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十分感謝,感謝對我的介紹。早安,恭喜各位,我儘量長話短說。
身為音樂人,這比我正常上班時間早了十小時,所以我稍後得小睡一會兒,那時你們已經拿到學位了。我有個感覺,有些人已經厭倦了我。美國流行音樂電臺以某種科學方法判定聽眾在某段時間當中只喜歡聽同樣的10首歌曲,因此他們一遍又一遍地播放這些歌曲,直到徹底激怒聽眾,然後他們繼續重蹈覆轍。我身為主流唱片公司獨唱藝人的職業生涯已有十年光陰,我沒有任何一首歌曾經入圍這10首歌曲,直到此時此刻。現在(唱)-「你們所有人,根本不在乎我,厭倦了聽見我前來賓州。他們為什麼又請他回來?」這是我故作謙虛地誇耀我擁有全美熱門歌曲的事實。但坦白說,能參加這個世上最頂尖大學的畢業典禮確實令我感到謙卑、榮幸和感激。1995年,我首次拜訪這所學校時是John Stephens高中的學生,19年前的往事。當時我不曾想過今天我會以約翰傳奇的身份在這裡為你們演講。我能站在這裡的原因,至今我擁有美妙人生旅程的原因,是因為我找到了愛。是的,愛。我們都是為愛而生,我發現我們享受最好的生活、立足於最成功的地方,不僅是因為我們比別人聰明,或因為我們比別人努力,並非因為我們更早成為百萬富翁,成功與快樂的關鍵在於敞開心胸,盡情去愛,將時間花在所愛的事物與所愛的人身上。但我的生活本來可能有所不同。
首先,我擁有相當美好的童年,我成長於俄亥俄州一個名叫Springfield的藍領階級小城,家人以我為中心,包括兩個非常關心我們教育的父母。小學階段他們在家教育了我們幾年,他們花時間教導我們的東西比專業學者還多。他們教導我們品格的重要,以及它對美好生活的意義。我父親經常告訴我們他對成功所下的定義,他對我們說,成功並非以金錢與物質衡量,而是用愛、快樂和你能身體力行的人生,你能提供幫助的生活來衡量。我父母遵循這個觀點,身體力行。他們把自己奉獻給教會,他們收養孩子,幫助無家可歸的人,儘管我們本身並不富裕。在Stephens的家中成長也意味著沉浸於藝術與音樂當中,培養創造力。我們家有一台鋼琴和一套鼓我,4歲時便央求上鋼琴課,7歲開始在教會唱詩班與校園演出中唱歌,我很小的時候就愛上了音樂。我家在當地教會和社區中可說是模範家庭,我父母是楷模,在充滿愛的環境裡養育聰明、有才能的孩子,我們甚至組過一個叫「Stephens 5」的小型合唱團。(笑聲)但我10歲時,生活發生天翻地覆的變化。我母親的祖母過世時,年僅58,她的死令我們家受到重創。她是我們教會的風琴手,星期天教會禮拜後我會去她家裡,只為了跟她在一起。她會做雞肉、甘藍菜和玉米麵包,她會教我如何演奏福音鋼琴,她是我世上最喜歡的人之一。她和我母親也非常親近,她的死讓我母親陷入深度憂鬱,最後導致我們家分崩離析。
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Thank you. Thank you so much. Good morning. And congratulations!
Now I'll try to be brief this morning. As a musician, this is about 10 hours before I normally go to work, so I'm gonna need a nap soon. And you've got degrees to receive.
And I also have a feeling some of you are already tired of me. The thing about pop radio in America, somehow they've scientifically determined that the public is only capable of liking the same 10 songs at any given time, so they simply play those songs over and over and over until you're finally completely exasperated. Then they move on...
I've had a 10-year career as a solo artist and none of my songs has ever been one of those 10 songs. Until this moment. And now "all of you, are so over me, you're tired of hearing that I went to Penn. Why'd they bring him back again?" (sung to the tune of "All of Me" chorus)
That was my humblebrag way of saying I have the biggest song in the country. Very artful, wouldn't you say?
But, honestly, I am truly humbled and honored and grateful to be here at the commencement of one of the finest universities on the planet. I first visited this campus as a high school senior named John Stephens in 1995 -- 19 years ago -- and I would have never thought at that moment that I would be standing here as John Legend, speaking to you today.
The reason I'm here, the reason I've had such a wonderful journey so far, is that I've found love. Yes, love. We were all made to love. And I've found that we live our best lives, we are at our most successful, not simply because we're smarter than everyone else, or because we hustle harder. Not because we become millionaires more quickly. The key to success, the key to happiness, is opening your mind and your heart to love. Spending your time doing things you love and with people you love.
My life could have gone differently though. At first, I had a pretty good childhood. I grew up in a small blue-collar city called Springfield, Ohio. I was surrounded by family, including 2 loving parents who cared so much about our education that they home-schooled us for several years during grade school. And they took the time to teach us more than academics. They taught us about character, about what it meant to live a good life.
My father often talked to us about his definition of success. He told us that it wasn't measured in money and material things, but it was measured in love and joy and the lives you're able to touch -- the lives you're able to help. And my parents walked the walk. They gave of themselves to our church. They took in foster kids and helped the homeless, even though we didn't have much money ourselves.
Growing up in the Stephens house also meant you were immersed in art and music and encouraged to be creative. We had a piano and a drum kit in the house. I begged to take piano lessons when I was 4. I started singing in the church choir and in school plays by the time I was 7. So I fell in love with music at a very young age.
My family was like a model family in our church and local community. My parents were leaders, raising intelligent, talented kids in a loving environment. We even had a little singing group called the "Stephens 5."
But things started to fall apart when I was 10. My maternal grandmother passed away that year when she was only 58 years old, and her death devastated my family. She was our church organist, and on Sundays after church, I would go to her house just to hang out with her. She would make chicken and collard greens and corn bread. And she would teach me how to play gospel piano. She was one of my favorite people on the planet.
She and my mother were also very close, and her death sent my mother into a deep depression that eventually tore our family apart. My world was shattered.
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父母離婚後,我母親在十多年的藥物和絕望摧殘下死亡。我感到困惑,迷失了方向。經歷家庭破碎的最初打擊後,我的外在反應不大,我設法表現得若無其事,似乎不受影響。我想如果我不再讓自己暴露於痛苦和脆弱中,我就再也不會受傷。如果我不曾愛過,就再也沒有人能像那樣背叛我。我讓自己沉浸於課業和眾多活動中,試著不去多想家裡的情況,盡可能避開傷痛。我只申請東岸大學的一個重要原因,是確保在日常生活中不會接觸到使我想起家裡狀況的事物,我唯一允許自己毫無保留去愛的只有音樂。我投入了所有熱情,我的閒暇時間多半花在音樂上,幾乎不眠不休。晚上我參加社區合唱團及高中合唱團與音樂劇表演,大學時參加無伴奏合唱團和唱詩班。我自行作曲,在選秀節目上表演。為了成為更出色的藝術家、作曲家和表演家,我投入許多精力,以某方面來說,這使我成了更優秀的學生和領導者,因為當你真正在意某些事時,你會想成為領導者。冷漠變得不再那麼酷。
當我從賓州大學畢業時,我擁有許多如同現在擺在你們面前的傳統工作機會。我在波士頓諮詢公司謀了一份工作,但這無法動搖我對音樂的熱情。我遵循賓州大學畢業生應遵循的道路前進,但我無法愛上這份工作。我立刻開始思考如何離開波士頓諮詢公司,成為一名全職音樂人。白天我花幾小時準備投影片簡報和金融模型,晚上我幾乎花同樣時間寫歌,在紐約和費城附近進行小型現場表演,我堅信不久後就會獲得重大轉機。事實上有六年時間-從1998年開始,當時我還在賓州-到2004年初,我年復一年地想著幾個月後我就會獲得優渥的唱片合約。我總以為出頭的時刻指日可待,但我被所有知名唱片公司拒絕,有些拒絕我不只一次。我曾經在所有音樂界大老面前演出-Clive Davis、L.A. Reid、Jimmy Iovine,任何你能說出口的,他們都拒絕了我。但我終於找到一位願意相信我的芝加哥年輕製作人,名叫肯伊.威斯特。肯伊碰巧是我好友DeVon Harris的親戚,DeVon是我在賓州大學的同學兼室友。DeVon於2001年把我介紹給肯伊,從那時起我們一直合作,我們的合作佔了我事業相當大的部分,這與我終於在2004年獲得一份知名唱片公司合約有很大關係。
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My parents got divorced. My mother disappeared into over a decade of drugs and despair. And I was confused and disoriented.
After the initial shock of my family breaking apart, my outward response wasn't very emotional. I coped by being stoic and seemingly unaffected. I thought if I didn't expose myself to any more pain and vulnerability, I could never get hurt. If I didn't fall in love, no one could ever betray me like that again.
I busied myself with school work and lots of activities, and tried not to think too much about my family situation, tried to avoid pain whenever possible. A big reason I only applied to colleges on the east coast was to make sure I had no reminders of home in my daily life.
The only thing I allowed myself to really love without reservation was music. I put all of my passion into it. I spent so much of my spare time working on it, that I barely got any sleep. At night, I was doing community choir, show choir and musicals in high school; a cappella and a church choir in college. I wrote my own songs. Played in talent shows. I put a lot of energy into becoming a better artist, a better writer and a better performer. And in some ways, it made me a better student and a better leader. Because when you actually care about something, you want to lead. Apathy's not so cool any more.
When I graduated from Penn, I had many of the traditional opportunities in front of you now, and I took a job at the Boston Consulting Group. But I couldn't shake my passion for music. I had followed the path that the Penn graduate was supposed to take, but I didn't fall in love. I immediately started thinking about how I could leave BCG and become a full-time musician. I spent hours during the day preparing powerpoint presentations and financial models. And I spent almost as many hours at night writing songs and performing at small gigs around New York and Philadelphia.
I always believed that my big break would come sooner rather than later. In fact, from 1998, while I was still at Penn, to early 2004, I spent each of those years always thinking that I would get that big record deal within the next few months. I always thought my moment was just around the corner. But I was rejected by all the major labels; some of them rejected me multiple times. I played for all the giants of the business -- Clive Davis, L.A. Reid, Jimmy Iovine, you name it. And all of them turned me down.
But I did find a young producer from Chicago named Kanye West who believed in me. Kanye happened to be the cousin of my good friend DeVon Harris, a classmate and roommate of mine here at Penn. DeVon introduced me to Kanye in 2001, and we've been working together ever since. Our collaboration has been a huge part of my career, and it had a lot to do with me finally getting a major recording contract in 2004.
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好,如你們所想,我和肯伊的個性大不相同,但使我們結合在一起的是對音樂和藝術的真愛。我們熱愛創作,創作過程中我們不曾為歌曲的銷量或流行趨勢煩惱,我們想做一些美妙、獨特、足以令我們自豪的東西。我們確實朝這個方向努力,因為我們熱愛它。我們投入全副心力,這證明了愛需要這種程度的投入,只付出一半心力無法把事做好,你必須投入全副心力。是的,你的人際關係也是如此。我知道20多歲時的自負是什麼感覺,我知道自私自利和只關注當前的需要和欲望是什麼感覺,我知道讓你的心免於痛苦和失望是什麼感覺,我知道激烈競爭和取得勝利是什麼感覺。但從現在開始,當你回顧生命歷程時,你的生活和快樂將由人際關係的品質所定義,而非數量。使你得到更多快樂的是人際關係的深度,而非廣度。這有賴於盡可能與周遭的人建立及保持良好關係,這有賴於珍惜友誼和家庭,這有賴於陪伴你關心的人,並知道他們也陪伴著你。我知道全心全意去愛並非易事。我現在35歲,已經結婚,我仍然不斷學習如何徹底做好這一點,但我已找到某個讓我想去嘗試、想去冒險的人,這改變了一切。
我已談過愛的力量對工作及個人生活的影響,但我也想談談愛如何改變世界。除了我們,世上還有70億人,70億個陌生人。我希望你們思考也愛他們意味著什麼?愛我們不認識的人、看見每個人生命的價值意味著什麼?思考一下,這是一個十分激進的概念。這意味著你們的女兒或兒子,你鄰居的女兒或兒子,千里之外的人們的女兒和兒子都有生命、自由和追求幸福的權利;這意味著我們克服恐懼,看見彼此的人性;這意味著我們不會把Trayvon Martin視為典型的街頭危險分子,而將他視為一個應該擁有長大成人機會的男孩,儘管他在人生旅途中犯了幼稚的錯誤;這意味著美國人的生命不比伊拉克人的生命更有價值;這意味著我們不會將一個年幼的巴勒斯坦孩子視為未來的安全威脅或人口問題,而將他視為未來的父親、母親和愛人;這意味著奈及利亞近300名女孩的綁架事件不僅是他們的問題,她們也是「我們」的女孩。以這種方式愛人類對你我來說確實是相當大的挑戰,Cornel West教授用一個詞形容這種一視同仁的大愛,這個詞就是公正。如果你致力於這種大愛精神,你必須秉持公正的思想,正視不公正,用不同的眼光看待世界。這並非被動行為,你必須閱讀,你必須前往其他地區、前往世上其他地方旅行,你或許不得不弄髒雙手。你必須讓別人愛你,也必須回報他們的愛。
我和我的團隊曾遇見一名年輕女孩,名叫Rose,來自迦納一個小而貧困的村莊。當你與發展組織共事、拜訪他們工作的地區時,確實不該只對其中一名孩子付出關愛。你應該遵循計畫,專注於改善整個社區的措施。但我們情不自禁,我們都喜愛Rose,她眼中的光彩和不屈不撓的精神讓我們想進一步幫助她,因此我們決定用我們的資金贊助她中學學費。過去7年我們一直與她保持聯繫,她獨力完成的事令我們十分自豪,但我們也十分高興她激發我們將獎學金項目正式立案,推廣到全非洲許多與她身處類似地區的女孩身上。這些地區的父母通常只資助男孩的中學教育,卻不讓女孩享有相同待遇。在環球旅行過程中,我仔細觀察許多年輕男女,從非洲到東南亞到黑人社區。那些孩子擁有遠大夢想,需要有人相信他們,為他們的未來和教育投資。如果我們秉持大愛精神,我們的學校會如何?如果我們關心每個學校體制內的孩子,我們將確保他們不會餓著肚子上學,我們將確保他們擁有適當的健康照護和諮詢服務,我們將確保每個班級都有優秀的老師,我們將確保不會因為微不足道的行為問題對他們做出不公平的停學處分與懲罰,我們將確保所有人都擁有他們需要的資源。
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Now, Kanye and I have very different personalities, as you might have guessed. But what unites us is our true love for music and art. We love to create, and at no point in our creative process do we stress about what will sell or what's already popular. We think about making something beautiful, something special, something we can be proud of. We truly do this because we love it. We put all of ourselves into it.
And it turns out that love requires that level of commitment from you. Half-doing it is not doing it right. You have to go all in. And yes, your personal relationships require that too.
I know what it's like to be all ego in your 20s. I know what it's like to be selfish and just focus on your immediate wants and desires. I know what it's like to protect your heart from pain and disappointment. I know what it means to be all about the rat race and winning.
But years from now, when you look back on your time here on earth, your life and your happiness will be way more defined by the quality of your relationships, not the quantity. You'll get much more joy out of depth, not breadth. It's about finding and keeping the best relationships possible with the people around you. It's about immersing yourself in your friendships and your family. It's about being there for the people you care about, and knowing that they'll be there for you.
I know. It's not easy to go all in on love. I'm 35 and I'm married and I'm still learning how to do this completely. But I've found someone who makes me want to try, someone who makes me want to take that risk. And it's made all the difference.
Now, I've already talked about the power of love in your work and your personal lives. But I also want to talk about how love changes the world. There are 7 billion other people out there. 7 billion strangers. I want you to consider what it means to love them too. What does it mean to love people we don't know, to see the value in every single person's life?
Think about that. It's a pretty radical notion. It means your daughter or son, your neighbor's daughter or son and the daughters and sons of people who live thousands of miles away, all deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It means we let go of fear and see each other's humanity. It means we don't see Trayvon Martin as a walking stereotype, a weaponized human. We see him as a boy who deserves the chance to grow into a man, even if he makes boyish mistakes along the way. It means American lives don't count more than Iraqi lives. It means we see a young Palestinian kid not as a future security threat or demographic challenge, but as a future father, mother and lover. It means that the nearly 300 kidnapped girls in Nigeria aren't just their problem. They're "our" girls too. It's actually quite a challenge to love humankind in this way.
Professor Cornel West gives us a word for what this kind of love looks like in public. That word is justice.
If you're committed to loving in public, it requires you opening your eyes to injustice, to see the world through the eyes of another. This is not a passive activity. You have to read. You have to travel to other neighborhoods, other parts of the world. You may have to get your hands dirty. You have to allow people to love you, and you have to love them back
My team and I met a young girl named Rose from a small, impoverished village in Ghana. When you're working with development organizations and visiting the communities they work in, you're not really supposed to single out one child to fall in love with. You're supposed to stick to the program and focus on the interventions that lift the community as a whole. But we couldn't help it. We fell in love with Rose. Something about the spark in her eyes and her indomitable spirit made us want to go the extra mile to help her. So we decided to use our own funds to sponsor her tuition to secondary school.
We've stayed in touch with her over the past 7 years, and we're so proud of what she's done individually. But we're also happy that she inspired us to formalize and expand our scholarship program to many girls in communities like hers throughout Africa, communities where the parents often invest in the boys' secondary education, but don't do the same for the girls.
In my travels around the world, I've looked in the eyes of many young girls and boys from Africa to Southeast Asia to Harlem, kids who had big dreams and needed someone to believe in them and invest in their future, in their education.
What would our schools look like if we were committed to love in public? If we cared about every kid in our school system, we would make sure they didn't go to school hungry. We would make sure they had proper health care and counseling. We would make sure they had excellent teachers in every classroom. We would make sure we weren't unfairly suspending them and criminalizing them for minor behavioral problems. We'd make sure all of them had the resources they need.
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每個宗教都有博愛精神,將愛奉獻給他人的核心概念,但你不應僅為了確保進入「天國之門」而這麼做。看看Marty Seligman在賓州大學所做的貢獻,他撰寫了關於幸福的書;看看Adam Grant所做的貢獻,我聽說他是這裡最有聲望的教授,他能夠證明「給予」的正面影響。越來越多的研究和知識告訴我們,充滿愛和同理心的生活是通往成功與滿足的真正途徑。因此什麼使你裹足不前?什麼阻擋了你的腳步?什麼阻礙你獲得成功?什麼制止你全心全意為愛付出?我們從小被教導愛的反面是恨,但事實並非如此。恨是一種副產品,恨是一種結果。當一名仇恨者並不酷,沒有人想那樣,但恨因某種心態而生:恐懼。恐懼是愛的對立面。當我們談到偏見時,經常以恐懼為出發點,這並非巧合。對同性戀的恐懼、對外來事物的恐懼。恐懼蒙蔽了我們的雙眼,恐懼具腐蝕性,恐懼令我們裹足不前。它對我們竊竊私語,告訴我們將面臨失敗。它對我們說,人類之間的差異很難克服。恐懼使我們故步自封,它啟動鬥爭,造成戰爭。恐懼使我們無法付出愛。儘管我們為愛而生,我們通常害怕付出愛,我們害怕受到深刻傷害,害怕遭受父母離婚時我遭受的那種痛苦。你永遠無法真正愛上某些事物或某些人,除非你把恐懼丟到一旁。不要退縮,沉浸於愛中意味著準備好敞開心胸、盡情付出,準備好冒著風險,冒著遭受痛苦和失望的風險。征服你的恐懼,成為全新的人。
Alice Walker曾說:「我越是好奇,越能付出愛。」愛呼喚你睜開雙眼,去尋找、去發現、去好奇。愛耗盡一切-它滲入你的身體,使你得以感受幸福、喜悅和真正的友誼。當某些事不如人意,你會更加沮喪。你或許會跌得更重,但唯一使你在生命和愛中達到某種高度的方法,就是冒著可能跌倒的風險。你必須付出一切。是的,我的歌詞一向不夠精簡,有些人或許會覺得有點囉嗦。我-發行了一張名叫《Love in the Future》的專輯,最近結婚,創作了今年最熱門情歌的R&B歌手;我選擇談論什麼?愛太遜了,對吧?疏離和冷漠酷多了,不是嗎?我們都喜歡有點刻薄、憤世嫉俗和嘲諷,尤其是來自我們最喜愛的藝術家、喜劇演員和作家。我明白,但冷漠疏離只會使你離目標越來越遠,熱情將使你朝目標接近,使你成為更優秀的企業家、領導者、慈善家、朋友和愛人。
我希望你們竭盡所能地經營美好人生,你可以成為改變世界的人。當你今天離開這裡,你將不斷追尋許多東西:安全、金錢、友誼、性,各式各樣的東西,但你將發現最重要的就是愛。因此,愛你自己,愛你的工作,愛你身邊的人。勇敢去愛那些與你不同的人,無論他們來自哪裡,無論他們長什麼模樣,無論他們愛誰。用專注、熱情、野心和勇氣追求這種充滿愛的生活,傾盡你的所有,這將成為通往真正成功的途徑。
恭喜2014年畢業生,十分感謝。(歡呼聲)(掌聲)
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Every religion has this idea of philanthropy, love for mankind, at its core. But you shouldn't do this just to make sure you get into the "pearly gates." Look at the work of Marty Seligman here at Penn, who has literally written the book on happiness. Look at the work of Adam Grant, whom I hear is the most highly rated professor here: He has the data to show that giving works. There's an increasing body of research and knowledge that tells us that living a life of love and compassion is the true path to success and contentment.
So what's going to stop you? What's going to stand in your way? What's going to keep you from achieving your success? What will prevent you from going all in on love?
We're taught when we're young that the opposite of love is hate. But it's not. Hate is a byproduct. Hate is a result. Being a hater isn't cool. Nobody wants that. But hate comes from one thing: fear. And fear is the opposite of love. It's not a coincidence that when we talk about bigotry, we often talk in terms of fear: homophobia, xenophobia. Fear is what blinds us. Fear is corrosive. Fear makes us hold back. It whispers to us, tells us that we'll fail. It tells us that our differences are too much to overcome. Fear locks us in place. It starts fights. It causes wars.
And fear keeps us from loving. Even though we're made to love, we're often afraid to love. We're afraid of being hurt deeply. Afraid of feeling the pain I went through when my parents divorced. But you're never going to really love something or someone unless you put those fears aside. Don't hold back. Being in love means being ready to give freely and openly, and being ready to risk something. Risking pain and disappointment, conquering your fears, and becoming anew.
Alice Walker once said, "The more I wonder, the more I love." Love calls you to open your eyes, to seek, to search, to wonder.
Love is all-consuming -- it infiltrates your body, it's what allows you to experience bliss, joy and true friendship. You'll be more disappointed when something goes wrong. You might fall harder. But the only way you'll reach any height in life and in love is by taking the chance that you might fall.
You have to give your all.
Yes, I've been not-so-subtly working in my song lyrics. And some might think it's all a bit too much. Here I am, this R&B singer with an album called Love in the Future, who's recently married and wrote the biggest love song of the year, and what did I choose to talk about? Love. It's so corny, isn't it. It's much cooler to be detached and apathetic, right? We all like a little snark and cynicism and irony, especially from our favorite artists and comedians and writers. I get it.
But that cool detachment only gets you so far. Passion gets you a lot further. It makes you a better entrepreneur, a better leader, a better philanthropist, a better friend, a better lover.
I want you to live the best life you can. You can be world-changers. When you leave here today, you're going to be looking for a lot of things: security, money, friendships, sex, all kinds of things. But the most important thing you'll find is love.
So love your self, love your work, love the people around you. Dare to love those who are different from you, no matter where they're from, what they look like, and who they love. Pursue this life of love with focus and passion and ambition and courage. Give it your all. And that will be your path to true success.