The Cum Laude Society Certificate to Nasrin
Mr. Deal介紹 Nasrin得到這殊榮的原因及他所演講的全文:
Dear
Nasrin,
After three roof-shattering years' tenure
as the self-appointed belle of the Cum Laude Ball, I was going to sit this one
out. I had my own one foot out the door, you see--not unlike all the seniors
present here tonight. I figured I'd coast a little, indulge in my own forty-four-year-old version of
senioritis.
What pulled me back in was the opportunity
to speak for Estella and for you, I should warn everybody in advance that there
are no gimmicks and few jokes here. Just words from the heart, as the cliché
goes, before we turn out the lights and you and I head off on our separate
non-Dwight adventures.
But I've got some things to say, and Mr.
Armitage foolishly gave me the last slot. Fret not, though! I promise to have
you all out of here by eleven, midnight tops.
I think I saw Ms. DeVito's eye twitch.
Anyway, Nasrin: do you remember way back in
September when you and I were catching up, and you were telling me about your
summer, your hopes for the future, your uncertainty about where and how best to
apply your prodigious talents? You flattered me by saying I should go into
business giving teenagers advice on how to live--now it's Mr. Algrant's eye
that's twitching--and I demurred, saying that as a teacher of literature, I got
to introduce young people to the very best books ever written, and that all the
advice anyone could ever need was in those.
I still believe that, but I'm going to give
you some sage counsel anyway. As I said, before we turn out the lights.
Nasrin, first and last and always, I urge
you never to lose faith in your own capacities. You are a woman of
extraordinary academic promise, and young people with such gifts often receive
them at the cost of a certain insecurity, a certain sensitivity to life's
setbacks and criticisms. Do not let the odd college rejection or professorial
disparagement make you doubt your own kills and your own intellectual worth.
Your life--anybody's life--will be filled with doomsayers and shutting doors.
Hum a jaunty tune and look for the open window.
Speaking of things not to lose, don't ever
abandon the arts. Both as a one-woman audience for creative greatness and as a
writer, musician, and artist of tremendous expressiveness in your own right,
you will need the nourishment and self-ch
allenge that the artistic sphere has to
give your. And the world outside your own fertile mind desperately needs the
power of fearless creativity. I a Kosmos so often ugly in its callousness, you
must endure as a forceful voice for truth and beauty. Write. Play music. Draw.
These are the wellsprings that will sustain you and allow you to inspire
others.
Finally, on that note, please consider
teaching as a career. (Pause for Madame Tal to accuse me of le plagiat). I
don't say that to many students: it always sounds self-serving, for one thing,
and the pay is not great, and you have to go to so, so many meeting, really,
the meeting, I cannot begin to descri--just kidding! one foot out the door,
remember?--and it's hardly the world's easiest job. But for someone who perpetually
brims with for literature and history and the sciences and art and
music--someone, in short, like you-- it's a chance to make a profound
difference in the lives of future Nasrin Lin, potential life-changing seekers
who need a cynosure of their own by which to travel.
Whatever you do, Nasrin, my full faith in
you ability to remake the world goes with you. It has been a great honor to be
your teacher, and I wish you nothing but the very best of luck as you venture
forth, the wide world and all its byways yours to pursue, wherever you would
have them lead. |
