2016-01-18

【Aiden in English】

        Throughout American history, racial differences plagued the nation’s events. Slavery set the tone at the founding of the United States, and nothing has really varied since. In general, the blacks never were equal to other cultural groups, and Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. determined to change it, which is why he has his own day of the year.

        MLK Jr. Day is full of services to him. His life held as much impact as the founding fathers of the countries themselves. His fight for human rights loosened the bonds of segregation. Today, the Philadelphia Orchestra hosted the 26^th Annual MLK Jr. Tribute Concert at Girard College. Being on the outskirts of Philadelphia, parking was hard and scarce, other than the sides of roads, and it’s legitimately scary being in the same van as a mom with her parallel parking skill behind the wheel. Luckily, we happened to find a free parking lot in the neighborhood …… that warned how any unauthorized vehicles would be towed. To be safe, mom used grandma’s disabled tag, signifying that there were no nearby places to park that was within a five-minute walking range while my grandma with her right knee replacement was on the ride.

        It was frigid cold. I wore a coat that was two layers, but the issue wasn’t there. The wind blew furiously, stunning my eyes and freezing any bit of bare skin. Feet and hands went numbing, and upon arrival at the school chapel under the astonishing pipe organs. I rather had frostbite kill the nerves and stop the cold. The music started about thirty minutes later, and still, both hands had yet to return to normal color.

        The music was great. That’s what you expect from the Philadelphia Orchestra, being one of the best in the nation. A few movements by Grieg, Beethoven, and Saint-Saens really set the beautiful tone. And soon, a thoroughly powerful narration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech “I Have a Dream”, accompanied by Barber’s Adagio for Strings, reminding what he wanted. He went so far for freedom, but it isn’t ideal yet. Still, poverty is strong against African Americans living in the country, especially Philadelphia. The nation is trying to change this statistic, but in the economy, the blacks are at the bottom after all. Occasional people such as Oprah Winfrey appear, or superstar sports players like Michael Jordan, make it to the top, achieving billionaire status.

        MLK Day reminds us of what the country is about. The Americans freed themselves from the British, and now African Americans have freed themselves from the Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. granted them freedom, and so an unbalanced scale has leveled a lot.

【紅霞譯文】

        縱觀美國歷史，種族差異一直困擾着國家政體，奴隸制起源於建國初期，這種意識根深蒂固，至今尚無本質上的變化。一般情況下，黑人總是比其他種族低人一等，馬丁•路德•金博士決意要改變不公，這也是為什麼每年的今天都專門來慶祝他的卓越貢獻。

        馬丁•路德•金紀念日充滿緬懷之情。如同所有開國元勛，馬丁•路德•金的一生對整個美國影響深遠，他為人權而戰，極大地削弱了種族隔離。今天，費城管弦樂團在吉拉德學院舉行第廿六屆紀念這位黑人領袖的專場音樂會。地處費城周邊地區，車位稀少停車困難，憑藉媽媽輪上車技，平行停靠路邊簡直比登天還難，但傻人有傻福，我們竟然就近撞上了一家免費停車場……場內標牌上明文告示任何未經許可停靠的車輛都將被拖走。為了安全起見，媽媽拿出外婆殘疾人優先停車證明掛在車前，目的在於表明附近五分鐘距離之內找不到任何停車地方，況且同行的還有右腿曾做過換膝手術的外婆無法長途跋涉。

        天氣蕭瑟，我身穿雙面外套仍然難抵刺骨寒冷；朔風呼嘯，吹得眼睛完全睜不開來，更把暴露在外的肌膚凍得冰涼發僵，即使坐進學校教堂別致新穎的管風琴天頂之下，我手腳照舊失去知覺，真想切斷神經驅散透心涼的寒氣。卅分鐘過後音樂聲起，我的雙手依然沒有恢復正常膚色。

        音樂具有無窮的魅力，尤其實地欣賞全美上乘的費城管弦樂團表演。音樂會先後以格里格、貝多芬和聖桑幾首優美動聽的樂章拉開了序幕，隨着巴伯《弦樂柔板》奏起，馬丁·路德·金著名演說“我有一個夢想”的配樂朗誦深深打動了到場觀眾，他所倡導的自由至今尚未實現，貧困依然是生活在這片土地上黑人大眾所面臨的棘手問題，而費城又名列前茅。整個國家始終想改變這種局面，但在經濟方面，黑人從未擺脫過落後地位，當然像奧普拉·溫弗瑞極端個例或者邁克爾·喬丹超級體育明星不是沒有，他們鶴立雞群，成為當之無愧的億萬富翁。

        馬丁•路德•金紀念日無疑提醒大家牢記國家所遭遇的經歷，美國人早年從英國牢籠里解脫出來，現在黑人已從白人手中獲得自由，是馬丁·路德·金為他們贏得了權益，反對種族歧視的呼聲才越來越高。