奧巴馬對(duì)話有志青年：“你內(nèi)心充滿力量”

David Greene（Host）： Friday means it is time again for StoryCorps， and today， a teenager with an unlikely interview partner.

Noah McQueen： My name is Noah McQueen. I am the age of 18. And my relationship to the partner is he’s the president of the United States.

President Barack Obama： My name’s Barack Obama. I’m 53 years old， and I’m talking to Noah， who is a White House 1）mentee.

Greene： Noah McQueen is part of “My Brother’s Keeper”， a White House program aimed at young men of color. His teen years have been rough and include several arrests and time in jail. But last week he was at the White House and sat down for StoryCorps with President Obama who wanted to know more about Noah’s life.

McQueen： Growing up I didn’t have a stable household. So I believe I attended eight or nine middle schools throughout the course of， you know， two or three years.

Obama： Did you know your dad？

McQueen： I do know my dad. You know， he’s down the street but...

Obama： You didn’t really have a relationship with him. Well， that’s one of the things we have in common. As I get older， I start reflecting on how that affected me. How do you think that affected you？

McQueen： You kind of learn right and wrong on your own terms. I got into fights and fighting or getting put out of school was， you know， normal. So that’s how really the trouble started for me being in the 2）juvenile system. I was on the run.

Obama： You were on the run how so？

McQueen： From the law.

Obama： Yeah？ What had you done？

McQueen： I believe it was—what’s it called...

Obama： What you mean， you believe？ It was something. You know what it was.

McQueen： It was 3）violation of house arrest.

Obama： So you had gotten in repeated trouble. And what happened？

McQueen： I went to a Christian retreat.

Obama： Did you say to yourself， man， I need to find something different and go to a Christian retreat？

McQueen： Oh， no， sir， I didn’t want to go at all. My mom forced me.

Obama： Oh， OK. So Mama 4）intervened. Said， Lord.

McQueen： （Laughter）

Obama： Please help my 5）knucklehead son， Noah， straighten out. Are you skeptical when you get there？

McQueen： Our problems were totally different. Like， their problems were a guy complaining about his mom not buying him the chips he want or...

Obama： （Laughter）

McQueen： Or different things like that. And then I’m talking about my friend was killed the week before， so...

Obama： Right， what happened that softened you up a little bit？

McQueen： It wasn’t until I decided to do better for myself that， you know， I had to be held 6）accountable for my actions. So I’m not the same person. I’m not the same creature. Everything about me and my being is different.

Obama： Obviously you’ve straightened yourself out. You’re sitting here in the White House hanging out with the president. So when people are seeing you in this new light， did you feel pressure to revert back to the way you had acted before？

McQueen： Definitely， there’s always pressure， even now. I’m sure you can relate. I feel like as a black man， just me coming on the train over here， I know how we’re perceived. I know how people look at us. Every time we step into the room， we have to be on top of your game. People are going to say you are the success story. And it’s hard to always make the right decision. And it’s hard to always be the leader.

Obama： Well， look—listen， at the age of 18， I didn’t know what I was going to be doing with my life. And you shouldn’t feel like you can’t make mistakes at this point. You’re 18 years old. I promise you， you’re gonna make some more as you go along. But one of the things you’ve discovered is you’ve got this strength inside yourself. And if you stay true to that voice， that clearly knows what’s right and what’s wrong， sometimes you’re gonna mess up， but you can steer back and keep going. And so when you think about 10 years， 15 years from now， what would you like to be doing？

McQueen： I just decided recently I want to do education because I do want to work with kids. You know， to see the beginnings and to see where I was， see the exact same kid doing the exact same thing. And it’s like， we owe it to everyone and ourselves to come back and change that. And that’s， like， our civic duty， I believe.

Obama： Yeah. Now， Noah， I just want to say how proud I am of you， man. It’s not an easy thing to do what you’ve done. And I think you give others a lot of confidence and a sense of what’s possible for them. And that makes me real proud. I know you’re gonna do great things.

McQueen： Thank you， I appreciate it.

大衛(wèi)·格林尼（主持人）：又到了周五的故事團(tuán)時(shí)間，今天，來(lái)做客的是一位青少年和一位令人難料的訪談同伴。

諾亞·麥奎因：我叫諾亞·麥奎因。我今年十八歲。與我一起相伴做客的嘉賓是，他是美國(guó)的總統(tǒng)。

巴拉克·奧巴馬總統(tǒng)：我叫巴拉克·奧巴馬。我今年五十三歲，我正和諾亞對(duì)話，他是一名白宮的學(xué)員。

格林尼：諾亞·麥奎因是“我的同胞的守護(hù)人”計(jì)劃的一員，這是由白宮倡議的一個(gè)針對(duì)黑人青年的計(jì)劃。他的少年時(shí)期很崎嶇并有過(guò)好幾次被捕入獄的經(jīng)歷。然而上周，他出現(xiàn)在白宮并和奧巴馬總統(tǒng)參與故事團(tuán)的訪談，總統(tǒng)想對(duì)諾亞的人生多一些了解。

麥奎因：在成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中我沒(méi)有一個(gè)穩(wěn)定的家庭。因此，你知道嗎，兩三年間我想我在八九所中學(xué)就讀過(guò)。

奧巴馬：你知道你的父親嗎？

麥奎因：我知道我父親的。你知道，他就在街那頭，但是……

奧巴馬：你并沒(méi)有真正和他建立起一種聯(lián)系。其實(shí)，這是我們的共同點(diǎn)之一。當(dāng)我長(zhǎng)大一點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，我開(kāi)始思考這對(duì)我產(chǎn)生了什么影響。你認(rèn)為這給了你什么影響呢？

麥奎因：我得自己學(xué)會(huì)判斷是非黑白。我經(jīng)常打架。你知道，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，打架或被學(xué)校開(kāi)除已經(jīng)是常事。所以那就是在青少年時(shí)期，麻煩如何真正開(kāi)始找上我的。我總是在逃跑。

奧巴馬：你總是在逃跑，這是為什么？

麥奎因：從法律上來(lái)講。

奧巴馬：哦？你都做了什么?。?/p>

麥奎因：我認(rèn)為是——怎么說(shuō)呢……

奧巴馬：你說(shuō)什么，你認(rèn)為？肯定是什么事情。你肯定知道是因?yàn)槭裁词虑椤?/p>

麥奎因：是違反軟禁令。

奧巴馬：所以你總是陷入反復(fù)再三的麻煩中。后來(lái)發(fā)生了什么？

麥奎因：我參加了一個(gè)基督教的靜修。

奧巴馬：你是不是跟你自己說(shuō)，男子漢，我得去干點(diǎn)不同的事情，然后就去了一個(gè)基督教靜修？

麥奎因：噢，沒(méi)有的，先生。我根本就不想去。我媽媽強(qiáng)迫我去的。奧巴馬：哦，好吧。原來(lái)是媽媽出手了。媽媽說(shuō)，主啊……

麥奎因：（笑）

奧巴馬：請(qǐng)幫助我愚蠢的兒子，諾亞，重回正軌吧。你到達(dá)那里的時(shí)候有沒(méi)有很疑惑？

麥奎因：我和他們的問(wèn)題是截然不同的。比方說(shuō)，他們的問(wèn)題是一個(gè)家伙在抱怨他媽媽沒(méi)有給他買(mǎi)他想要的薯?xiàng)l或……

奧巴馬：（笑）

麥奎因：或諸如此類(lèi)不同的事情。而我說(shuō)的是我朋友在之前一周被殺害的事情，所以……

奧巴馬：是，那后來(lái)是發(fā)生了什么而稍微軟化了你的心？

麥奎因：你知道，直到我下決心要成為更好的自己，我不得不為我的所作所為負(fù)責(zé)。所以我變成了不一樣的我。我不是原來(lái)的我了。所有關(guān)于我的一切和我的存在都變得不同。

奧巴馬：明顯你已經(jīng)重回正軌了。你現(xiàn)在正坐在白宮里跟總統(tǒng)聊天呢。那么當(dāng)人們看到全新的你，再跟你重提過(guò)往是否讓你感覺(jué)到有壓力了呢？

麥奎因：那是肯定的，壓力永遠(yuǎn)相隨，即便是現(xiàn)在。我肯定你有共鳴。我覺(jué)得我作為一個(gè)黑人，在我坐火車(chē)過(guò)來(lái)這里的時(shí)候，我知道人們是怎么想的。我知道人們?cè)趺纯次覀兊?。每次我們進(jìn)入這大廳的時(shí)候，我們必須是游戲的佼佼者。人們會(huì)說(shuō)你是成功的例子。永遠(yuǎn)做出正確決定是艱難的。永遠(yuǎn)當(dāng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者也是艱難的。

奧巴馬：好吧，看——聽(tīng)，在我十八歲的時(shí)候，我也不知道我接下來(lái)的人生會(huì)干什么。你不應(yīng)該覺(jué)得這時(shí)候不能犯錯(cuò)誤。你現(xiàn)在十八歲。我跟你保證，一路走下去，你肯定還會(huì)犯更多錯(cuò)誤。不過(guò)你已經(jīng)領(lǐng)悟的事情之一就是你內(nèi)心充滿力量。倘若你能忠實(shí)于內(nèi)心那個(gè)清醒告知你什么是對(duì)什么是錯(cuò)的聲音，雖然有時(shí)候你仍可能會(huì)搞砸，但你能掌舵重來(lái)并繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。那么，試想一下從現(xiàn)在起十年后，十五年后，你會(huì)在做什么？

麥奎因：我最近才決定我想從事教育方面的工作，因?yàn)槲掖_實(shí)想和孩子們一起共同成長(zhǎng)。你知道，看看生命之初，看看我的過(guò)去，看看同樣是孩子做同樣的事情。而這就好像，我們欠每一個(gè)人和我們自己一個(gè)回到過(guò)去重新改變的機(jī)會(huì)。這就是，我們的公民義務(wù)，我相信。

奧巴馬：很好。諾亞，小伙子，現(xiàn)在我想說(shuō)我有多為你感到驕傲。做你已做到的事并不是一件容易的事。我覺(jué)得你給了其他人很多的信心，讓他們感到自己能做到的可能性。這可真讓我引以為傲。我知道你將會(huì)大有作為。

麥奎因：謝謝，我很感激。