【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 hose days had an Asian population of one percent.
　　那是我第一次感受到一件殘酷而現(xiàn)實(shí)的事實(shí)。我屬于一個(gè)少數(shù)群體，但那絕不是最后一次。在那個(gè)時(shí)代的羅切斯特，亞洲人口特別少，幾乎之占當(dāng)?shù)厝丝诘陌俜种弧?br />　　And I was confused. I wanted to punch Brian. I wanted to hurt him for putting me in that situation. But he was faster than me and he was stronger than me. And he would kick my butt and we both knew that. So I just took it in. And I didnamp。rsquo。t tell anyone or share with anyone these feelings. I just held them in and I let them fester. And those feelings would surface in a strangely therapeutic way for me through music. And it was no coincidence that around that time I started getting good with the violin, the guitar, and the drums. And I would soon discover that by playing music or singing, other kids would, for a brief moment, forget about my race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who I truly am, a human being whoamp。rsquo。s emotional, spiritual, curious about the world and has a need for love, just like everyone else.
　　我當(dāng)時(shí)心里很亂，我很想把bryan 打一頓。他讓我陷入那種窘境，因此我也要讓他難過。但是他身材比我壯，出手也比我快。如果和他打架，我一定會(huì)被揍得更慘。這一點(diǎn)我們都知道。所以我就忍了下來。我從來沒有告訴過別人。也沒發(fā)泄什么感受。一直自己忍著，想讓他們爛在心底就好了。后來慢慢地，這些感受在音樂里竟然十分巧妙地把我治愈了。我那個(gè)時(shí)候?qū)π√崆?，吉他，鼓都越來越得心?yīng)手，當(dāng)然不是巧合。我漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)我演奏或者唱歌的時(shí)候，其他孩子便會(huì)忘記我的種族或我的膚色。而真正接受我，了解真正的我，哪怕只是一小會(huì)。每當(dāng)這個(gè)時(shí)候，他們就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，我跟他們都是一樣的人。我也對(duì)世界充滿感性的好奇和想象，我也需要愛。
　　And by the six grade, guess who asked me if I would be the drummer for his band? Brian. And I said yes. And thatamp。rsquo。s when we together formed the elementary school rock band called Nirvana. I am not kidding. I wan in the rock band called Nirvana before Kurt Cobainamp。rsquo。s Nirvana was ever known. So when Nirvana came out, Bryan and I were like “。Hey, heamp。rsquo。s stealing our name.”。 But, really what attracted me to music at this young age was just this and itamp。rsquo。s still what I love about music is that it breaks down the walls between us and shows us so quickly the truth that we are much more alike than we are different. Then in high school, I learned that music wasnamp。rsquo。t just about connecting with other, like Bryan and I were connected through music. It was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration.
　　到了六年級(jí)的時(shí)候，猜猜誰拉我加入他的樂隊(duì)當(dāng)鼓手?對(duì)，就是Bryan，我答應(yīng)了。于是Bryan跟我一起，組成了我們小學(xué)的搖滾樂隊(duì)：涅槃樂隊(duì)。是真的我沒開玩笑。我們的樂隊(duì)在科特柯本的涅槃樂隊(duì)之前就有了。所以后來涅槃樂隊(duì)出道的時(shí)候，我跟Bryan還嚷嚷，嘿，他盜用我們的名字!所以在那么小的時(shí)候，我就發(fā)現(xiàn)了音樂的迷人之處。當(dāng)然這迷人之處也是我至今熱愛音樂的原因之一。那就是，音樂能打破人與人之間的隔閡，能讓我們那么快就看到彼此的相似點(diǎn)，而不是那些不同之處。后來上了高中，我學(xué)到了更多，音樂不僅僅能夠溝通彼此，就像我跟Bryan通過音樂結(jié)緣一樣。它同時(shí)也是一股強(qiáng)大的影響他人，激勵(lì)他人的力量。
　　Sam Wayne was my high school janitor. He was an immigrant from Vietnam who barely spoke a word of English. Sam scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms in our school for twenty years. And he never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to Sam. But one day, before the opening night of our schoolamp。rsquo。s annual musical, he walked up to me, holding a letter. And I was taken aback. I was thinking, “。Why is Sam the janitor approaching me? And he gave me this letter that I have kept to this day. It was scrawled in a shaky hand written in all in capitals. And I read: “。In all my years of working as a genitor at Sutherland, you are the first Asian boy that played the lead role. I am gonna bring my sixyearold daughter to watch you perform tonight because I want her to see that Asians can be inspiring.”。 And that letter just floored me. I was fifteen years old and I was absolutely stunned. Thatamp。rsquo。s the first time I realized how music was so important.
　　Sam Wayne是我們學(xué)校的門衛(wèi)。他是越南僑民。幾乎從來不說英語。Sam在我們學(xué)校做了二十幾年的清潔工，擦地板，掃廁所。卻從來沒跟學(xué)生們說過話。學(xué)生們也從不跟他說話。但是一天，我們學(xué)校一年一度的音樂節(jié)前夕，sam找到我，手里拿著一封信。我嚇壞了，心里琢磨，門衛(wèi)sam找我會(huì)有什么事?于是他遞給了我那封我至今保存的信。一看就是用顫抖的手寫下的潦草字跡。全都是大寫字母，信上寫著，我在這個(gè)學(xué)校當(dāng)了那么多年門衛(wèi)，你是我見過的第一個(gè)擔(dān)綱主唱的亞洲男孩。我今晚要帶我六歲的女兒來看你的演出。因?yàn)槲蚁胍吹?，我們亞洲人也可以帶給人好多正能量。我真的被那封信震驚了。十五歲的我當(dāng)時(shí)就驚呆了。我第一次意識(shí)到，原來音樂如此重要。
　　With Bryan, music helped two kids who were initially enemies bee friends. But with Sam, music went beyond the oneonone. It was even a higher level. It influenced others I didnamp。rsquo。t even know in ways I can never imagine. I canamp。rsquo。t tell you how grateful I am to Sam, the janitor, to this day. He really is one of the people who helped me discover my lifeamp。rsquo。s purpose. And I had no idea that something I did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant from Vietnam who barely spoke English. Pop culture, music, and the other methods of story telling, movies, TV dramas, they are so key and they do connect us like me and Bryan and do influence us and inspire us.
　　在Bryan那兒，他讓兩個(gè)本來是敵人的孩子成為了朋友，然而在sam這里，音樂的意義超過了個(gè)體的范疇，達(dá)到了一個(gè)更好的層次。音樂以我想不到的方式影響到我甚至完全不認(rèn)識(shí)的人。我從頭至尾對(duì)門衛(wèi)sam的感激是無法用語言來形容的。他真的算是幫助我發(fā)掘人生目標(biāo)的人之一。我從來不知道我的一個(gè)小小的行為，能夠?qū)@樣一位甚至從來不說英文的越南僑民產(chǎn)生如此大的影響。流行文化，音樂以及任何一種講述故事的方式包括電影，電視劇，他們都是如此的重要，連接著我們。比如Bryan和我，又真的在影響著我們，激勵(lì)著我們。
　　Then letamp。rsquo。s take another look at this State of union the east, west union ,with this softpower bias. How is the so