第4章 任重而道远

Our Responsibility Is Heavy

西奥多·罗斯福/Theodore Roosevelt

西奥多·罗斯福（1858-1919），共和党人，美国总统，毕业于哈佛大学。曾组织志愿骑兵团参加美西战争，1900年任副总统，次年麦金利总统遇刺身亡，继任总统，时年42岁。任期内推出多项改革，以“改革家”面貌治国，对外则实行“大棒”政策。

亲爱的公民们，在这个世界上，没有哪个民族比我们更应该满怀感激，我说这话是完全虔诚的，没有任何夸耀自己实力的意思，此时的我满怀着对恩惠之神的感激之心，是他令我们获得了安宁和幸福。我们肩负起在新大陆打下国计民生的基业的使命。我们是时代的后嗣，可是我们也不得不承受一些惩罚，那是旧时代逝去文明的阴魂对我们的讨伐。我们不曾为了生存被迫与任何外来民族作战，但是生活仍要求我们保持精力充沛，并努力奋斗，从而不让我们勇敢果断的美德消亡。如果在这种条件下我们失败了，那只能是我们自己的过错；我们不应为过去所取得的成就和未来必然胜利的信念而自负，相反，我们应该对生活赋予的一切有一种深切而持久的认知，对我们自己肩负的责任有一个更全面的认可，并且用一种更坚定的决心表现出，在一个自由政府的领导下，一个强大的民族一定会兴旺昌盛，精神与物质共同发展。

我们被赋予了多少，就会被期待多高。无论是对别人，还是对自己，我们都负有不可推卸的责任。我们已经成为一个伟大的民族，在与世界各国的关系中，强大迫使我们自身的行为举止必须与肩负这样职责的人民身份相一致。对世界上的其他国家，不论大小，我们的态度必须是热情而真诚的。我们不仅必须在言语上，还要在行动中，通过对他们所有权利的公正、慷慨的认同精神，来表现我们对保护他们的美好愿望的诚挚渴望。但是，同个人一样，由强者所表现出来的民族正义及慷慨远比弱者更加珍贵。在我们小心地避免对他人造成伤害的同时，我们也必须坚持不懈地避免自己犯错。我们渴望和平，但我们希望这是因为我们认为和平相处是正确的，而不是因为我们害怕动乱。任何英勇正义的弱国都无须畏惧我们，任何一个强国也不能将我们孤立为粗野的侵略对象。

My fellow-citizens， no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours， and this is said reverently， in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength， but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent.We are the heirs of the ages， and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization.We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race；and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away.Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed；and the success which we have had in the past， the success which we confidently believe thefuture will bring， should cause in us no feeling of vainglory， but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us；a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours；and a fixed determination to show that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best， alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul.

Much has been given to us， and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves；and we can shirk neither.We have become a great nation， forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth， and we must behave as be-seems a people with such responsibilities.Toward all other nations， large and small， our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship.We must show not only in our words， but in our deeds， that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights.But justice and generosity in a nation， as in an individual， count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong.While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others， we must be no less insistent than we are not wronged ourselves.We wish peace， but we wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.No weak nation that acts manfully and justly should ever have cause to fear us， and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent aggression.