American mythology loves nothing more than the reluctant hero: the man whose

游客2023-12-22  19

问题     American mythology loves nothing more than the reluctant hero: the man whose natural talents have destined him for more than obliging obscurity. George Washington, we are told, was a leader who would have preferred to have been a farmer. Thomas Jefferson, a writer. Martin Luther King, Jr. , a preacher. These men were roused from lives of perfunctory achievement, our legends have it, not because they chose their own exceptionalism, but because we, the people, chose it for them. We—seeing greatness in them that they were too humble to observe themselves—conferred on them uncommon paths. Historical circumstance became its own call of duty, and the logic of democracy proved itself through the answer.
    Neil Armstrong was a hero of this stripe: constitutionally humble, circumstantially noble. Nearly every obituary written for him has made a point of emphasizing his sense of privacy, his sense of humility, his sense of the ironic ordinary. Armstrong’s famous line neatly captures the narrative: One small step for[a]man, one giant leap for mankind. And yet every aspect of Armstrong’s life made clear: On that day in 1969, he acted on our behalf, out of a sense of mission that was communal rather than personal. The reluctant hero is also the self-sacrificing hero.

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答案     美国神话最爱讲述的莫过于非己所愿的英雄:天赋注定他不会默默无闻。据说,乔治.华盛顿是一位宁愿当农场主的领袖人物。托马斯.杰斐逊宁愿当作家。马丁.路德.金宁愿当牧师。我们的传奇故事里说,这些人之所以脱离平庸,不是因为他们自己选择要卓尔不群,而是我们民众为他们做出了如是选择。我们赋予了他们非凡(的人生)之路,因为我们在他们身上看到了伟大之处,他们自己太谦卑反而看不到。历史机缘成为使命的召唤,而民主的逻辑通过答案证明了自身。
    尼尔.阿姆斯特朗就属于这类英雄:他本性谦卑,因机缘而高贵。几乎每一篇悼念他的讣告上都着重强调他的隐私意识、谦恭意识、具有讽刺意味的平凡意识。阿姆斯特朗的名句“个人一小步,人类一大步”乃是对该大事件的精妙描述。然而,阿姆斯特朗一生的方方面面都表明:1969年的那一天,他代表我们的所作所为,是出于集体而非个人的使命感。非己所愿的英雄,也是具有自我牺牲精神的英雄。

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