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很榮幸邀請到羅姆尼州長擔任畢業演講嘉賓。
謝謝DiSalvo校長、Abbot Mark、校董會委員、全體教職員、尊貴的來賓與擔心的家長。2015年畢業生:幹得好,恭喜各位。家長:你們這些年的投資與禱告已結出喜悅的果實,但願你們將體驗到新的美國夢,那不再是擁有屬於你們的家,而是讓孩子離開屬於你們的家。你們剛剛聽見我獲得榮譽學位,當我想起身處聖安瑟倫的歲月,各式各樣的辯論會、座談會、市民大會和公眾集會,我不得不說這個學位賺得還真辛苦。但為了撈個榮譽學位,恐怕我得拚一下。
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President DiSalvo, Abbot Mark Cooper, trustees, faculty, honored guests, and weary parents. To the class of 2015: Well done, and congratulations. To you parents, the years of investment and prayers have added up to this joyful achievement. Hopefully, you are about to experience the new American Dream, which is no longer owning your own home, it is getting your kids out of the home you own. You have just heard that I have been awarded an honorary degree. When I think of all the times I have been here at Saint Anselm, for debates, forums, town meetings, and rallies, I might argue that it is an earned degree. But to get one of those, I guess I'd have had to win!
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16年的教育使你們的世界比孩提時期遼闊得多,有趣的是,對孩子來說他們只看得見周遭的事物。他們看得見他們的家庭、他們的學校、也許還有他們的城市,但他們無法想像除此以外的地方。他們的視野與世界就像一個小圈圈,束縛在他們有限的經驗當中。現在你們的世界大得驚人,幾乎無遠弗屆。在這個擁有眾多可能性的遼闊世界裡,有些人或許會感到焦慮和不確定,你甚至可能傾向於尋找一個不那麼遼闊、較安逸的世界。一個較不複雜、要求較低的世界。這並非你們的理想,也並非聖安瑟倫培育你們的目的。體驗一個充實、有意義的人生,你需要做的一件事就是:擴展你的人生。擴展人生意味著珍惜生命中每一道痕跡,意味著持續擴展你的世界,盡可能投入其中。我提供幾個如何著手的建議。
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16 years of education has made your world a great deal bigger than the world of your childhood. It's a funny thing about little kids: they don't see much beyond what's right around them. They see their family, their school, maybe their city or town, but they just can't imagine distant places. Their vision, their world is like a small circle, bounded by their very limited experience. Your world is now breathtakingly large, almost without boundaries. With such vastness and with so many possible directions to take, some of you may understandably feel somewhat anxious and uncertain. You may even be tempted to look for a smaller, more comfortable world, one that's less complex, and less demanding. That's not who you are and that's not what Saint Anselm has prepared you to do. To experience a fulfilling, purposeful life, one thing you're going to have to do it this: live a large life. Living large means embracing every fruitful dimension of life. It means continuing to expand your world and engaging in it as fully as you are able. Let me offer a few suggestions about how to do that.
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第一點是友誼。我還記得坐在商業課堂上,環顧四週,心想也許畢業後再也見不到這些同學。我所有注意力都集中在講課內容,但你知道嗎?我幾乎忘了所有講課內容,留在記憶中的是我的同學以及如今我最重視的朋友。畢業40年後,我的六人研究小組成員仍保持聯絡。我們在人生高潮彼此祝賀在,人生低潮互相安慰。信不信由你,你和父母可以成為比現在更親密的朋友。我朋友Stuart Stevens決定陪父親觀賞每一場密西西比大學足球賽,無論在家裡或在外面。特別的是,他父親已95高齡。40多年前Stuart離家唸大學,他住在佛蒙特州,父親住在北卡羅萊納州,因此這對父子許多相聚的時間都在旅行與長談中度過。他藉此深入瞭解父親的一切:他的個性、夢想與恐懼。藉由對父親性格的深入瞭解,他們的友誼逐漸增長。他們增進父子關係的特殊方式引起紐約出版商Knopf的注意,將於今年秋天出版一本描述他們之間相處情形的書。你的人生將會更開闊,如果你珍惜及呵護所獲得的友誼,無論是在聖安瑟倫家中或生活圈中獲得的友誼。
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The first involves your friends. I remember sitting in a business class, looking around the room and thinking to myself that I'd probably never see any of these guys again after I graduated. All my attention was focused on what was being taught. But you know what, I've forgotten almost everything that was taught; it's the classmates I remember, and it's those friends that I value most today.
40 years since my graduation, the guys in my six person study group continue to get together. We've congratulated one another on our highs and consoled one another on our lows. Believe it or not, your parents can become even closer friends than they are today. My friend Stuart Stevens decided to take his father to every single Ole Miss football game, home or away. What's unusual about that is that his father is 95 years old. And Stuart had moved away from home for college over forty years ago. He lives in Vermont and his Dad lives in North Carolina. So these father-son excursions would involve a great deal of time and travel¬ – and long talks. He would dig deep into understanding his dad: his personality, his dreams and his fears. Delving so far into his father's personhood, their friendship deepened, and their relationship expanded in such interesting ways that a noted New York publisher, Knopf, will publish a book about their experience this fall. Your life will be larger if you value and nourish friendships, friends from here at Saint Anselm, from your home, and from the growing circle of your life.
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對大多數人來說圓滿的人生也意味著結婚生子,我不期待在座每個人都像我一樣相信聖經是上帝的話語或上帝的預示,如果不是,至少你必須承認它代表傑出思想家與哲學家多年累積的智慧。無論如何,它的教誨都值得重視。在最初的章節中,它寫道-亞當這麼指示:「因此人要離開父母與妻子連合,二人成為一體。」我們知道何謂「一體」,但離開父母、結婚成家讓有些人困擾。當然,我不會告訴你何時該結婚成家,這是你父母的事。但我會告訴你,到目前為止婚姻一直是我生命中最有價值的部分。婚姻包含激情、衝突、情感、恐懼、希望、妥協和理解。簡言之,婚姻就是擴展生活。然後是孩子。如舊約詩篇127所示:「兒女是耶和華所賜的產業,少年時所生的兒女好像勇士手中的箭,箭袋充滿的人便為有福。」我不知道擁有五個兒子是否稱得上「箭袋充滿」,但我可以肯定他們帶來難以衡量的幸福。在我看來,他們使Ann和我擁有不曾預期的生活。
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For most of you, living life to the fullest will also mean marriage and children. I don't expect that everyone here believes as I do that the Bible is the word of God or even that it is inspired by God. If not, then at least you will have to acknowledge that it represents the wisdom of the ages, written by extraordinary thinkers and philosophers. Either way, its counsel warrants serious attention.
In its opening pages, Adam gives this direction: "therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The "one flesh" part we get, but the part about leaving mom and dad and getting married trips some people up. I'm surely not going to tell you when to tie the knot. You've got parents who will do that. But I will tell you that marriage has been the single-most rewarding part of my life, by far. Marriage involves passion, conflict, emotion, fear, hope, compromise, and understanding – in short; it is living to the max. And then children. In the Old Testament, Psalm 127 says: "children are a heritage of the Lord... As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." I'm not sure whether having five sons qualifies as a full quiver, but I can affirm that they brought immeasurable happiness. And to my point, they engaged Ann and me in life, in ways we would not have expected.
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幾年前Ann和我受邀為哈佛商學院學生演講,主題是職業生涯的選擇。我是管理顧問,她是全職母親,Ann不太願意出席,部分原因在於另外兩對夫婦也演講相同的主題。另外兩位女性選擇成為華爾街銀行家,在課堂上,另外兩對夫婦先上場,然後是我,Ann最後上場。她解釋說,當她期待未來擁有家庭之外的事業時,最後卻選擇在五個孩子長大前擔任全職母親。她接著解釋,她的工作需要花費的心力比想像中還多,她是心理學家、導師、輔導員、執業護士、營養師、預算主管等。當她下台後,全班沉默了幾秒鐘,然後起立鼓掌。曾經有人問前以色列總理果爾達.梅爾最大的成就是什麼,她毫不猶豫地說:「養育我的女兒。」結婚生子能擴展你的世界,使你更全心全意地投入其中。
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On one occasion, Ann and I were invited to speak to students at the Harvard Business School about our choice of careers, I as a management consultant and she as a full-time mom. Ann was reluctant, in part because two other couples would also be speaking on the same topic, and both of the other women had chosen to be Wall Street bankers. In the class, the other couples went first, I followed, and Ann spoke last. She explained that while she expected to have a career outside the home in the future, she had chosen to be a full-time mom until her five kids were raised. She went on to explain that her job had required more of her than she had imagined: she was psychologist, tutor, counselor, scoutmaster, coach, nurse practitioner, nutritionist, budget director, and more. When she sat down, the class was silent for several seconds and then it rose in a standing ovation. Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel, was asked what her greatest accomplishment was. "Raising my daughter," she answered.
Marriage and children expand your world and engage you more fully in it.
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我喜歡一個家庭漢堡連鎖店創始人所寫的智慧小語,他說快樂有三項要素:一、有所愛。二、有所期待。三、有事可做,換句話說就是工作。你或許傾向於認為如伊甸園般的生活是最棒的工作型態,但你錯了,我想亞當和夏娃在伊甸園中會無聊得發慌。沒有孩子、沒有挑戰、沒有工作。我認為亞當藉由「額頭上的汗水」生產食物是祝福,而非詛咒。當然,工作有許多令人不喜歡的部分:一早響起的鬧鐘、尖峰時期的交通、壓力,但工作使你投入生活。你會認識更多人,瞭解他們的動機和價值觀,學習你服務之公司的複雜生態。別浪費時間抱怨你的工作,別敷衍塞責、投入其中,從工作中取得比薪水更多的收穫。艱苦的工作能擴展生活,生活中也有你不歡迎的部分,壞事發生在你身上。如果你跟我一樣,認為壞事很少發生,即使發生也多半發生在別人身上。我經常坐在教堂裡環顧四周的信眾,每個人都面帶微笑、幸福洋溢,生活似乎僅由小狗和三色堇之類的尋常事物構成。然後我的教會要求我擔任駐會牧師。身為牧師,我必須真正瞭解這些隱藏在笑臉背後的人。令我驚訝的是,許多人背負著Ann和我所謂的「重擔」,這個「重擔」可能是慢性疾病、與某種成癮戰鬥、跟不上學業的孩子、失業、金融危機、年邁孤獨或婚姻觸礁。令我驚訝的是,幾乎每個家庭都面臨某種挑戰,他們都背負著重擔。我們都不免受到傷害,投入你的世界意味著接受與面對傷害,並盡力克服傷害,繼續追求充實而豐富的生活。
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There's a family burger joint I like whose founder put out a little book of his homespun wisdom. He says that to be happy requires three things: someone to love, something to look forward to, and something to do, in other words, work. You might be inclined to think that a Garden of Eden life would be preferable to working at a job, but you'd be wrong. I'm convinced that Adam and Eve would have been bored to tears if they'd stayed in the garden: no kids, no challenges, no job. I think that Adam being made to grow food "by the sweat of his brow" was a blessing, not a curse. Of course, there's a lot not to like about a job: the early alarm clock, the rush hour traffic, the stress. But work engages you in life. You come to know more people, to understand their motivations and values, and to learn the intricacies of the enterprise that employs you. Don't waste time bemoaning your job. Don't skim by with the minimum of effort. Dive in. Get more from your job than the paycheck. Hard work is living large. There's a part of life that you won't welcome: bad things. Bad things that happen to you. If you're like I was, you imagine that bad things happen infrequently and that when they do, they mostly happen to other people. I used to sit in church and look around the congregation. Everyone was smiling and happy. Life seemed to be nothing but puppies and pansies for everybody. And then my church asked me to serve as the pastor of that congregation. As pastor, I got to really know the people behind those smiling faces. And to my surprise, many of them held what Ann and I call a "bag of rocks" behind their back. That bag of rocks could be a chronic illness, a battle with some kind of addiction, a child that couldn't keep up in school, unemployment, a financial crisis, withering loneliness, or a marriage on the rocks. To my surprise, almost every single family faced one kind of challenge or another. They all had a bag of rocks behind their backs. We all will hurt. Engaging in your world means accepting that hurt, confronting it, and endeavoring to ascend above it so that you can keep pursuing a fulfilling and abundant life.
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競選期間我在拉斯維加斯遇見Sam Schmidt。2000年1月,Sam在印地賽車中撞牆,這位擁有兩個年幼孩子的父親戴了五個月的呼吸器,並出現四肢癱瘓症狀,頸部以下無法移動。他跟我談到他目前的生活,他的早晨始於歷時2至3小時的排便、排尿、梳洗、淋浴和更衣,這足以使很多人放棄,但相反地,Sam擁有並管理一個印地賽車隊。順帶一提,這個車隊是印地初級系列賽常勝軍,曾贏得60場比賽。他本身已重新開始賽車,他擁有一輛配備特殊控制裝置的Corvette。加速時,他向一根空氣管吹氣,剎車時則是吸氣,左轉或右轉時他的目光謹慎地轉向左邊或右邊,因此他警告他的賽車夥伴:「你們得避免比基尼女郎站在看台上。」Sam的殘疾仍然存在,他時時刻刻都得忍受,但這無法阻止他投入生活。
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During my campaign, I met Sam Schmidt in Las Vegas. In January of 2000, Sam's Indianapolis racing car hit the wall. This father of two young children spent five months on a respirator and was rendered quadriplegic--he can move nothing below his neck. He and I spoke about his life today: his morning begins with a two to three hour routine for bowel, bladder, teeth, shower and dressing. That would be enough for a lot of people to just give up. But instead, Sam owns and manages an Indy car racing team which regularly dominates the Indy Lights, having won 60 races. And he himself has actually begun to drive again. He has a Corvette that has been fitted out with special controls. To accelerate, he blows in an air tube. To brake, he sucks the air out of it. To turn left or right, he looks carefully left or right respectively. Accordingly, he warned his racing buddies: "You gotta keep the bikinis out of the grandstands because you don't want any sudden movements." Sam's disability is still there. He endures it every day, every hour. But that has not kept him from fully engaging in life.
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你的職業生涯或許跟你所預期的不同,與我預期之職業生涯最大的偏離就是決定競選政治職位。當我步入歷史悠久的波士頓法尼爾廳禮堂與愛德華.甘迺迪辯論時,我轉向妻子Ann,問道:「甜心,在你最瘋狂的夢想中,是否看見我參加美國參議院競選?」她回答:「米特,我最瘋狂的夢想中沒有你。」其實她沒這麼說,這是我借用別人說的笑話。但在所有職業生涯中,我經歷過成功。如你們所知,也經歷過失敗。有人問我輸給歐巴馬總統是什麼感覺,不像贏的感覺那麼好。失敗並不有趣,但無法避免。更重要的是,失敗無法定義你是什麼樣的人。某些人以世俗的成功衡量自己的人生:爬到多高的職位?賺多少錢?是否獲得比高中同學更高的成就?如果這就是你所追尋的成功,你肯定會失望。人生有太多取得名聲或財富的機會和運氣,更重要的是,如果你的人生目標是那些東西,你將擁有膚淺而空虛的人生。人生真正的財富在於友誼、婚姻、子女、你在工作中學到的經驗、你所克服的障礙、你與上帝的關係以及你對他人的貢獻。
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Your career may be very different than you expect.
The biggest departure from my predicted career path came with my decision to run for political office. When I stepped into the auditorium to debate Ted Kennedy in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall, I turned to Ann and asked: "In your wildest dreams, did you see me running for US Senate?" "Mitt," she replied, "you weren't in my wildest dreams."
Actually, she didn't say that. That was a joke I bought for my campaign from a joke writer.
Through all these occupations, I have experienced successes and failures. I am asked what it felt like to lose to President Obama. Well, not as good as winning. Failures aren't fun, but they are inevitable. More importantly, failures don't have to define who you are. Some people measure their life by their secular successes – how high on the corporate ladder did they get? How much money did they make? Did they do better than their high school classmate? If that's the kind of success you're looking for, you're bound to be disappointed. Life has way too much chance and serendipity to be assured fame or fortune. More importantly, if your life is lived for those things, yours will be a shallow and unfulfilling journey.
The real wealth in life is in your friendships, your marriage, your children, what you have learned in your work, what you have overcome, your relationship with God, and in what you have contributed to others.
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最後一項要素-對他人的貢獻,往往最容易被忽視和低估。Tom Monaghan的父親去世時Tom只有4歲,他母親將他託付給一所天主教孤兒院,因為她無法照顧他和他的兄弟。他高中畢業後就讀密西根大學,學費顯然超出他的能力範圍,因此為了支付學費,他購買並經營一家披薩店,他將披薩店取名為達美樂。Tom變得富有,他花840萬美元買了一輛布加迪,他買了底特律老虎隊,贏得隔年的世界大賽。當我於1998年遇見Tom,驚訝地發現他坐在壁櫥大小的前廳裡,那曾經是豪華寬敞的高級套房。他賣掉底特律老虎隊和那輛布加迪,Tom簽署了所謂的「百萬富翁貧窮誓言」,因此他不再駕駛豪華轎車,不再搭乘私人飛機,或做出任何炫富行為,這包括將令人印象深刻的辦公室換成我找到他的小隔間。Tom解釋說,閱讀聖經和C.S.路易斯的文章讓他想起在天主教孤兒院成長的經歷,他想改變他的生活,將餘生奉獻給服務他人,最後我代表貝恩資本公司寫了一張支票給Tom,以超過十億美元的價格買下達美樂。除了一小筆生活津貼,他轉手將這些錢捐給天主教慈善團體。他創辦一所大學,並非以自己命名,而是以上帝的母親命名-萬福瑪麗亞大學。幾星期前,我問他認為自己人生中最有價值的部分是什麼?贏得世界系列賽、白手起家創立達美樂、還是駕駛布加迪?你不妨猜猜他的答案。他說:「我已擁有太多玩具,足以讓我瞭解這一切都不重要,最有價值的就是藉由設立大學回饋大眾。」
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This last dimension, contribution to others, is often the most overlooked and most undervalued. Tom Monaghan's father died when Tom was just four years old. His mother entrusted him to a Catholic orphanage because she was unable to care for him and for his brother. He graduated from high school and enrolled in the University of Michigan. The tuition proved to be beyond his reach, so to help meet costs, he bought and ran a pizza shop. He called his shops Domino's and Tom became wealthy. He bought a Bugatti for $8.4 million. He bought the Detroit Tigers and won the World Series the next year. When I met him in 1998, I was surprised to find him seated in a closet-sized ante-chamber to what had once been his lavish and spacious executive suite. He had sold the Tigers and the car. Tom had signed what was called the Millionaire's Vow of Poverty. Accordingly, he would not drive a luxury car, fly in a private plane, or assume any of the trappings of wealth. That had included trading his impressive office for the small cubicle where I had found him. Tom explained that reading the Bible and the essays of C.S. Lewis had reminded him of his upbringing in the Catholic orphanage. He wanted to change his life, and devote his remaining years to service. On behalf of Bain Capital, I ultimately wrote Tom a check to buy Domino's for over $1 billion. All but a small living stipend he then turned around and donated to Catholic charities. He founded a college and named it, not after himself, but after Mary: Ave Maria University. I asked him a few weeks ago what the most rewarding part of his life was--winning the World Series, building Domino's, or driving his Bugatti. You can guess his answer. "It wasn't the toys – I've had enough toys to know how important they aren't. It was giving back, through the university."
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充實的人生包括為他人服務,不為個人榮耀或利益,這將充實你的心靈、擴展你的世界。我在家人身上多少看見這種服務方式。過去45年,我姐姐致力於照顧和培養罹患唐氏症的兒子,我妻子自願輔導一群邊緣少女,我母親經常拜訪獨居老人和寡婦,我的連襟在海軍服役,我堂妹Joan是57個孩子的養母,父親和我都曾競選政治職務。等一下,最後一項:競選公職,在你看來或許不像真正的服務,我知道在某些人看來政治是一種職業,還不錯的職業。但對父親和我來說,競選公職是在職業生涯結束之後,我和父親都相信如果當選,就能給予人們真正的幫助。在座大多數人或許不會競選公職,但美國需要你們所有人的服務。美國面臨嚴峻的挑戰,貧困世代、逐漸浮現的債務、氣候暖化、日益危險與動盪的世界。華盛頓似乎無能為力,沒有有效的策略克服這一切困境。美國需要你的熱情、你對不作為的不耐、你對政治議題的參與。你有機會參與美國最大的盛典之一,新罕布夏州全國最早的總統初選,參與你所選擇之候選人的競選活動,參與電話銀行的工作,參與遊行活動。就像我最喜愛的沃夫波洛獨立紀念日遊行,挨家挨戶拜訪,參與市政廳會議,提出尖銳的問題。新罕布夏州是我國最大的總統試驗場,其歷久不衰的影響如同下一代選擇參與的公民。
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Living life in fullness includes serving others, and doing so without pride or personal gain. It will fill your heart and expand your mind. I've seen that kind of service in large and small ways in my own family.
My sister has devoted the last 45 years of her life to the care and development of her Down syndrome son. My wife volunteered as a teacher for a class of at-risk girls. My mother was a frequent visitor to the homes of shut-ins and widows. My brother-in-law served in the Navy. My cousin Joan was foster mother to 57 children. My father and I both ran for political office.
Wait a second: that last item, running for office, may not seem like real service to you. I know that for some, politics is an occupation, and a fine one at that. But for Dad and me, it came after our careers were over. I believed, and my father believed, that we could really help people if we were elected. Most of you probably won't run for office, but the country needs all of you to serve. America faces daunting challenges: generational poverty, looming debt, a warming climate, and a world that is increasingly dangerous and tumultuous. Washington appears inept, powerless and without an effective strategy to overcome any of these. America needs your passion, your impatience with inaction, your participation in the political discourse. You have the opportunity to take part in one of America's greatest endeavors - New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Get involved with the candidate of your choice. Work a phone bank, march in a parade like my favorite: the 4th of July Wolfeboro parade. Go door to door. Attend a town hall meeting and ask tough questions. New Hampshire is the greatest presidential proving ground we have; its enduring impact is only as certain as the next generation of citizens who choose to get involved.
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投入你的世界,包括投入公民活動。童年溫馨的小世界已不復存在,你或許想試著為自己創造一個同樣安全的小圈圈,專注於自得其樂,做最少的工作,不閱讀書籍,因為沒人指定避免有意義的承諾,抱怨生活中無法避免的不公。或者你可以擴展你的世界,投入你的世界,不斷學習、克服逆境、呵護友誼、從事公民活動,以及服務他人。這是一條人跡罕至的道路,它將改變一切。上帝保佑你人生一帆風順,謝謝。
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Engaging in your world includes engaging in citizenship. The cozy little world of your childhood is long gone. You may be tempted to try to create for yourself that same kind of small and safe circle, concentrating on entertainments for yourself, doing the minimum at work, reading nothing because nothing has been assigned, avoiding meaningful commitments, complaining about the inevitable unfairnesses of life. Alternatively, you can live large by expanding your world and engaging in your world, constantly learning, nourishing friendships, overcoming reversals, engaging in citizenship, and serving others. That is the road less travelled, and it will make all the difference.God bless you in your life's journey.