《Find Freedom in Helping Others Find It》歌词

歌曲： Find Freedom in Helping Others Find It

所属专辑：美国名校励志演说 17篇

歌手： 英语演讲

时长： 12:40

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Save Your Freedom - 英语演讲[00:00:02]

by Helping Others Find It[00:00:05]

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Commencement Address [00:00:07]

at Stanford University[00:00:12]

President Hennessey, graduating students,[00:00:15]

and my fellow citizens in a world [00:00:19]

that must seek to come ever closer[00:00:22]

to the idea and reality of freedom under law.[00:00:25]

Thank you for inviting me to your Commencement. [00:00:28]

There is now clear evidence that,[00:00:31]

with President Hennessey,[00:00:34]

I have become a willing accomplice [00:00:36]

in the wacky walk.[00:00:38]

Each of you graduates has your own story[00:00:41]

of the years at Stanford.[00:00:46]

Your story is bound up with your parents, [00:00:48]

your family and the loved ones [00:00:50]

who sustained you here. [00:00:53]

You-indeed all of us and the entire Nation-[00:00:55]

owe them warmest thanks. [00:00:59]

Freedom must remain a central part of your story.[00:01:01]

From the beginning of our Republic,[00:01:06]

Americans have defined freedom by a moral principle.[00:01:09]

It is this: With our own freedom[00:01:13]

comes the duty to secure it for others.[00:01:16]

Freedom is the birthright of all.[00:01:19]

When we help others find freedom, [00:01:22]

we save our own.[00:01:24]

Now, two people or two million people [00:01:26]

or two billion people cannot [00:01:31]

enjoy freedom without rules.[00:01:34]

So freedom goes hand in hand with law.[00:01:36]

This is just high school civics stuff. [00:01:40]

No surprise here. But the principles [00:01:44]

are so fundamental that it seems appropriate[00:01:47]

to discuss them at your commencement,[00:01:50]

as you consider how best to [00:01:51]

shape your life and your work. [00:01:54]

Americans have the responsibility to [00:01:56]

try to advance law and freedom in other places.[00:02:00]

The task is daunting. [00:02:04]

For the stark truth is this:[00:02:06]

more than half the world lacks [00:02:09]

either the will or the power to embrace law[00:02:11]

and freedom as we know it. [00:02:14]

In the long run our last, [00:02:16]

best security is in the realm of ideas. [00:02:18]

It is urgent for our Nation [00:02:22]

and for you as young people to strive to [00:02:25]

make the case for the idea of law and freedom.[00:02:28]

We must make that case to a doubting world.[00:02:31]

On this question, the world must [00:02:35]

not be in search of two different destinies. [00:02:38]

When lawyers make their case to a jury, [00:02:41]

they sometimes have a few hours. [00:02:47]

Attorneys in our Court have thirty minutes a side. [00:02:50]

Today, in order not to trespass upon[00:02:53]

your patience or delay your celebration, [00:02:56]

I shall take but eleven minutes more to[00:02:59]

make the case about your duties [00:03:02]

as the newest trustees of freedom.[00:03:04]

You must prepare to take some risks[00:03:07]

to make the case. You may enter a realm of ideas [00:03:12]

or a real world place where freedom[00:03:16]

is not just in doubt but opposed. [00:03:19]

You must find inventive, [00:03:21]

new ways to make the case for freedom.[00:03:24]

And to be prepared for this role, [00:03:27]

to be prepared to confront the reality [00:03:29]

of half a world without law and freedom,[00:03:32]

you must know what is at stake.[00:03:35]

You must know that in Sri Lanka over [00:03:38]

a thousand people a year go to jail for [00:03:43]

three hundred sixty-five days for[00:03:46]

want of a one dollar fine. [00:03:49]

You must know that there is an African country[00:03:51]

where a woman who is raped must [00:03:57]

pay five dollars to file a complaint with the police. [00:03:59]

You must know that each year eight hundred thousand people - [00:04:03]

mostly women and children - [00:04:10]

are the subject of capture and trafficking[00:04:11]

for slavery and sexual exploitation. [00:04:15]

Human trafficking is one of [00:04:17]

the world’s most profitable businesses. [00:04:20]

All of these failings come from[00:04:23]

the absence of the rule of law.[00:04:27]

You would think this would be clear to everyone[00:04:29]

. It is surprising, though, [00:04:32]

that the concept escapes so many. [00:04:35]

In 1978, Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave a commencement speech. [00:04:37]

It was puzzling at first that, [00:04:45]

in a speech moving in so many other ways, [00:04:47]

he attacked the West for being too devoted to the law.[00:04:50]

After a few days I reached this conclusion: [00:04:54]

his understanding of law was simply different from our own.[00:04:58]

For him the concept, the history, [00:05:03]

the meaning of law made it a diktat, [00:05:06]

a ukase, a cold threat, a decree.[00:05:10]

We believe otherwise.[00:05:14]

For us the law is not an obstacle [00:05:16]

but the instrument of progress; [00:05:19]

not a command to be feared but a hope to be embraced;[00:05:21]

not a threat but a promise. [00:05:26]

The chance to build and own a small business [00:05:29]

is an essential part of any economy [00:05:33]

that seeks to establish law and freedom.[00:05:36]

That is why we want many of you to[00:05:39]

have economic success. [00:05:42]

A certain economic self sufficiency is necessary[00:05:43]

if we are to have some voice [00:05:48]

in planning our own destiny.[00:05:50]

This is essential in a world where governments[00:05:52]

are always waiting in the wings, [00:05:56]

all too eager to plan our destiny for us.[00:05:58]

And, the legal infrastructure in over half [00:06:02]

the world cannot or will not allow [00:06:06]

the dream or the hope of owning a small business. [00:06:10]

And in those same parts of the world neither [00:06:12]

can the legal infrastructure support basic [00:06:18]

improvements that engineers and builders otherwise [00:06:20]

could construct in short order.[00:06:23]

But you cannot build, say, [00:06:26]

a modern water system if there is[00:06:29]

no honest legal system to maintain it. [00:06:32]

Consider the water crisis in the sub-Sahara.[00:06:34]

You have seen pictures of a stately,[00:06:41]

dignified woman in a flowing gown with [00:06:44]

a water jug on her head. That jug weighs more[00:06:47]

than the luggage allowance at the airport.[00:06:50]

The hours, the human hours, the toilsome hours, [00:06:53]

the heart-wrenching, backbreaking hours a woman [00:06:57]

spends just trying to bring water [00:07:00]

to the family are staggering. [00:07:03]

By cautious estimates, on the African continent[00:07:06]

alone it takes over sixteen billion hours [00:07:12]

each year to bring water to the family. [00:07:15]

That is sixteen billion with a B.[00:07:18]

But new water systems cannot be built [00:07:23]

and maintained where corruption holds sway.[00:07:26]

This is not just because of the lack of money; [00:07:30]

it is because of the lack of law and property rights. [00:07:33]

There are some who say your generation has[00:07:37]

less power than previous ones [00:07:42]

because a more interdependent world[00:07:45]

reduces our power to make unilateral policy choices.[00:07:47]

In my view this understates your capacity and potential. [00:07:51]

You are among a new generation of university graduates[00:07:56]

who see an interconnectedness in our world [00:08:00]

and its universe that far surpasses [00:08:04]

what previous generations could understand.[00:08:07]

An interconnected universe is manifested[00:08:11]

in all fields of learning and endeavors. [00:08:14]

The earth sciences teach this in a concrete, [00:08:17]

formal way. Science, and in particular quantum physics [00:08:21]

and astrophysics, may soon yield stunning explanations [00:08:26]

of dark matter and of our common link to the universe.[00:08:30]

As is evident in the new communications technology, [00:08:34]

this more interconnected world touches [00:08:38]

all of our work and culture, over the whole range [00:08:41]

of the sciences, law and business, [00:08:45]

and the arts and letters. Legally blonde [00:08:47]

in a law school a half a world away. [00:08:52]

The new awareness gives you new power.[00:08:54]

You have a potential to design and to create[00:08:59]

and to define and to project your own life and work,[00:09:03]

a potential far greater than given to your predecessors. [00:09:07]

As you think how best to advance the idea of law[00:09:11]

and the freedom that it secures, [00:09:17]

please remember that you must understand[00:09:19]

our own heritage of freedom. [00:09:22]

This brings us back to the point of beginning.[00:09:24]

When the Americans rebelled, [00:09:28]

the world was puzzled. We said we wanted freedom, [00:09:30]

but it seemed to England and Europe [00:09:35]

that we were already the freest people the world knew.[00:09:37]

So we had to act at once to send a fax [00:09:41]

or an e-mail explaining our case. [00:09:45]

This was the Declaration of Independence, [00:09:48]

and then, some eleven years later, [00:09:51]

came the Constitution of the United States.[00:09:54]

The result was, and has been this: [00:09:57]

As Americans we look to the Declaration of Independence,[00:10:00]

to the Constitution, to our heritage of freedom [00:10:05]

to define who we are. And let there be no doubt:[00:10:09]

This dynamic, by which the documents of liberty[00:10:13]

are part of our self identity, [00:10:17]

part of our self image, is the envy of oppressed peoples.[00:10:20]

But this linkage, this connection between [00:10:25]

the history of freedom and who we are can disappear[00:10:29]

if we ignore its dynamic force. [00:10:31]

So it follows that the Constitution does not[00:10:35]

belong just to judges and attorneys. [00:10:41]

It is yours. And with this possession[00:10:43]

come serious responsibilities. [00:10:48]

It is not just the President who must preserve,[00:10:50]

protect, and defend the Constitution. [00:10:53]

All of us must do so. But you cannot preserve[00:10:56]

what you do not revere; you cannot protect [00:11:00]

what you have not learned; [00:11:04]

you cannot defend what you do not know.[00:11:06]

If we are conscious of the heritage [00:11:09]

that defines us we are empowered in a special way.[00:11:14]

We come to this inevitable conclusion: [00:11:18]

law and freedom become even more priceless [00:11:21]

when we give them to others. [00:11:25]

That is why law and freedom are [00:11:26]

an ultimate expression of the human spirit.[00:11:29]

As Americans we know this and, indeed,[00:11:32]

we have the inward sense that it must be true.[00:11:36]

This insight and empowerment can become [00:11:39]

all the greater for you who have studied [00:11:44]

at Stanford. Whatever your area of study, [00:11:47]

whatever your career, whatever deep personal hopes[00:11:51]

and aspirations you have, [00:11:55]

you should understand their basis in law and freedom.[00:11:56]

You must use this knowledge and power to [00:12:00]

work with your counterparts here[00:12:05]

and in other nations to advance law [00:12:06]

and freedom in your own time. [00:12:09]

If you do so, later generations will be more secure. [00:12:11]

And later generations will be grateful [00:12:16]

for the resolve you made here, [00:12:20]

for the resolve you made at this University,[00:12:22]

here at Stanford, here on this day, [00:12:25]

the day of your commencement.[00:12:29]

Thank you. We wish you well.[00:12:31]