妇女
walked for days carrying their hungry children in search of food and water.
带着饥饿的孩子走了好多天寻找食物和水
A quarter of a million people died,
25万人死亡
and half of them were babies and toddlers.
其中一半都是婴幼儿
And while this catastrophe unfolded,
当灾难发生时
too much of the world looked away.
世界上大多数国家选择视而不见
But a group of women farmers in Sudan,
但是苏丹的一群农妇
including Fatima Ahmed — that’s her holding the corn —
包括Fatima Hhmed 拿着玉米的那一位
heard about what was happening.
听说了此事
And they pooled together the extra money that they had from their harvest
她们把丰收后赚的钱凑在一起
and asked me to send it to those Somali mothers.
让我把这些钱带给索马里的母亲们
Now, these farmers could have decided that they didn’t have the power to act.
这些农妇本可以选择袖手旁观
They were barely getting by themselves, some of them.
她们中大多数人只能勉强度日
They lived without electricity, without furniture.
她们生活在没有电 没有家具的环境下
But they overrode that.
但是她们战胜了这些
They did what mothers do:
她们做了母亲该做的事情：
they saw themselves as the solution and they took action.
她们依靠自己解决问题 并采取行动
You do it all the time if you have kids.
如果你有孩子 你也会一直这样做
You make major decisions about their health care, their education, their emotional well-being,
你对他们的医疗卫生 教育 情绪健康做出重大决定
even if you’re not a doctor or a teacher or a therapist.
即使你不是医生 老师或治疗师
You recognize what your child needs
你知道你的孩子需要什么
and you step up to provide it the best you can.
并尽你所能给他们提供最好的
Thinking like a mother means seeing the whole world
像母亲一样思考意味着
through the eyes of those who are responsible for its most vulnerable people.
要以对最脆弱群体负责的角度看世界
And we’re not used to thinking of subsistence farmers as philanthropists,
我们不习惯把自给自足的农民当作慈善家
but those women were practicing the root meaning of philanthropy:
但这些女性践行着慈善事业的根本意义：
love for humanity.
博爱
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不应该是惊讶
it’s love.
而是爱
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, an endlessly renewable resource —
它是一种能力 一个动词 一种无穷无尽的能量
and not just in our private lives.
它不仅仅在我们的个人生活中
We recognize hate in the public sphere.
在公共领域 我们认识到仇恨
Right? Hate speech, hate crimes.
对吧？仇恨言论 仇恨犯罪
But not love.
但不是爱
What is love in the public sphere?
什么是公共领域的爱？
Well, Cornel West, who is not a mother but thinks like one,
好吧 Cornel West 他不是母亲 但却像母亲一样思考
says it best:
他给了爱最好的定义：
“Justice is what love looks like in public.”
“公正就是爱在公共领域的样子”
And when we remember that every policy is an expression of social values,
当我们记起每项政策都是社会价值观的体现时
love stands out as that superstar value,
爱因其巨星般的价值脱颖而出
the one best able to account for the most vulnerable among us.
它最能体现对最弱势群体的责任
And when we position love as a kind of leading edge in policy making,
在制定政策时 如果我们把爱作为最重要的因素
we get new answers to fundamental social questions,
对于基本的社会问题我们就会得到新答案
like, “What’s the economy for?”
比如“经济是为了什么?”
“What is our commitment to those in the path of the hurricane?”
“我们对那些困境中的人们的贡献是什么？”
“How do we greet those arriving to our borders?”
“我们如何跟新邻居打招呼？”
When you think like a mother,
当你像母亲一样思考时
you prioritize the needs of the many, not the whims of the few.
你优先考虑多数人的需求 而非少数人的心血来潮
When you think like a mother,
当你像母亲一样思考时
you don’t build a seawall around beachfront property,
你就不会在滨海地产周围建海堤
because that would divert floodwaters to communities that are still exposed.
因为这会把洪水引到滨海周边的社区
When you think like a mother,
当你像母亲一样思考时
you don’t try to prosecute someone for leaving water for people crossing the desert.
你不会试图告发那个为穿越沙漠的人留下水的人
Because, you know —
因为 你知道–
Because you know that migration, just like mothering, is an act of hope.
因为你知道 迁徙 像母亲般的呵护 是希望的表现
Now, not every mother thinks like a mother.
现在 不是每个母亲都能像母亲一样思考
When presented with a choice,
当我们面临选择的时候
some of us have made the wrong one,
有些人做出了错误的选择
hiding behind weapons or barbed wire or privilege to deny the rest of the world,
他们躲在武器 铁丝网或特权后抵抗世界上的其他人
thinking they can see their way to safety in some kind of armed lifeboat
认为自己可以乘坐全副武装的以种族主义和仇外情绪为动力的救生艇
fueled by racism and xenophobia.
到达安全的地方
Not every mother is a role model,
不是每个母亲都是榜样
but all of us have a choice.
但我们所有的人都有选择权
Are we going to jump on that armed lifeboat
我们要跳上那艘全副武装的救生艇吗
or work together to build a mother ship that can carry everyone?
还是一起建造一艘能运载所有人的母船呢
You know how to build that mother ship,
你知道如何建造母船
how to repair the world and ease the suffering.
如何拯救世界 减轻痛苦
Think like a mother.
像母亲一样思考
Thinking like a mother is a tool we can all use to build the world we want.
像母亲一样思考 是我们都可以使用的工具
Thank you.
谢谢