人生不設(shè)限·讓我決定成為演說家的種子

我第一次親眼目睹“相信你的人生命定”[12]的力量，是高中時聽一位叫瑞基·達(dá)伯斯(Reggie Dabbs)的美國激勵講師的演講。那天他的任務(wù)實(shí)在很艱難，因?yàn)橛?400個孩子來聽講，空氣又熱又黏，音響設(shè)備爛透了，有時發(fā)出爆裂聲，有時噼啪作響，有時干脆不發(fā)聲。

The first time I really witnessed the power of believing in one's destiny was during a high school assembly, when I heard my first motivational speaker. He was an American named Reggie Dabbs, and he had a tough job that day. There were fourteen hundred kids in our school assembly. The air was hot and sticky. The cranky sound system crackled and popped and sometimes just quit.

聽眾原本靜不下來，但后來被瑞基的故事完全吸引。他說他是路易斯安那州一位妓女未婚懷孕的小孩，十多歲的小媽媽原本打算墮胎來解決這個“小麻煩”，但幸好她后來決定生下瑞基。懷孕之后，因?yàn)樗葲]有家人，也沒有地方住，于是就搬進(jìn)一間雞舍。

The natives were restless, but he totally captivated us with his story, telling us that he'd been born to an unmarried teenage Louisiana prostitute who had considered abortion to solve her "little problem." Fortunately for Reggie, she decided to give birth to him. She had no family and no place to live once she became pregnant so she moved into a chicken coop.

某天晚上，她蜷縮在雞舍里，覺得害怕又孤單，于是想起以前一位非常富有同情心的女老師，老師說過如果需要幫助，可以打電話給她。那位老師就是達(dá)伯斯太太。達(dá)伯斯太太從田納西州的家開車到路易斯安那州，把這個懷孕的少女帶回家。她和先生有六個小孩，都已經(jīng)成年，他們決定收養(yǎng)瑞基，讓他姓達(dá)伯斯。

Huddled there one night, scared and alone, she remembered that a former teacher, a very sympathetic woman, had told her to call if she ever needed help. That teacher's name was Mrs. Dabbs. She drove from her home in Tennessee to Louisiana, picked up the pregnant teen, and took her home to her own family, a husband and six grown children. Mrs. Dabbs and her husband adopted Reggie and gave him their last name.

瑞基說，這對夫婦灌輸給他堅定的道德價值觀。他們教會他最重要的事情之一，就是無論身處何種情況或環(huán)境，他永遠(yuǎn)可以選擇要用負(fù)面或正面的方式回應(yīng)。

The couple instilled in him strong moral values, Reggie said. One of the primary lessons they taught him was that no matter what his situation or circumstances, he always had the choice of responding in either a negative way or a positive way.

瑞基告訴我們，他幾乎都能作出正確的決定，因?yàn)樗嘈抛约喝松械母鞣N可能性。他不想往壞處想，因?yàn)樗郎杏性S多好事在等著。瑞基有一段話深得我心：“你永遠(yuǎn)無法改變過去，但你能改變未來。”

Reggie told us that he'd almost always made the right decisions because he had faith in the possibilities for his life. He didn't want to do bad because he believed there was so much good awaiting him. He especially emphasized something that really hit home with me: "You can never change your past, but you can change your future!"

我把瑞基的話聽進(jìn)去了，他感動了我們所有人，也在我心中撒下一顆種子，讓我想成為演說家。這個謙卑的人在短短幾分鐘內(nèi)，就可以對一大群躁動不安的孩子產(chǎn)生正面影響，我非常喜歡這樣的事。然后我想到他搭飛機(jī)繞著地球跑，到處給人演講，這也很酷——他給人帶來希望，然后還有收入耶!

I took his words to heart. He touched all of us. Reggie also helped plant a seed in my mind about having a career as a public speaker. I liked the fact that this humble guy had a positive impact on such a big, fidgety group of people in just a few minutes. And it was also pretty cool that he jetted about the planet just to talk to people—he got paid to give people hope!

那天放學(xué)時，我心想：或許有一天我也能像瑞基一樣，有個好故事可以跟人分享。

As I left school that day, I thought, Maybe I'll have a good story like Reggie's to share someday.

我想告訴你，或許你現(xiàn)在尚未找出一條路，不過，你沒看見不代表它不存在。請抱持信心，你的生命故事還有待展開，而我知道那肯定會是不可思議的精彩篇章。

I encourage you to accept that you may not be able to see a path right now, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Have faith, your story is still waiting to unfold, and I know it will be incredible!