一篇亞美中學生獲獎作文﹕我看人權法案

【大紀元12月4日訊】(大紀元記者金沙編譯報導) 17歲的綠貝卡‧陸(Rebecca Lu)是佛羅里達州林肯高中高三的亞裔美籍學生﹐她寫的一篇有關人權法案的作文得到了$2500元獎學金﹐她本人在2006年8月7日獲得州長傑布‧ 布什的接見。下面是她寫的作文。

人權法案﹕一個亞裔美國人的看法

我過著雙重生活。每天我到學校去﹐和我的美國朋友一起學習美國歷史。在這樣的環境下﹐我是一個普通的美國少女﹐只不過有著黑頭髮和黑眼睛。我和我的同齡人一樣﹐喜歡同樣的音樂﹐讀同樣的書﹐埋怨同樣的老師。每天晚上我回家﹐見到生養我的中國父母﹐吃著真正的中國菜﹐既有米飯也有筷子。在家裡﹐當我和父母用中文和英文的混合語言說著話時﹐我的中國一面顯現出來。我的兩面平行的生活方式給我兩個名字﹐不同傳統的兩個不同的文化﹐和對生活的兩個觀點。接觸到異於美國的政府和社會使我能夠從另一個角度欣賞人權法案﹐因為我無法像一般土生土長的美國人一樣﹐將人權法案看得稀鬆平常。

我認為人權法案中最根本和最重要的自由保障是第一條修正案。同時它也是生活在中國和生活在美國的最大的不同點之一。如果一個人不能表達他的真實想法和追隨他的信仰﹐那麼他有什麼樣的真自由﹖一旦建立獨立的思想和行動﹐任何事都是可能的。當獨立思考和行動受到限制﹐整個社會的思想和行動也就受到限制。在中國﹐最近有關古狗擴張的爭論表示政府有另外一個控制民眾是否能夠取得資訊的新渠道。幾十年來中國的電影﹑書籍和媒體已經被裝進了中國政府認為合用的幾個整齊的小碎塊。在一個國家裡﹐一部電影帶有一個被禁的片名﹐比方「斷背山」(在中國遭到禁演﹐雖然導演李安是贏得奧斯卡最佳導演獎的第一個亞洲人) 可以贏得一座奧斯卡獎﹐這種對於藝術的限制似乎很不合理。在一個可以創作非常具有顛覆政府意義的記錄片﹐如麥克‧ 摩爾(Michael Moore)製作的「華氏9/11」(Fahrenheit 9/11)的影片﹐還不被禁演的國家裡﹐這樣的控制似乎走到極端。

美國在這方面並不完美。歷史上有些管制和違反權利的事件﹐但是都發生在戰爭和社會動亂的時期。重要的是最後個人的權利得到尊重。我們習慣自由表達我們的思想﹐這是應該的﹐因為在一個言論和寫作都受到控制的國家﹐作家們會開始管制他們自己。想像一個創造力和感情都被控制的世界產生出來的藝術。對於我﹐一個熱衷的讀者﹐人權法案保障了藝術和文學延伸到未來﹐讓它達到日益增加的高度。

當然﹐別的國家也有憲法和文件保障民眾的一些權利。中國的憲法就是一個例子﹕它的開頭幾行高貴地宣佈人民的權利。和美國不同的是﹐在美國﹐這些權利是理所當然的。這不是壞事﹐因為這表示美國的人權法案不僅是一個有形的文件﹐還深深的印進民眾的心裡和腦中﹐而在中國﹐民眾不敢表達他們真正的想法﹐ 因為憲法的承諾並沒有得到實際上的保障。至於美國的兒童﹐從很小的時候開始﹐就可以聽到他們對於反對他們言論的某個人宣佈他們的言論自由。 由於整個系統的支持﹐人權法案的最初10條修正案的斷言和保證一再維護法律上的運作。 這種有關個人權利的穩定性和確定性是我的父母移民到美國的主要原因。我們願意花費數年的時間申請和等待歸化入籍﹐以便能夠像美國兒童那樣﹐如此自由和有信心的要求享有人權法案第一修正案的權利。

人權法案對於我﹐一個美國人﹐有什麼意義﹖它對我的意義和對一個亞美人的我是一樣的﹕個人選擇的權利。它的意義就是我可以決定自己的宗教信仰﹐我要說什麼話﹐和我要說的是關於什麼人的話。它的意義是當我每天打開報紙的時候﹐我讀到的是真實的新聞﹐而不是政府控制的新聞。它的意義是當政府做了我不同意的事情時﹐我有權利上訴﹐並且和與我觀念相同的人們和平集會﹐不用擔心遭到鎮壓。在世界上很多的國家裡﹐政府在新聞還沒有公開以前就已經決定了什麼可以和什麼不可以讓人民知道。在美國﹐在言論自由和新聞自由的保障下﹐我自己做決定。思想自由和得到獨立的結論不是唯一的自由形式﹐但是它是最重要的﹐因為這是所有一切的根本。我為做一名美國人而驕傲。我感謝我的父母把我帶到這裡﹐給我這個機會﹐我也很滿足﹐因為我知道我的子女將享有自由生活﹐而且認為選擇過什麼樣的生活是他們天生的權利。

英文原文﹕

The Bill of Rights: An Asian-American Perspective

I lead a double life. Every day, I go to school and learn United States History alongside my American friends. In this environment, I am an average American teenager who just happens to have black hair and black eyes. I enjoy the same music, read the same books, and complain about the same teachers as the rest of my peers. Every night, I go home to my born-and-bred Chinese parents and have a bona fide Chinese dinner, complete with rice and chopsticks. Here, my Chinese side dominates as I converse with my parents in a strange hybrid language that includes both English and Chinese. This parallel lifestyle of mine provides me with two names, two different cultures with different traditions, and two ways of looking at life. This exposure to forms of government and society other than those found in the United States allows me to appreciate the Bill of Rights in a way that a naturally born American cannot, because I cannot take it for granted.

In my opinion, the First Amendment is the most elemental and important guarantee of liberty in the Bill of Rights. It is also one of the biggest differences between life in China and life in the United States. If one cannot even express his true thoughts and follow his own beliefs, what kind of freedom does one truly have? Once independent thought and action are established, anything is possible. When independent thought and action are limited, so is an entire society. In China, the recent controversy about the expansion of Google would mean that the government would have another way to censor the information given and received by its citizens. For decades now in China, movies, books, and the media have been formed into neat little pieces of what the Chinese government deemed appropriate. In a country where a movie with a taboo subject such as “Brokeback Mountain” (banned in China although the director, Ang Lee, was the first Asian to win the Oscar for Best Director) can win an Oscar, this limitation of the arts seems unreasonable. In a country where documentaries can be produced that are so blatantly subversive to the government, as Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” was, and yet not be ostracized from society, this censorship seems extreme.

America has not been perfect in this regard. There are instances of censorship and violation of rights in history, but during times of war and social upheaval. The important thing is that in the end, the rights of the individual come out on top. We are used to expressing our opinions freely and that is as it should be, because in a country where censorship of speech and writing is practiced, writers begin to censor themselves. Imagine the art the world has lost to the limiting of creativity and emotion. To me, an avid reader, The Bill of Rights guarantees the extension of art and literature into the future, allowing it to reach ever-loftier heights.

Of course, other countries have constitutions and documents guaranteeing certain rights to their citizens. China’s Constitution is an example of this: its first few lines nobly proclaim the rights of its citizens. The difference between it and the United States is that in America, these rights are taken for granted. This is not a bad thing, because it means that besides just being a tangible document, the U.S. Bill of Rights is stamped in the hearts and minds of its citizens, whereas in China, citizens dare not express their true ideas because the promises of the Constitution are not supported in reality. From a very young age, American children can be heard claiming their right to free speech if someone disagrees with what they say. Time and again, the assertions and guarantees of the first ten amendments are upheld Ðthe laws work because the entire system works in their favor. This kind of stability and certainty concerning the rights of the individual is the major reason my family immigrated to the United States. We are willing to undergo years of applications and waiting in the naturalization process in order to be able to claim our First Amendment rights in the same way that American children do so freely and confidently.

What does the Bill of Rights mean to me, an American? The same thing it means to me as a Chinese-American: the right of personal choice. It means determining for myself my religion or what I want to say and about whom I want to say it. It means reading the true version of the daily news, not the government-censored version, when I open my newspaper. It means that when the government does things that I do not agree with, I have the right to petition it, and assemble peacefully with people who share my views without fear of persecution. In many other countries around the world, the government has already decided what can and cannot be exposed to its citizens before it is released into the public. In the United States, under freedom of speech and press, I decide for myself. Freedom of the mind to think and come to independent conclusions is not the only form of freedom, but it is the most important for this is where everything springs from. I am proud to be an American. I am grateful to my parents for providing me with this opportunity by bringing me here, and I am content to know that my children will enjoy and be able to take for granted the right to live their lives any way they decide.

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