MLK Interlude

I say to you this morning,
今早我告訴你
that if you have never found something
倘若你從未找尋到彌足珍貴
so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it,
自己甘願誓死守衛的東西
then you aren't fit to live
那你定活得毫無意義
You may be 38 years old as I happen to be
你或許和我一樣年紀三十八
And one day some great opportunity stands before you
當有一天上天賜你良機
And calls upon you to stand up for some great principle
召喚你為真理準則而堅守
Some great issue, some great cause
為遠大宏圖而砥礪
And you refuse to do it because you are afraid
你卻因恐懼回絕了號召
You refuse to do it because you want to live longer
而這僅是因為你想活得更長久
You're afraid that you will lose your job
你擔心自己會為此失去工作
Or you're afraid that you will bе criticized
擔憂自己會被指責批判
Or that you will lose your popularity
直至無人問津
Or you're afraid that somеbody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house
甚至畏懼被行刺槍殺或是被燒毀房屋
And so you refuse to take the stand
因此你拒絕為正義而戰
Well you may go on and live until you are 90
行吧或許你能活到九十歲
But you're just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90
就算如此可實際上在你三十八歲那年你已心魂已亡
And the sensation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit
苟延殘喘地呼吸著不過是靈魂早夭而宣告終結姍姍來遲罷了
You died when you refused to stand up for right
當你拒絕為公道而戰時你便已如死屍
You died when you refused to stand up for truth
當你拒絕為公道而戰時你便已如死屍
You died when you refused to stand up for justice
當你拒絕為公道而戰時你便已如死屍