OWNED BY PARROT01

We’re so conditioned, all of us, to think in terms of the big job, the big salary,

我们所有人都习惯性地想着干大事、拿高薪，

in the case of journalism, the big scoop, that we sometimes forget to see the big picture.

比如在新闻界，人人都想搞到独家大新闻，以至于我们有时会忘了看全局。

That came into focus for me on the campus of another college, Virginia Tech, just days after the tragic shooting there in 2007.

2007年，在另一所大学，弗吉尼亚理工大学校园发生了悲惨的枪击案，几天之后，我看清楚了这一点。

As co-host of the Today Show at the time, I was part of the team sent to cover the story.

作为《今日秀》当时的两位主持人之一，我作为小组成员被派去报道那次事件。

It was during a campus candlelight vigil for the 32 victims,

那是在一次为32名受害者举行的校园烛光守夜中，

when a young coed in tears approached me and asked if I would hold her.

一个年轻的女学生哭着走近我，问我能不能抱住她。

She was scared and she needed a parent’s embrace.

她很害怕，需要父母的拥抱。

And because her family was so far from Virginia Tech at that point,

但当时她的家人离学校很远，

and I had come into her home every morning, I was the closest thing available to her in that moment.

而我每天早上都去她家，所以那段时间我成了她最亲近的人。

As it turned out, we held each other and we cried together,

结果，我们抱着对方一起哭了起来。

and it was an incredibly humbling experience for me because I realized what it means to be a journalist.

对我来说，这是一段非常惭愧的经历，因为我意识到了做一名记者意味着什么。

It’s not about the big scoop, it’s about giving people a voice,

不是挖掘独家新闻，而是给人们说话的权利，

connecting with human beings and caring about somebody other than yourself.

与人建立联系，以及去关心自己以外的人。

But I think I’m preaching to the choir here.

但我觉得我说这些多此一举了。

Because in the past four years, you’ve all learned a great deal about perspective, both in and outside the classroom.

因为在过去的四年里，关于如何看待事物，你们在课堂内外已经学到了很多。

You lost 10 fellow students in one calendar year.

一年之中你们失去了10位同学。

That’s not supposed to happen. It goes against the natural order of things.

这本不该发生，它违背了事物的自然规律。

It’s never easy to face the fragility of life.

生命之脆弱从来都不是件容易面对的事。

You’ve been forced to confront it at a very young age.

但你们却被迫在这么年轻的时候去面对它。

And as painful as it is, you leave this university understanding better than most that every day truly is a blessing,

虽然这种体会伴随着痛苦，你们离开这所大学时，比大多数人更能体会到每一天确实都是一种恩赐，

never to be squandered or taken for granted.

永远不要挥霍每一天，也不要认为它来得理所当然。