A Stranger on a Plane, and His Simple Advice I’ll Never Forget飛機(jī)上的陌生人

by Hoda Kotb

烏蕪 譯

A Stranger on a Plane, and His Simple Advice I’ll Never Forget飛機(jī)上的陌生人

Track 6

by Hoda Kotb

烏蕪 譯

I n March 2007, I was recovering from major surgery for breast cancer and going through a divorce.It was a terrible time, and I was spending most of my days at home keeping everything to myself.Then myToday Showcolleague Matt Lauer threw me a lifeline by asking whether I felt well enough to tape a “Where in the World?” segment.

“Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape?” he suggested kindly.I thought it would be a great way to forget about it all, so I jumped at the chance.

The trip was fun because I was living in the moment, but by the time I got on the plane to go home, I wasn’t feeling well.My plan was to curl up in a ball and sleep for the entire fight.I had my earbuds in my hand; they were an inch away from going in when the guy next to me turned to me and said, “Hi.Howya doin’?”

2007年3月，我正處于乳癌手術(shù)的恢復(fù)期，同時(shí)在辦理離婚。那是段糟糕的日子，大多數(shù)時(shí)間我都呆在家里，一個(gè)人扛著所有事情。然后，我主持的《今日秀》節(jié)目的同事馬特·勞厄爾給我扔了一條救生索——他問我的狀態(tài)能否錄一檔名為《究竟在哪里？》的節(jié)目。

“你何不抽出幾天時(shí)間去愛爾蘭，逃離這一切？”他友善地建議道。我想這會(huì)是一個(gè)能讓我把這一切拋諸腦后的好方法，所以我抓住了這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。

那次旅程很有趣，因?yàn)槲冶M情享受了每一分每一秒，但是當(dāng)我登上回程的飛機(jī)時(shí)，我有點(diǎn)兒不舒服。我打算蜷成一團(tuán)，在睡夢(mèng)中度過這次飛行。我雙手拿著耳塞，在它們距離我耳朵僅有一英寸時(shí)，坐在我旁邊的那個(gè)家伙轉(zhuǎn)向我，對(duì)我說：“嗨，你好嗎？”

I thought, Oh no.

Then he said, “I recognize you from somewhere.”

“I work on theTodayShow,” I told him, still holding my earbuds.

He smiled at me.“How’s Matt? Is Matt nice?”

“Yeah,” I said.“Matt’s nice.”

“How’s Al? Al seems funny.”

All I wanted to do was sleep, but he had kind eyes and looked like a good-hearted guy.So we continued making small talk.

Then he noticed I was wearing a compression sleeve on my arm and asked, “What is that?”

I told him I’d had a “procedure” and needed the sleeve to fy, hoping we could change the subject.

But he continued, “What procedure did you have?”

“I had an operation,” I said1)vaguely.He was still curious, so I fnally said, “I had breast cancer.But, boy, I hope that’s not the first thing you think of when you get off this fight, telling your kids, ‘Hey, I sat next to this girl with breast cancer.’?”

He paused for a moment and then said, “What’s wrong with that? Breast cancer is part of you, like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes flling up.

“Let me give you some advice: Don’t2)hogyour journey.It’s not just for you,” he said.“Think of how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face, and I said to him, “I can’t believe I’m crying in front of you.I don’t even know you.”

“Look, you have a choice in life,” he said.“You can either put your stuff deep in your pockets and take it to your grave, or you can help someone.”

1 ) vaguely ['ve?gl?] adv.含糊地，曖昧地

2 ) hog [h??g] v.獨(dú)占，貪心占取

3 ) Ann Curry 安·科里，美國(guó)電視主持人、新聞?dòng)浾?、攝影記者

4 ) honoree [,?n?'ri?] n.領(lǐng)獎(jiǎng)人，主賓

5 ) wind up 使結(jié)束

6 ) come full circle 繞圈子地

7 ) prostate ['pr?ste?t] n.前列腺

我想，天，不要。

然后他說：“我在哪里見過你?！?/p>

“我在《今日秀》節(jié)目組里工作，”我對(duì)他說，依然拿著我的耳塞。

他對(duì)我投以微笑。“馬特怎么樣？他人好嗎？”

“挺好的”我說?！榜R特人挺好的?！?/p>

“那厄爾怎么樣？厄爾看起來很有趣?！?/p>

我只想睡覺，但是他眼里流露著善意，看著像個(gè)心地善良的人。所以我們繼續(xù)閑聊著。

然后他注意到我手臂上戴著壓縮護(hù)臂袖套，問道：“那是什么？”

我告訴他我做了一個(gè)“手術(shù)”，坐飛機(jī)時(shí)需要戴著這個(gè)，我希望我們能換個(gè)話題。

但他繼續(xù)問道：“什么手術(shù)？”

“我開了刀，”我模棱兩可地說道。他還是表現(xiàn)出好奇，所以我最后終于說了出來：“我做了乳癌手術(shù)。但是，小子，我希望你下飛機(jī)后不要想著第一時(shí)間告訴你的朋友，‘嘿，我旁邊坐了個(gè)患乳癌的女生?！?/p>

他停頓了一會(huì)兒，然后說道：“那又怎樣？乳癌是你人生的一部分，就像上大學(xué)或者結(jié)婚一樣?！?/p>

我感到熱淚盈眶。

“讓我給你點(diǎn)建議吧：不要獨(dú)占你的旅程。它不僅僅屬于你，”他說?！跋胂肽隳軒偷蕉嗌偃??！?/p>

我的眼淚劃過臉龐，我對(duì)他說：“真不敢相信我居然在你面前哭。我甚至都不知道你是誰?！?/p>

I am forever grateful that I never got that trans atlantic nap.

Even though I’m on a show where we’re pretty open, I was really struggling then.I’ve always been a very private person, and aside from the few people who needed to know, I’d kept my illness secret.I didn’t want to be defned by my weakness.

But this man, whose name was Ken Duane, showed me that my illness gave me strength—because it gave me the ability to lighten someone else’s load.I decided at that moment that I was going to share my story publicly.Later that year, I talked about my illness and my conversation with Ken on air with3)Ann Curry.

Years later, a producer who used to work on our show mentioned that her boyfriend was in charge of an event, and she thought I knew the4)honoree.It was Ken.

He and I hadn’t seen each other since we’d met on the plane, but Ken’s best friend5)wound upcontacting me and asking me to help present Ken with a Father of the Year award at a luncheon in New York.Ken was sitting there grinning as I said, “He’s touched a lot of people’s lives.He obviously touched a stranger like me.”

Everything6)camefull circlea few years ago when he was diagnosed with7)prostatecancer.He called me and said he now understood what it felt like.I told him it seemed as if he’d always understood: It’s better to share and heal than to try to hide away.

He is healthy now, and I am forever grateful that I never got that trans atlantic nap.

“聽著，你的人生正面臨著一個(gè)選擇，”他說。“你可以選擇把你的事深藏在口袋里，然后帶進(jìn)墳?zāi)梗阋部梢赃x擇幫助別人?！?/p>

盡管我做的節(jié)目作風(fēng)很開放，但我當(dāng)時(shí)真的很掙扎。我一直是個(gè)很注重隱私的人，除了少數(shù)需要知道這件事的人外，我的病情一直是對(duì)外保密的。我不想讓我的弱點(diǎn)成為我的標(biāo)簽。

但這個(gè)叫肯·杜安的男人讓我知道，我的疾病可以給予我力量——因?yàn)樗o了我減輕他人負(fù)擔(dān)的能力。那一刻，我決定要向公眾分享我的故事。后來，就在那一年，我和安·科里在節(jié)目上說出了我的病情，分享了我與肯的對(duì)話。

幾年后，我們節(jié)目的一個(gè)前任制片人提到她男朋友在辦一場(chǎng)活動(dòng)，她覺得我認(rèn)識(shí)那個(gè)獲獎(jiǎng)人。那就是肯。

我們?cè)陲w機(jī)相遇后就再也沒見過彼此了，但最終肯最好的朋友聯(lián)系到我，并邀請(qǐng)我到紐約的一場(chǎng)午宴擔(dān)任頒獎(jiǎng)嘉賓，給肯頒發(fā)“年度之父”獎(jiǎng)。我說道，“他影響了很多人的人生，顯然也影響了我這個(gè)陌生人的人生?！笨献谀锹洱X而笑。

幾年前，一切重演了，他被診斷出患有前列腺癌。他打電話來跟我說，他現(xiàn)在明白那是什么感覺了。一如他始終明白的那樣，我對(duì)他說：與人分享，尋求治愈總比試圖隱藏要好。

他現(xiàn)在很健康，我永遠(yuǎn)感激我沒有在睡眠中度過那次越洋飛行。