当下的诗学:一次呼吸

“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.——纳尔逊·曼德拉

祝贺你! 祝贺你! 2024届毕业生!

As I reflect on my own undergraduate journey in 科罗拉多大学 just like the one you have completed today, I can’t help 但 think of the short story by Franz Kafka entitled “The Great Swimmer.”

在故事里, Kafka writes about an Olympic medal winner who returns to her homeland where she is much celebrated only to reveal that she cannot swim. You may wonder why I begin with such a puzzling contradiction on the day when we celebrate you.

This is why: The profound impossibility of the Olympic-winning swimmer who cannot swim gives us a moment of pause. The swimmer’s involvement in the Olympic Games’ clear-cut schema does not serve her – it serves the Games, 但不是她. How do we understand the similar deadlocks and impasses in which we find ourselves today, 即使在深深的庆祝中? What are the poetics of this specific moment: One breath at a time!

As we navigate complex and contentious global issues, let us pause and remember that universities are spaces for 学习, spaces for understanding and for respectful discourses. 因此, 我敦促你们接受不同的观点, 进行建设性对话, 努力培养一种同理心的文化, 相互尊重, 和包容性. 也许现在比以往任何时候都更重要, it is essential that we harness our differences and treat them as opportunities for growth, 学习, and use them to foster a deeper understanding of the world around us. Just like the swimmer, we are all in different kinds of impossible positions. 不管, there is always room for the perspective of every student who calls 科罗拉多大学 their own. 此刻的诗学:一次呼吸!

祝贺2024届毕业生. 祝贺你们的家人, 你的支持系统, 你的导师, 你的教授, 也感谢一路上帮助过你的人. The world you are facing is a very different world from the one you knew when you arrived here during a pandemic, 是什么颠覆了我们的生活方式.

In your generation, you are witnessing events that no one could have imagined. 有太多的不确定性. Things we thought were solid have been rocked to the foundations. You are being handed a world that needs you urgently. 你打算怎么做呢? 你会带来什么不同? 这届毕业生将留下什么遗产?

Now more than ever before, our future depends on hard decisions you will make. 你愿意做吗? 你会留下什么? You have spent years working hard to stand here today. This moment demands that you pose with a huge smile and that you breathe.

你已经成功了. You have acquired the fundamental imperatives of a liberal arts education: the ability to think critically, 为社会正义而战, 实现和平, to struggle for freedom and a sustainable well-being. These are the privileges or claims or arrangements we, living in the West, all enjoy. 这是每个人, 在地球上的任何地方, 寻求享受而不考虑国籍, 起源, 宗教, 比赛, 性别, or ethnicity – we need to defend these privileges not just for ourselves 但 especially for those who, 因为压迫和无能为力, 不能自己做. 中间时刻的诗意:一次呼吸!

When I arrived at 科罗拉多大学 in 1983, I was without the ability to speak English. But I was determined not to settle for less than what I was capable of aiming for. I already knew that education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. My professors and classmates helped make the impossible possible by teaching me English. 它很美. 比如卡夫卡的《赌博正规的十大网站》,” I was taking my different classes in English without speaking the language. I was in the mix of the movement – confident, 但 without a solid anchor. 即使我已经创造了历史, 科罗拉多大学 gave me the tools to make that history and to become the world citizen I am today, 站在你面前. Remember the moment is always transformative, inspiring, creative. I owe the poetics of this singular moment to 科罗拉多大学, 给我的教授, 感谢所有善良的同学, 对我有耐心，一次呼吸一次! 

My story begins here at 科罗拉多大学 – dealing with existential challenges. 我不知道我当时在想什么, 相信我, going to Philosophy classes with so little English under my belt. Yes, I spoke French with some of my professors 但 that was not the goal. 在那些黑暗的时刻, 我一直梦想着看到希望之光, 我想像我今天这样说英语. 在我脑海里, 我一直在想, 我要是出生在说英语的国家就好了, 但, 出生偶然, 我没有. Like the swimmer in Kafka’s story, making the impossible possible – just learn English. I need it to survive, I need it to achieve my goals of becoming a writer. 我过去时刻的诗学:一次一次呼吸.

我们都知道赌博正规的十大网站是一个特别的地方. 我的母校，就像我喜欢告诉别人的那样. We love our classes, the mountains, the different activities, the Block Plan. Here you have been inspired to walk in great minds’ footsteps and remember that your role now is to pass the baton on to others as well as to continue to preserve what is so special about our alma mater: 科罗拉多大学. Perhaps this will be an opportunity you will 搜索 for, to find your own defining moments – I can guarantee that there have been many in your undergraduate journey here. Keep them all close to your heart as you step beyond these grounds and remember that you will return here again and again, 通过多种形式和其他方式. 安全时刻的诗学:深呼吸!

我们如何让我们的世界变得更美好? As you leave 科罗拉多大学, what is going to be your contri但ion, the poetic moment for you. I want to send you off with a message of hope, to tell you that the world belongs to you. 虽然这可能是真的, 你必须处理好它, I am in turn inspired by the world you show us you want to create, 并且已经通过展示勇气来创造了, 决心和革命想象力. I also want to tell you that there is light, and that you hold that light in your hands. 未来时刻的诗学:一起呼吸.

Let us remember Maya Angelou and her beautiful poem, “Still I Rise.”

你可以把我写进历史
带着你苦涩扭曲的谎言，
你可以把我踩在泥土里
但是，像尘埃一样，我仍将奋起. 

我的无礼让你生气了吗?
你为什么愁眉不展?
因为我走起路来就像有油井一样
在我的客厅里抽水. 

就像月亮和太阳一样，
随着潮水的到来，
就像希望高涨，
我仍会奋起. 

你想看到我崩溃吗?
低着头，低着眼睛?
肩膀像泪珠一样落下，
被我深情的呼喊所削弱? 

我的傲慢冒犯你了吗?
别太难过了
因为我笑得像金矿一样
在自家后院挖东西. 

你可以用你的话射我，
你可以用你的眼睛割伤我，
你可以用你的仇恨杀死我，
但是，像空气一样，我仍然会上升. 

我的性感让你不高兴了吗?
这让你感到意外吗
我跳舞就像我有钻石一样
在我大腿的交汇处? 

走出历史的耻辱
我上升
从痛苦的过去中走出来
我上升
我是黑色的海洋，跳跃而宽广，
我在潮水中涌动和膨胀. 

留下恐怖和恐惧的夜晚
我上升
进入一个异常清晰的黎明
我上升
带着祖先给我的礼物，
我是奴隶的梦想和希望.
我上升
我上升
我上升.

I would like to ask you to stand up and observe one minute of silence and breathe in!

再次祝贺2024届毕业生!

谢谢你！