"Where are you from?"

「你是哪個國家來的？！」

It's September 21, 2001,

這一天是 2001 年 9 月 21 日，

10 days after the worst attack on America since World War II.

是美國自二次大戰以來 所遭遇最駭人的恐怖襲擊後第 10 天。

Everyone wonders about the next plane.

每個人都擔心下一架飛機會怎樣。

People are looking for scapegoats.

大家都在找替罪羔羊。

The president, the night before, pledges to

美國總統，在前一晚誓言：

"bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies."

「將敵人繩之以法， 或以公義之名嚴懲！」

And in the Dallas mini-mart,

而在達拉斯的一家超商，

a Dallas mini-part surrounded by tire shops and strip joints

周圍滿是車胎行和脫衣舞廳，

a Bangladeshi immigrant works the register.

有一個孟加拉新移民，在這裡做收銀員。

Back home, Raisuddin Bhuiyan was a big man, an Air Force officer.

在家鄉，Raisuddin Bhuiyan 是個有身分地位的空軍軍官，

But he dreamed of a fresh start in America.

但他夢想來美國展開全新的人生，

If he had to work briefly in a mini-mart to save up for I.T. classes

即使得暫時屈就超商的收銀工作， 存錢上電腦課程、

and his wedding in two months, so be it.

為兩個月後的婚禮籌措資金，他也甘願。

Then, on September 21, that tattooed man enters the mart.

然後，在 9 月 21 日這一天， 那名紋身白人男子闖入了這家超商，

He holds a shotgun.

手裡拿著一把霰彈槍，

Raisuddin knows the drill:

Raisuddin 知道該怎麼做，

puts cash on the counter.

就把現金乖乖擺在收銀台上。

This time, the man doesn't touch the money.

不過這一次，男子並沒有拿錢。

"Where are you from?" he asks.

「你是哪個國家來的？」男子問。

"Excuse me?" Raisuddin answers.

「您說什麼？」Raisuddin 回問，

His accent betrays him.

他的口音洩漏了種族背景，

The tattooed man, a self-styled true American vigilante,

這個紋著身、自以為在 捍衛美國治安的男子，

shoots Raisuddin in revenge for 9/11.

以為 9/11 事件復仇為名， 開槍射了 Raisuddin，

Raisuddin feels millions of bees stinging his face.

Raisuddin 突然感覺好像 幾百萬隻蜜蜂刺著他的臉，

In fact, dozens of scalding, birdshot pellets puncture his head.

其實，是好幾十顆小鉛彈 打爛了他的頭，

Behind the counter, he lays in blood.

他在收銀台後倒下，躺在血泊中。

He cups a hand over his forehead to keep in the brains

他一隻手壓住額頭， 硬把腦漿壓回去，

on which he'd gambled everything.

畢竟這腦子是他花了一輩子心血培養的。

He recites verses from the Koran, begging his God to live.

他誦唸著可蘭經的經句， 祈求他的真主讓他活下去。

He senses he is dying.

他感覺到自己快要死了。

He didn't die.

可是他並沒有死。

His right eye left him.

他失去了左眼，

His fiancée left him.

未婚妻也離開了他。

His landlord, the mini-mart owner, kicked him out.

他的房東，也是那家超商的老闆， 把他趕走。

Soon he was homeless and 60,000 dollars in medical debt,

他一下子無家可歸， 還欠了 6 萬美金的醫藥費，

including a fee for dialing for an ambulance.

包括叫救護車的電話費。

But Raisuddin lived.

但他終究還是活了下來。

And years later, he would ask what he could do to repay his God

幾年以後，他一直自問， 可以做什麼才能報答他的真主，

and become worthy of this second chance.

也才配得這個重生的機會。

He would come to believe, in fact,

他逐漸相信，事實上，

that this chance called for him to give a second chance

他的重生，是要教他 也給別人第二次機會──

to a man we might think deserved no chance at all.

給那個絲毫不配的暴徒。

Twelve years ago, I was a fresh graduate seeking my way in the world.

12 年前，我大學剛畢業， 正在尋找自己的出路。

Born in Ohio to Indian immigrants,

我在俄亥俄州出生，爸媽來自印度。

I settled on the ultimate rebellion against my parents,

我做了一個最忤逆父母的決定，

moving to the country they had worked so damn hard to get out of.

就是搬回到他們費盡千辛萬苦 才逃離的國家。

What I thought might be a six-month stint in Mumbai stretched to six years.

我本來想在孟買待 6 個月， 結果待了 6 年，

I became a writer and found myself amid a magical story:

我開始寫作， 而且置身一個不可思議的故事中：

the awakening of hope across much of the so-called Third World.

希望，正在所謂的第三世界中 甦醒過來。

Six years ago, I returned to America and realized something:

6 年前我回到美國，發覺：

The American Dream was thriving,

美國夢正在壯大，

but only in India.

但只有在印度。

In America, not so much.

在美國本身，並沒有。

In fact, I observed that America was fracturing

事實上，我看到美國正在分裂，

into two distinct societies:

變成天壤地別的兩個社會：

a republic of dreams and a republic of fears.

一個夢想共和國，和一個恐懼共和國。

And then, I stumbled onto this incredible tale of two lives

然後我發現這兩個生命的驚人故事，

and of these two Americas that brutally collided in that Dallas mini-mart.

和在那個達拉斯超商裡 殘忍對撞的兩個美國。

I knew at once I wanted to learn more,

一開始我就知道，我想追蹤這個故事，

and eventually that I would write a book about them,

最後，寫成一本書。

for their story was the story of America's fracturing

因為他們的故事，就是美國分裂的故事，

and of how it might be put back together.

更透現著美國如何能重新癒合的曙光。

After he was shot, Raisuddin's life grew no easier.

被槍襲後，Raisuddin 的生活更加艱困，

The day after admitting him, the hospital discharged him.

送醫後第二天，醫院就請他出院。

His right eye couldn't see.

他的右眼失明，

He couldn't speak.

他無法說話，

Metal peppered his face.

滿臉都是鉛彈，

But he had no insurance, so they bounced him.

但是因為沒有保險，所以醫院不收留他。

His family in Bangladesh begged him, "Come home."

他在孟加拉的家人央求他： 「快回家吧！」

But he told them he had a dream to see about.

但他告訴他們，他要完成夢想。

He found telemarketing work,

他找到了電話行銷的工作，

then he became an Olive Garden waiter,

接著到橄欖園高級餐廳當服務生，

because where better to get over his fear of white people than the Olive Garden?

因為，哪裡比這更適合克服 對白人的恐懼呢？

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑聲）

Now, as a devout Muslim, he refused alcohol,

他虔信穆斯林教，所以不喝酒，

didn't touch the stuff.

滴酒不沾。

Then he learned that not selling it would slash his pay.

但他發現，不賣酒會影響收入，

So he reasoned, like a budding American pragmatist,

所以他學得像個美國實用主義者那樣 自我推論：

"Well, God wouldn't want me to starve, would he?"

「上帝不會希望我餓肚子，不是嗎？」

And before long, in some months, Raisuddin was that Olive Garden's

很快地，短短幾個月後， Raisuddin 變成那家餐廳

highest grossing alcohol pusher.

業績最好的酒品促銷員。

He found a man who taught him database administration.

他找到一個人，教他資料庫管理，

He got part-time I.T. gigs.

兼差做資訊科技工作。

Eventually, he landed a six-figure job at a blue chip tech company in Dallas.

最後，在達拉斯一家績優股科技公司 獲得年薪百萬美金的工作。

But as America began to work for Raisuddin,

但是當 Raisuddin 在美國開始順利，

he avoided the classic error of the fortunate:

他沒有犯許多成功者的典型錯誤：

assuming you're the rule, not the exception.

把成功視為理所當然，而不是少數人的偶然。

In fact, he observed that many with the fortune of being born American

其實，他看到許多幸運土生土長的美國人，

were nonetheless trapped in lives that made second chances like his impossible.

卻生活困頓，毫無像他那樣的第二次機會。

He saw it at the Olive Garden itself,

他在橄欖園餐廳就親眼看到，

where so many of his colleagues had childhood horror stories

很多同事經歷過可怕的童年，

of family dysfunction, chaos, addiction, crime.

充滿了家庭失和、混亂、成癮、犯罪。

He'd heard a similar tale about the man who shot him

那個開槍襲擊他的人，也有類似的背景，

back when he attended his trial.

Raisuddin 是在出庭時聽到他的故事。

The closer Raisuddin got to the America he had coveted from afar,

Raisuddin 越靠近他曾經夢想的美國，

the more he realized there was another, equally real, America

就越發現另一個同樣真實的美國，

that was stingier with second chances.

一個不給第二次機會的美國。

The man who shot Raisuddin grew up in that stingier America.

槍擊他的人，就是在這一個嚴酷的美國長大。

From a distance, Mark Stroman was always the spark of parties,

表面上看來，Mark Stroman 總是派對焦點，

always making girls feel pretty.

很會把妹。

Always working, no matter what drugs or fights he'd had the night before.

不管前一晚吸毒或幹架，隔天照常上班。

But he'd always wrestled with demons.

但他一直擺脫不了心魔。

He entered the world through the three gateways

他的成長背景，有三條徒徑，

that doom so many young American men:

每一條都注定了 許多年輕美國男子的厄運：

bad parents, bad schools, bad prisons.

不良父母、不良學校、不良監獄。

His mother told him, regretfully, as a boy

小時候，媽媽懊悔地跟他說，

that she'd been just 50 dollars short of aborting him.

若非當時缺 50 塊美金， 早就把他墮胎了。

Sometimes, that little boy would be at school,

有時候，這個小男孩在學校，

he'd suddenly pull a knife on his fellow classmates.

會突然對同學拔刀。

Sometimes that same little boy would be at his grandparents',

有時候，同樣這個小男孩， 會在祖父母家，

tenderly feeding horses.

溫柔地餵馬。

He was getting arrested before he shaved,

他還沒長鬍子，就坐過牢。

first juvenile, then prison.

先是少年感化院，然後又進監獄。

He became a casual white supremacist

他相信白人比較優越，應該掌權，

and, like so many around him, a drug-addled and absent father.

而且，像周遭許多人一樣， 他也變成了毒蟲、缺席的父親。

And then, before long, he found himself on death row,

再過不久，終於面臨死刑。

for in his 2001 counter-jihad, he had shot not one mini-mart clerk,

因為在他 2001 年自詡反聖戰行動中， 他不只射殺一個超商店員，

but three.

他槍襲了三個人。

Only Raisuddin survived.

只有 Raisuddin 活了下來。

Strangely, death row was the first institution

奇異的是，死囚監獄是第一個

that left Stroman better.

真正改變 Stroman 的地方。

His old influences quit him.

他戒掉壞習慣，

The people entering his life were virtuous and caring:

在這裡遇到的人 品德好，且關懷別人：

pastors, journalists, European pen-pals.

牧師、記者、歐洲的筆友。

They listened to him, prayed with him, helped him question himself.

他們傾聽他的心聲，

And sent him on a journey of introspection and betterment.

跟他一起禱告，

He finally faced the hatred that had defined his life.

幫助他自我探索，

He read Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor

展開自省和成長的旅程，

and regretted his swastika tattoos.

他終於面對挾制了他一生的仇恨意識。

He found God.

他讀大屠殺倖存者 Viktor Frankl 的書，

Then one day in 2011, 10 years after his crimes,

後悔自己有納粹黨十字記號刺青。

Stroman received news.

他找到了上帝。

One of the men he'd shot, the survivor, was fighting to save his life.

然後 2011 年，他犯罪的 10 年後，

You see, late in 2009, eight years after that shooting,

有一天 Stroman 聽到了這個消息：

Raisuddin had gone on his own journey, a pilgrimage to Mecca.

當年他槍襲的其中一人， 正在爭取讓他活命。

Amid its crowds, he felt immense gratitude,

原來，2009 年底， 槍擊事件 8 年後，

but also duty.

Raisuddin 也展開了生命旅程， 前往麥加朝聖。

He recalled promising God, as he lay dying in 2001,

在朝聖人潮中，他深深感恩，

that if he lived, he would serve humanity all his days.

也體悟到使命感。

Then, he'd gotten busy relaying the bricks of a life.

他想起 2001 年生命垂危時 曾經答應過上帝，

Now it was time to pay his debts.

如果他能存活，他將奉獻餘生服務人類。

And he decided, upon reflection, that his method of payment

後來，他忙於重建自己的生活。

would be an intervention in the cycle of vengeance

現在，該是還債的時候了。

between the Muslim and Western worlds.

深思後，他決定 他回報上帝的方式，

And how would he intervene?

是介入報復的惡性循環──

By forgiving Stroman publicly in the name of Islam

穆斯林和西方國家之間的冤冤相報。

and its doctrine of mercy.

那麼，他要怎麼介入呢？

And then suing the state of Texas and its governor Rick Perry

他決定公開原諒 Stroman， 以伊斯蘭的聖名

to prevent them from executing Stroman,

和其慈悲的教誨。

exactly like most people shot in the face do.

然後對德州和州長 Rick Perry 提告，

(Laughter)

以制止他們處死 Stroman，

Yet Raisuddin's mercy was inspired not only by faith.

正像大多數被槍襲的人會做的事。

A newly minted American citizen, he had come to believe that Stroman

（觀眾笑聲）

was the product of a hurting America that couldn't just be lethally injected away.

Raisuddin 的慈悲不只是因信仰的教導，

That insight is what moved me to write my book "The True American."

剛成為美國公民的他相信

This immigrant begging America to be as merciful to a native son

Stroman 是受傷美國的產物， 不是處死刑就能癒合的傷痛。

as it had been to an adopted one.

這個洞見，啟發了我寫 "The True American" 這本書。

In the mini-mart, all those years earlier,

這位新移民，懇求美國能夠 對親生兒子發慈悲，

not just two men, but two Americas collided.

如同對他這個養子一樣。

An America that still dreams, still strives,

當年在那家超商，

still imagines that tomorrow can build on today,

不只是兩個男子， 而是兩個美國的撞擊，

and an America that has resigned to fate,

一個美國依然懷抱夢想、持續茁壯、

buckled under stress and chaos, lowered expectations,

相信明天建構在今日的基礎之上；

an ducked into the oldest of refuges:

另一個美國接受宿命、

the tribal fellowship of one's own narrow kind.

被壓力和混亂壓垮、失去盼望、

And it was Raisuddin, despite being a newcomer,

只能躲進歷史最悠久的避難所：

despite being attacked,

遁入一個狹隘的、想像的族群。

despite being homeless and traumatized,

然而卻是 Raisuddin── 儘管是個新移民、

who belonged to that republic of dreams

儘管被襲擊、

and Stroman who belonged to that other wounded country,

儘管無家可歸、歷經創傷──

despite being born with the privilege of a native white man.

才屬於這個夢想共和國；

I realized these men's stories formed an urgent parable about America.

而 Stroman 卻屬於受傷的 那個美國，

The country I am so proud to call my own

儘管他有幸生為白皮膚的本國人。

wasn't living through a generalized decline

我體認到，他們的故事是關於美國的 迫切寓言。

as seen in Spain or Greece, where prospects were dimming for everyone.

這個我驕傲歸屬的國家

America is simultaneously the most and the least successful country

並不是正在全面的衰微，

in the industrialized world.

不像西班牙或希臘 全國人民都在受苦。

Launching the world's best companies,

美國是工業化世界裡最成功、

even as record numbers of children go hungry.

同時也最失敗的國家。

Seeing life-expectancy drop for large groups,

創立全球最佳企業，

even as it polishes the world's best hospitals.

挨餓的兒童人數卻打破紀錄。

America today is a sprightly young body,

大批族群國民的壽命縮短，

hit by one of those strokes that sucks the life from one side,

縱使擁有世界一流的醫院。

while leaving the other worryingly perfect.

今日的美國，是個年輕有活力的身體，

On July 20, 2011, right after a sobbing Raisuddin

半身中風，

testified in defense of Stroman's life,

癱瘓無力，

Stroman was killed by lethal injection by the state he so loved.

另外半身卻完美無暇到 令人憂心的地步。

Hours earlier, when Raisuddin still thought he could still save Stroman,

2011 年 7 月 20 日， 就是在 Raisuddin 哽咽陳情──

the two men got to speak for the second time ever.

為 Stroman 請命不久之後，

Here is an excerpt from their phone call.

Stroman 死於死刑藥劑之下， 由他鍾愛的州行刑。

Raisuddin: "Mark, you should know that I am praying for God,

行刑前幾小時， Raisuddin 還抱持一線希望，

the most compassionate and gracious.

兩人在槍襲事件後第一次對話。

I forgive you and I do not hate you.

以下是他們通電話的一段內容：

I never hated you."

Raisuddin：「Mark，我要你知道 我在向上帝祈禱，

Stroman: "You are a remarkable person.

最悲憫仁慈的神，

Thank you from my heart.

我原諒你，也不恨你。

I love you, bro."

我從沒有恨過你。」

Even more amazingly, after the execution,

Stroman：「你真了不起。

Raisuddin reached out to Stroman's eldest daughter, Amber,

我打從心裡感激你。

an ex-convinct and an addict.

我愛你，我的兄弟。」

and offered his help.

更動人的是，行刑之後，

"You may have lost a father," he told her,

Raisuddin 連絡上 Stroman 的 長女 Amber，

"but you've gained an uncle."

一個有前科和毒癮的女孩，

He wanted her, too, to have a second chance.

他想幫助她。

If human history were a parade,

「妳雖然失去了父親，」他對她說，

America's float would be a neon shrine to second chances.

「卻得到了一個舅父。」

But America, generous with second chances to the children of other lands,

他希望她也能有第二次機會。

today grows miserly with first chances to the children of its own.

如果人類歷史是一個遊行，

America still dazzles at allowing anybody to become an American.

美國花車就像 第二次機會的霓虹神龕。

But it is losing its luster at allowing every American to become a somebody.

然而美國，雖然 大方給予移民之子第二次機會，

Over the last decade, seven million foreigners gained American citizenship.

今天卻連第一次機會都 吝於給予親生之子。

Remarkable.

美國仍然以開放移民 成為美國人而令人炫目，

In the meanwhile, how many Americans gained a place in the middle class?

卻無法扶植本國人順利成功， 因而漸失光彩。

Actually, the net influx was negative.

過去 10 年，有 7 百萬移民 成為美國公民。

Go back further, and it's even more striking:

很了不起。

Since the 60s, the middle class has shrunk by 20 percent,

同時，有多少美國人成為 中產階級？

mainly because of the people tumbling out of it.

事實上，淨流入量是負值。

And my reporting around the country tells me the problem is grimmer

再往前追溯，統計更驚人：

than simple inequality.

從 60 年代到今天， 中產階級縮減了 2 成，

What I observe is a pair of secessions from the unifying center of American life.

大多是因為人們掉出這個階級。

An affluent secession of up, up and away,

我的國內研究報告顯示， 這個問題的嚴重性

into elite enclaves of the educated and into a global matrix

不單只是因為不平等。

of work, money and connections,

我觀察到的是從美國中心 分裂開來的兩個社會：

and an impoverished secession of down and out

一個是飛黃騰達的富裕社會，

into disconnected, dead-end lives

教育菁英的上流圈子，

that the fortunate scarcely see.

擁有全球的事業、財富和人脈關係；

And don't console yourself that you are the 99 percent.

另一個是潦倒不堪的窮困社會，

If you live near a Whole Foods,

孤立無援、永無翻身之日，

if no one in your family serves in the military,