\'We are a nation of immigrants.\'

I've heard live speeaches at RNC and DNC. One chilled to bone and the other warmed to head. Why?

My favorite movie director Filmmaker Steven Spielberg said it all:

"We are a nation of immigrants." "This world is full of monsters. And there’s racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred, there’s political hatred, and there’s religious hatred."

"Atrocities are happening right now. And so we wonder not just, ‘When will this hatred end?’ but, ‘How did it begin?’"

"Because there’s no difference between anyone who is discriminated against, whether it’s the Muslims, or the Jews, or minorities on the border states, or the LGBT community -- it is all big one hate."

"But make sure this empathy isn’t just something that you feel. Make it something you act upon. That means vote. Peaceably protest. Speak up for those who can’t and speak up for those who may be shouting but aren’t being hard. Let your conscience shout as loud as it wants if you’re using it in the service of others."

"all of you, turn to someone you don’t know or don’t know very well. They may be standing behind you, or a couple of rows ahead. Just let your eyes meet. That’s it. That emotion you’re feeling is our shared humanity mixed in with a little social discomfort."

Ain't you?

 

!!!!!! Ref. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harvard Commencement Speech: drop-out at CSULB, 37 years to college degree!

 

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg Speech | Harvard Commencement 2016(ZT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYtoDunfu00

 

Thank you, thank you, President Faust, and Paul Choi, thank you so much.

It’s an honor and a thrill to address this group of distinguished alumni and supportive friends and kvelling parents. We’ve all gathered to share in the joy of this day, so please join me in congratulating Harvard’s Class of 2016.

I can remember my own college graduation, which is easy, since it was only 14 years ago. How many of you took 37 years to graduate? Because, like most of you, I began college in my teens, but sophomore year, I was offered my dream job at Universal Studios, so I dropped out. I told my parents if my movie career didn’t go well, I’d re-enroll.

It went all right.

But eventually, I returned for one big reason. Most people go to college for an education, and some go for their parents, but I went for my kids. I’m the father of seven, and I kept insisting on the importance of going to college, but I hadn’t walked the walk. So, in my fifties, I re-enrolled at Cal State -- Long Beach, and I earned my degree.

I just have to add: It helped that they gave me course credit in paleontology for the work I did on Jurassic Park. That’s three units for Jurassic Park, thank you.

Well I left college because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and some of you know, too -- but some of you don’t. Or maybe you thought you knew but are now questioning that choice. Maybe you’re sitting there trying to figure out how to tell your parents that you want to be a doctor and not a comedy writer.

Well, what you choose to do next is what we call in the movies the ‘character-defining moment.’ Now, these are moments you’re very familiar with, like in the last Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when Rey realizes the force is with her. Or Indiana Jones choosing mission over fear by jumping over a pile of snakes.

Now in a two-hour movie, you get a handful of character-defining moments, but in real life, you face them every day. Life is one strong, long string of character-defining moments. And I was lucky that at 18 I knew what I exactly wanted to do. But I didn’t know who I was. How could I? And how could any of us? Because for the first 25 years of our lives, we are trained to listen to voices that are not our own. Parents and professors fill our heads with wisdom and information, and then employers and mentors take their place and explain how this world really works.

And usually these voices of authority make sense, but sometimes, doubt starts to creep into our heads and into our hearts. And even when we think, ‘that’s not quite how I see the world,’ it’s kind of easier to just to nod in agreement and go along, and for a while, I let that going along define my character. Because I was repressing my own point of view, because like in that Nilsson song, ‘Everybody was talkin’ at me, so I couldn’t hear the echoes of my mind.’

And at first, the internal voice I needed to listen to was hardly audible, and it was hardly noticeable -- kind of like me in high school. But then I started paying more attention, and my intuition kicked in.

And I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work in tandem, but here’s the distinction: Your conscience shouts, ‘here’s what you should do,’ while your intuition whispers, ‘here’s what you could do.’ Listen to that voice that tells you what you could do. Nothing will define your character more than that.

Because once I turned to my intuition, and I tuned into it, certain projects began to pull me into them, and others, I turned away from.

And up until the 1980s, my movies were mostly, I guess what you could call ‘escapist.’ And I don’t dismiss any of these movies -- not even 1941. Not even that one. And many of these early films reflected the values that I cared deeply about, and I still do. But I was in a celluloid bubble, because I’d cut my education short, my worldview was limited to what I could dream up in my head, not what the world could teach me.

But then I directed The Color Purple. And this one film opened my eyes to experiences that I never could have imagined, and yet were all too real. This story was filled with deep pain and deeper truths, like when Shug Avery says, ‘Everything wants to be loved.’ My gut, which was my intuition, told me that more people needed to meet these characters and experience these truths. And while making that film, I realized that a movie could also be a mission.

I hope all of you find that sense of mission. Don’t turn away from what’s painful. Examine it. Challenge it.

My job is to create a world that lasts two hours. Your job is to create a world that lasts forever. You are the future innovators, motivators, leaders and caretakers.

And the way you create a better future is by studying the past. Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, who graduated from both this college and this medical school, liked to quote a favorite professor of his who said that if you didn’t know history, you didn’t know anything. You were a leaf that didn’t know it was part of a tree. So history majors: Good choice, you’re in great shape...Not in the job market, but culturally.

The rest of us have to make a little effort. Social media that we’re inundated and swarmed with is about the here and now. But I’ve been fighting and fighting inside my own family to get all my kids to look behind them, to look at what already has happened. Because to understand who they are is to understand who were were, and who their grandparents were, and then, what this country was like when they emigrated here. We are a nation of immigrants -- at least for now.

So to me, this means we all have to tell our own stories. We have so many stories to tell. Talk to your parents and your grandparents, if you can, and ask them about their stories. And I promise you, like I have promised my kids, you will not be bored.

And that’s why I so often make movies based on real-life events. I look to history not to be didactic, ‘cause that’s just a bonus, but I look because the past is filled with the greatest stories that have ever been told. Heroes and villains are not literary constructs, but they’re at the heart of all history.

And again, this is why it’s so important to listen to your internal whisper. It’s the same one that compelled Abraham Lincoln and Oskar Schindler to make the correct moral choices. In your defining moments, do not let your morals be swayed by convenience or expediency. Sticking to your character requires a lot of courage. And to be courageous, you’re going to need a lot of support.

And if you’re lucky, you have parents like mine. I consider my mom my lucky charm. And when I was 12 years old, my father handed me a movie camera, the tool that allowed me to make sense of this world. And I am so grateful to him for that. And I am grateful that he’s here at Harvard, sitting right down there.

My dad is 99 years old, which means he’s only one year younger than Widener Library. But unlike Widener, he’s had zero cosmetic work. And dad, there’s a lady behind you, also 99, and I’ll introduce you after this is over, okay?

But look, if your family’s not always available, there’s backup. Near the end of It’s a Wonderful Life -- you remember that movie, It’s a Wonderful Life? Clarence the Angel inscribes a book with this: “No man is a failure who has friends.” And I hope you hang on to the friendships you’ve made here at Harvard. And among your friends, I hope you find someone you want to share your life with. I imagine some of you in this yard may be a tad cynical, but I want to be unapologetically sentimental. I spoke about the importance of intuition and how there’s no greater voice to follow. That is, until you meet the love of your life. And this is what happened when I met and married Kate, and that became the greatest character-defining moment of my life.

Love, support, courage, intuition. All of these things are in your hero’s quiver, but still, a hero needs one more thing: A hero needs a villain to vanquish. And you’re all in luck. This world is full of monsters. And there’s racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred, there’s political hatred, and there’s religious hatred.

As a kid, I was bullied -- for being Jewish. This was upsetting, but compared to what my parents and grandparents had faced, it felt tame. Because we truly believed that anti-Semitism was fading. And we were wrong. Over the last two years, nearly 20,000 Jews have left Europe to find higher ground. And earlier this year, I was at the Israeli embassy when President Obama stated the sad truth. He said: ‘We must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it.’

My own desire to confront that reality compelled me to start, in 1994, the Shoah Foundation. And since then, we’ve spoken to over 53,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses in 63 countries and taken all their video testimonies. And we’re now gathering testimonies from genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia and Nanking. Because we must never forget that the inconceivable doesn’t happen -- it happens frequently. Atrocities are happening right now. And so we wonder not just, ‘When will this hatred end?’ but, ‘How did it begin?’

Now, I don’t have to tell a crowd of Red Sox fans that we are wired for tribalism. But beyond rooting for the home team, tribalism has a much darker side. Instinctively and maybe even genetically, we divide the world into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ So the burning question must be: How do all of us together find the ‘we?’ How do we do that? There’s still so much work to be done, and sometimes I feel the work hasn’t even begun. And it’s not just anti-Semitism that’s surging -- Islamophobia’s on the rise, too. Because there’s no difference between anyone who is discriminated against, whether it’s the Muslims, or the Jews, or minorities on the border states, or the LGBT community -- it is all big one hate.

And to me, and, I think, to all of you, the only answer to more hate is more humanity. We gotta repair -- we have to replace fear with curiosity. ‘Us’ and ‘them’ -- we’ll find the ‘we’ by connecting with each other. And by believing that we’re members of the same tribe. And by feeling empathy for every soul -- even Yalies.

My son graduated from Yale, thank you …

But make sure this empathy isn’t just something that you feel. Make it something you act upon. That means vote. Peaceably protest. Speak up for those who can’t and speak up for those who may be shouting but aren’t being hard. Let your conscience shout as loud as it wants if you’re using it in the service of others.

And as an example of action in service of others, you need to look no further than this Hollywood-worthy backdrop of Memorial Church. Its south wall bears the names of Harvard alumni -- like President Faust has already mentioned -- students and faculty members, who gave their lives in World War II. All told, 697 souls, who once tread the ground where stand now, were lost. And at a service in this church in late 1945, Harvard President James Conant -- which President Faust also mentioned -- honored the brave and called upon the community to ‘reflect the radiance of their deeds.’

Seventy years later, this message still holds true. Because their sacrifice is not a debt that can be repaid in a single generation. It must be repaid with every generation. Just as we must never forget the atrocities, we must never forget those who fought for freedom. So as you leave this college and head out into the world, continue please to ‘reflect the radiance of their deeds,’ or as Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan would say, “Earn this.”

And please stay connected. Please never lose eye contact. This may not be a lesson you want to hear from a person who creates media, but we are spending more time looking down at our devices than we are looking in each other’s eyes. So, forgive me, but let’s start right now. Everyone here, please find someone’s eyes to look into. Students, and alumni and you too, President Faust, all of you, turn to someone you don’t know or don’t know very well. They may be standing behind you, or a couple of rows ahead. Just let your eyes meet. That’s it. That emotion you’re feeling is our shared humanity mixed in with a little social discomfort.

But, if you remember nothing else from today, I hope you remember this moment of human connection. And I hope you all had a lot of that over the past four years. Because today you start down the path of becoming the generation on which the next generation stands. And I’ve imagined many possible futures in my films, but you will determine the actual future. And I hope that it’s filled with justice and peace.

And finally, I wish you all a true, Hollywood-style happy ending. I hope you outrun the T. rex, catch the criminal and for your parents’ sake, maybe every now and then, just like E.T.: Go home. Thank you.

———————————————————————————————

Steven Spidelberg

Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer, screenwriter, editor and a father of seven kids. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. In a prolific career spanning more than four decades, Spielberg's films have spanned many themes and genres.

Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),  and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking.

In later years, his films began addressing humanistic issues in such films as Empire of the Sun (1987), Schindler's List (1993),  Saving Private Ryan (1998),  Lincoln(2012). (Source: Wikipedia)

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雨尘一说｜莫让大选撕裂华裔社会

　



来源: judd 于 2016-08-05 18:19:26 [档案] [博客] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读：578 次 (16970 bytes)

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作者：雨尘一说 美华一周



四年前，自己曾参与过美国大选的报道，那时的美国两党也是到处拉华裔的选票，当时美华商报上的头版就是现任美国众议院议长保罗·瑞安手持美华商报微笑的照片。四年过后，或许是依靠微信的传播，或许是华裔参与美国政治的意识觉醒，华裔关注美国的大选的程度绝对没有像现在这样火热，让美国社会再次看到了华裔的能量。




作为华裔美国人投身于美国大选，是好事，但也应该知道，华裔占美国社会总人数的百分之几，在美国政治力量中的比重更是有限。当我们积极投身于两党选举的大潮中时，可否想到，从总统争夺旋涡中挣脱出来的时候，这大选是否会撕裂了我们华裔社会？




大选是美国两党之间的争夺，每个党派的主张各异，每个人站得角度不同，视野不一，也自然会得出不同的结论。我们可以争辩，但不可以恶语相向，咒语不断。争辩之后还是朋友。君子和而不同，而不是同而不和。华裔来到美国，大多经历各种磨难，有了稳定的生活才参与政治。华裔的人数有限，力量并不强大，不是不谈论大选，而是如何谈论大选。没有豁达的心态，没有相互尊重的心理，大选过后朋友成为敌人，那这选举还是不参加为好。




单明先生说，我一直呼吁。不同政见不是非敌即友。政见争论也不是生死相搏。用不到整天硝烟弥漫。对我们草根来说。自己又不去竞选，也不是职业站台，最多就是到时候投谁一票的问题，轻轻松松谈论大选。这才是民主政治。




本人评说过奥巴马政府的作为，同时也认为华裔应该和而不同。“我不同意你的说法，但我誓死捍卫你说话的权利！”据说是伏尔泰的“名言”。是不是伏尔泰所说不重要，重要的是这句话将言论自由绝对化。实际上言论自由在世界各国都是有界线的，这个界线就是法律。




针对大选和国际恐怖主义，华人圈里讨论伊斯兰教的比较多，伊斯兰与基督教同属于亚伯拉罕宗教，同是一神教。然而，伊斯兰教与基督教和犹太教之间的冲突，却是所有宗教之间冲突中最大规模的。此冲突延续至今。本人对宗教没有研究，但是毫无顾忌地谈论伊斯兰教，将伊斯兰教与恐怖主义直接联系起来怕是会出现问题。




有一个华人商务中心将一场地出租给穆斯林做礼拜，据该中心的负责人说，在这里做礼拜的穆斯林很友好，很守规矩。他们属于美国穆斯林，同样反对恐怖主义，我们之间也没有什么纠纷。所以最好不要凭着想象来乱下结论。美国毕竟是个法治国家，如果乱说那是要负法律责任的。




走得太远，忘了为什么出发。在讨论这些敏感的宗教问题时，切莫忘记我们的目标是显示华裔的力量，为了美国的未来，各族裔携手共同建设一个美好的家园。美国有美国的问题，竞选人有竞选人的问题，我们也有我们的问题。宗教信仰是每个人的自由，哪一个宗教旗帜下也有违背教义的不法之徒。




此时，又在英国发生砍人事件一死多人受伤。当我们说着“我们和死难者站在一起”的时候，似乎苍白无力。如何对待极端恐怖分子，其所在国的政府和军队会有所作为。我们当然要大声疾呼。但为一选票去激化华裔与穆斯林社区矛盾？或者请未来的美国总统把他们赶走？




世界任何宗教的存在自然有它存在的道理，任何宗教也解决不了人类社会错综复杂的问题，我们只能求同存异。




我们讨论伊斯兰教义和为选谁当总统而剑拔弩张的时候，还请关注最近华裔谢进文在法拉盛因撞车，而被歹徒打得头壳骨裂脑部出血死亡的事件。昨日，纽约众议员Ron Kim在老年中心就谢的身亡发表演讲，谴责对谢的暴力，呼吁执法机构严惩凶手。国会议员孟昭文也参与出席。类似这样与华裔生死攸关的事件也是接二连三，此时，我们应该站在一起。




谁当选总统，鹿死谁手，当然是包括我们在内的美国人民投票选了算数。当我们对新总统寄予无限希望的时候要想到，无论谁当总统，大多不会实现自己所有的诺言，美国无论前进还是后退，生活总要继续，这就是现实。




在评说极端分子的时候，自己思维不要走极端，福兮祸所伏，祸兮福所倚，天塌不下来。应该考虑的是，自已喜欢的候选人若落选，自己咋办？ 选举后，朋友成为敌人，生活就此终止？华裔本来占美国人口总数2%的力量减少为1%？



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? 同意观点。但现实生活中左左喜欢不断挑衅。沉默的大多数一般就是沉默。 -joytiggers- ♀ 给 joytiggers 发送悄悄话 joytiggers 的个人群组 (0 bytes) (9 reads) 08/05/2016 postreply 18:24:39

? 几乎都同意； 仅一点不同意 -SwiperTheFox- ♂ 给 SwiperTheFox 发送悄悄话 SwiperTheFox 的博客首页 SwiperTheFox 的个人群组 (469 bytes) (67 reads) 08/05/2016 postreply 18:42:43

? 對。獨立思考追求自己真切所信的。 -sisbio- ♀ 给 sisbio 发送悄悄话 sisbio 的个人群组 (0 bytes) (0 reads) 08/05/2016 postreply 18:43:56

? 道不同有争论导致反目也是可以理解。最好不要轻易表露自己的政治观点。 -oldpp- ♂ 给 oldpp 发送悄悄话 oldpp 的博客首页 oldpp 的个人群组 (0 bytes) (0 reads) 08/05/2016 postreply 19:25:09