TED | 每个人的故事都值得聆听
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每天一个TED，只为遇见更好的你。
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每个人的故事都值得聆听
| 讲师
Dave Isay
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社会 技能 TED 演讲
| 简介
2003年，戴夫·伊萨伊(Dave Isay)在纽约中央车站(Grand Central Terminal)开设了第一个StoryCorps摊位，目的是创造一个安静的地方，人们可以通过聆听故事来纪念对自己重要的人。从那时起，StoryCorps已经发展成为有史以来最大的人类声音集合。他的TED获奖愿望是:发展人类集体智慧的数字档案。听听他关于将StoryCorps推向全球的愿景——以及你如何通过使用StoryCorps应用程序采访某人，从而成为其中的一份子。
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00:13
今晚，我要邀请你爱的人，你的朋友，甚至是一个陌生人，来与你进行一段有意义的访谈，希望这段对话会是你和他/她此生最为重要的时刻之一。
00:29
22岁的时候，在我全身心投入制作广播故事时，很庆幸，我发现了我毕生所爱。几乎是在同时，我发现我无比挚爱的父亲，是同性恋。我十分震惊，无法接受这一事实。那时我们一家人关系很紧密，我崩溃了。后来，在一次不安的谈话中，我的父亲提到了石墙事件。他告诉我，1969年的一个晚上，在曼哈顿石墙旅馆的一个同性恋酒吧里，一群年轻的黑人和拉丁美裔扮装皇后与警察之间发生了一系列暴力冲突，石墙事件被认为是现代同性恋权利运动的起点。
01:10
这真是一个不可思议的故事，它激起了我的兴趣。于是我决定拿起我的录音机，进一步探索。在一个名为MichaelShirker的年轻档案保管员的帮助下，我们追踪到了所有能找到的石墙事件的亲历者。通过录下一段段对话，我意识到麦克风是如何让我前往不曾涉足的地方，与素未谋面的人对话。我得以认识那些素昧平生的，最不可思议、激进和果敢的人。这是这个故事首次被传播给整个国家的听众，我把它献给我的父亲，这改变了我跟他的关系，也改变了我的一生。
02:00
随后的15年中，我制作了很多录音，力求发掘那些被媒体忽视的人们的故事，一次又一次我见证着，简简单单的访谈，对某些人来说却意义深远，尤其是那些被告知自己的故事无关紧要的人。我甚至能看到人们开始对着麦克风讲话时后背都绷紧了。
02:22
在1998年，我探访了曼哈顿Bowery区的最后几家廉价旅馆。那里的人在这些廉价旅馆住了数十年，他们住在牢房大小的小间里，四周围着铁丝网，以防他们窜到其他房间。后来，我与摄像师HarveyWang一起基于他们的故事写了本书。我记得当我拿着这本书的初版走进廉价旅馆，给其中一个人看他的故事时，他站在那儿，默默地盯着那几页书，突然从我手中抢去了那本书，在那又长又窄的过道里狂奔，把书举在头顶，高声呐喊，”我是存在的！我是存在的！“（掌声）
03:08
”我是存在的“通过很多途径成为了StoryCorps的口号，StoryCorps是我十多年前就想到的疯狂的主意。我的想法是制作纪实作品，并变革它，赋予它新的意义。通常来讲，广播纪实来自于访谈，进而以艺术、娱乐或教育的目的呈现出来，以视听的方式传播给每个人。但我要尝试，让访谈本身成为这些作品的目的，从而给越来越多的人机会，通过这种方式被人知晓。因此，11年前，在纽约中央车站，我们建造了一个亭子，每个人都可以走进来，与另外一个人以访谈的方式表达对彼此的尊敬。你走到这个亭子旁边，一个工作人员会领你进去，你的对面坐着，比如你的祖父，在将近一小时的时间里，你们互相倾听与交流。许多人是这么想的，如果这是我们之间最后一次谈话，我会问什么？我想对这位对我而言意义非凡的人说些什么？访谈结束后，你带着一份音像记录离开，另有一份将存入美国国会图书馆的Folklife中心，这样未来的一天，你的曾曾曾孙辈就能通过这段音频和故事了解你的祖父。
04:25
就这样，在世界最繁华的地段之一，我们建立了这个小亭子，邀请人们与另外一个人完成一段亲密对话。起初我不知道它会不会成功，但事实上一开始就成功了。人们怀揣崇高的敬意来对待这段经历，奇妙的谈话就在里面产生了。
04:44
现在我要播放一段配有动画的节选，来自起初的纽约中央车站亭子的一个访谈。12岁的JoshuaLittman采访了他的母亲，Sarah。Josh患有艾斯伯格综合症，你们或许知道，患有艾斯伯格综合症的孩子智商超群，却很难与人打交道。他们通常都有恋物癖。对Josh而言，他迷恋的是动物，下面就是来自9年前，Josh与他的妈妈Sarah在纽约中央车站的访谈。
05:12
（录音）JoshLittman:没有动物的话，从1到10衡量，你认为你的生活会发生多大程度上的变化？SarahLittman:如果没有动物，我想应该是8，因为它们为我们的生活增添了这么多欢乐。
05:23
JL:若没有动物，你的生活会变成什么样？
05:25
SL:如果没有蟑螂、蛇之类的动物应该没什么影响。
05:28
JL:好吧，只要蛇没有毒，也不会让你吓得四肢瘫软，我还是能接受蛇的。
05:32
SL:是的，我不是很喜欢蛇——
05:34
JL:但我们都很恨讨厌蟑螂。
05:37
SL:没错，的确是。
05:38
JL:你有没有想过养育一个孩子会让你忙不过来？
05:41
SL:我记得当你还是个婴儿时，有一次你患了严重的急腹痛（疝气），你不停地哭啊哭啊。
05:46
JL:什么是急腹痛？SL:就是你的胃会很疼，你会一直叫喊，持续好几个钟头。
05:52
JL:叫得比Amy还要响吗？
05:54
SL:你的叫声很响，但Amy的音调更高一些。
05:57
JL:我感觉所有人都更喜欢Amy，她就像一个完美的小天使。
06:03
SL:我能理解为什么你会觉得所有人都更喜欢Amy，我并不是说因为你患有艾斯伯格综合症，只是因为Amy更容易展现出友好的一面，而我觉得对于你而言更难，但那些花时间去了解你的人都很喜欢你。
06:19
JL:就像Ben，Eric，或Carlos？SL:是的。
06:22
JL:就是说我的朋友质量更高，虽然数量少一些？（笑声）
06:26
SL:我不会就质量做评论，但我想——JL:我的意思是，好像最开始Amy喜欢Claudia，然后又烦Claudia，然后又喜欢Claudia，然后又烦了。
06:34
SL:亲爱的，那是女孩子的事。重要的是你有一些非常要好的朋友，真的，那才是你生活中需要的。
06:42
JL:现在的我是那个出生时你盼望长成的孩子吗？我达到你的期望了吗？
06:49
SL:你超出我的预期了，亲爱的，因为，当然，人都会对自己的孩子有各种各样的幻想，但你让作为母亲的我成长了许多，因为你想——
07:00
JL:是我让你成为了母亲。
07:02
SL:确实是你让我成为了母亲。这个观点很好。（笑声）但也是因为你的想法跟那些育儿书上讲的不一样，跟你在一起我必须学习如何让思维冲破牢笼，作为一个母亲，作为一个人，这都让我更富有创造力，对此我会永远感谢你。
07:20
JL:这在Amy出生时帮助你了吗？
07:22
SL:的确，但你对我而言是无比珍贵和特殊，能有你这样的儿子我很幸运。（掌声）
07:38
DavidIsay:当这个故事公开以后，Josh收到了数百封信，告诉Josh他是多么优秀的孩子。他的母亲，Sarah，把这些信捆扎成书，当Josh在学校被人欺负时，他们会一起读这些信件。我需要感谢的是，我的这两位英雄今晚也来到了这里，SarahLittman和她的儿子Josh，Josh现在已经是一名优秀的大学生了。（掌声）
08:03
许多人都说在听到StoryCorps的一个个故事后会忍不住流泪，并不是因为他们感到悲伤。大多数都不是。我想是因为，在这个真实故事和虚假广告有时都难以分清的年代，你们在StoryCorps听到的都是真实质朴的故事。这跟如今的电视节目背道而驰。没有人来StoryCorps是为了赚钱，没有人来是为了出名，这完全是一种出于慷慨和爱的行动。许多故事只是日常生活中人们会谈论的慈爱，勇气，礼仪和尊严，当你听到这种故事时，有时你会觉得你漫步在神圣的土地上。纽约中央车站的试验成功了。
08:45
我们就将其拓展到整个国家。如今，在美国50个州，数以千计的城市和乡镇中，超过十万人在StoryCorps进行了访谈。如今，它已成为世界上最大的人类声音数据库。（掌声）
09:06
我们雇佣并培训了数百名工作人员来协助人们访谈，他们中的大多数会服务一到两年，与StoryCorps一起走遍全国，收集人性散发出的智慧。他们称之为见证，如果你问他们，所有的工作人员都会告诉你他们在见证这些访谈时获得的最重要的启迪是，人性本善。在StoryCorps出现的第一年，你或许会说走进StoryCorps的人并没有代表性，但当来自全国各地的各种各样的人——富人，穷人，5岁到105岁，80种不同的语言，不同的宗教信仰，进行了多达数以万计的访谈后——你不得不相信这些人或许都有某种共同的特点。
09:53
从这么多访谈中，我也收获良多。我意识到，在只要肯花时间倾听，我们都能从身边人的言语中发现诗词般的美，以及智慧与优雅。正如这一则访谈，一名来自布鲁克林的名叫DannyPerasa的职员，把他的夫人Annie带到StoryCorps，告诉她他有多么爱她。
10:18
（录音）DannyPerasa:你懂的，是这样的，每当对你说”我爱你“时我都有种罪恶感，而我又那么经常说。我是想要提醒你虽然我很挫，但三个字是我亲口说出来的。就如同听到锈迹斑斑的收音机里传出美丽的歌声，感谢你把这台收音机留在身边。
10:35
AnniePerasa:如果你没在厨房的桌子上留一张纸条，我会以为是出了什么意外。每天早晨你都会写下充满爱意的话语。DP:唯一可能出差错的就是我找不到一支该死的笔。
10:43
AP:至我的贵妃：今天外面雨下得大，上午11:20我会给你打电话。
10:51
DP:这真是浪漫的天气预报。
10:52
AP:我爱你。我爱你。我爱你。
10:55
DP:一个男人幸福地结婚之后，无论工作上发生了什么，其他时间发生了什么，家都是温暖的避风港，你永远都会知道你可以拥抱家里的那位，而不用担心被她踹下楼梯，被吼到，”把手拿开。“结婚了就像是有了一台彩色电视机。你永远都不想再看黑白电视了。（笑声）
11:16
DI:Danny身高只有1米5，交叉眼，还有一颗龅牙，但DannyPerasa小拇指上的浪漫要比好莱坞所有男星加起来都多。
11:29
我还收获了什么感触呢？我感受到人的体谅之心是如此深沉而隽永。我感受到人的恢复能力，我感受到人内心的坚强。
11:39
正如OsheaIsrael和MaryJohnson之间的这一则访谈。在Oshea还年轻的时候，在一场帮派斗争中，他谋杀了Mary唯一的儿子，LaramiunByrd。十余年后，Mary去监狱里见到了Oshea，见到了这个夺走她儿子生命的人。渐渐地，令人不可思议的是，他们成为了朋友，最后当Oshea刑满释放后，他搬到了Mary家旁边。在Oshea重获自由不久，他俩完成了一段访谈，下面是一小段节选。
12:14
（录音）MaryHohnson:我真正的儿子已不在人世，我看不到他毕业，而你现在要去大学读书了，我能有机会看到你毕业。我看不到他结婚，但希望有一天，我能见证你步入婚姻的殿堂。OsheaIsrael:仅凭这几句话，你对我的态度就是我此生的动力。你激励我走在正确的道路上，你始终这么信任我。虽然我给你带来如此大的伤害，你依旧这么恩慈，太不可思议了。
12:49
MJ:我知道，一起分享我们的故事不是件易事，即便现在我们面对面坐着，我依旧这么觉得。我知道这很不容易，所以你肯分享我们的故事，我很感激。
13:03
OI:我爱你，夫人。MJ:我也爱你，孩子。
13:18
DI:一次又一次，人们的对话让我感受到勇气和人性的善良，让我感受到历史的轨迹是如何指向正义。
13:28
下面是Alexis Martinez的故事。她生于芝加哥市的HaroldIckes公营住宅区，原名叫Arthur Martinez。Alexis与她的女儿Lesley在访谈中谈到她年轻时曾以男性身份加入了一个帮派，后来又转换成了她梦寐以求的女性身份。请听Alexis和她女儿Lesley的故事。
13:48
（录音）Alexis Martinez:对我而言最艰难的事情之一就是我总在担心我无法融进孙女的生活，你和你的丈夫让这种担心彻底烟消云散了。我跟我孙女们的关系就是成就之一。她们有时会因为我是男是女而争执起来。
14:07
Lesley Martinez:但她们对此畅所欲言啊。
14:10
AM:她们对此并不忌讳，但这对我而言就像奇迹一般。
14:13
LM:你不必为此感到愧疚，你不必为此而畏缩。我们不会排挤你，这一直是我想让你知道的，我们是爱你的。
14:24
AM:如今每天我都过着向往的生活，以真实的自己走在街上，对此我感到了内心深处的宁静。我是说希望我的声音能更轻柔一些，但如今爱伴随我左右，我努力让爱融入生活。
14:43
DI:爱伴随我左右。
14:46
我要告诉你们一个关于StoryCorps的秘密。为你们讲述这个秘密需要一些勇气。StoryCorps也会对死亡进行访谈。来StoryCorps访谈的人知道他们的声音在百年之后依然会被别人听到。临终救济院的一位名为IraByock的医生跟我们有着紧密的合作，来录制那些即将逝去的人的对话。他出了一本书，名为《最重要的四件事》，书中描述了人们在面临死亡时，有四件事情是最想跟最亲近的人说的：谢谢你，我爱你，原谅我，我原谅你。这正是我们能对另外一个人所说的最强大的几句话，这些话经常出现在StoryCorps的小亭子里。这是一个与你关心的人近距离沟通的机会——不留遗憾，倾吐心扉。这不容易，需要勇气，但这不就是我们活着的意义所在吗？
15:43
下面谈谈TED大奖。在数月前，当我第一次从Chris和TED方面听到我有可能获奖时，我非常震惊。他们要求我过来，为人性写一段简短的心愿，不超过50个词。我斟酌了一下，写下了50个词，几周之后，Chris给我打电话说，”就这样了。“
16:05
我的心愿如下：帮助我们，携我们所获，继往开来，将StoryCorps带往世界，让各个角落的人都可以便捷地参与访谈，让这意义非凡的声音存入历史。
16:25
如何实现呢？通过这个。在不久得将来，世界上每个人手里都将有一台手机，手机拥有无与伦比的能量，这在11年前当我创立StoryCorps时是不敢想象的。手机上有麦克风，还能指导你如何录音，并传送音频文件。这就是全部所需。
16:50
这个愿望的第一步已经在实现了。在过去的数月中，StoryCorps的团队夜以继日地开发了一款APP，将StoryCorps从小亭子带到你手中，任何人随时随地都可以使用。请记住，StoryCorps永远是两个人的对话，外加一个协助者帮助录音，这个模式不会改变，但此时此刻，StoryCorps应用公共测试版本已公开。这个应用是电子助手，可以帮助你完成StoryCorps访谈，帮助你选取问题，给你一切所需的小窍门，协助你完成一段有意义的访谈，随后一键将音频上传到国会图书馆的数据库。
17:38
技术层面不是难题，真正的挑战在于你们：下载这个工具，想办法让全美国的人使用它，让全世界的人使用它，这样一来不再是每年数以千计的访谈量，我们很可能记录数万，数十万，或者更多的访谈。
18:01
想象一下，比如有一个全国范围内的作业，全国每一个学习美国历史的高中生都在感恩节跟一位老人进行一次访谈，这样仅用一个周末的时间，整一代美国人的生活与经历都会被捕捉到；（掌声）或者再设想，世界某个角落中身处对立面的母亲们，能够坐下来，不去谈论矛盾，而是尝试去了解彼此，进而建立信任的纽带；或者设想某一天，全世界的人都把75岁生日时进行一段StoryCorps访谈当成一种习俗；或者你的社区里的人走进养老院，或医院，或救济所，甚至是监狱，用StoryCorps访谈的方式表达对那里很少被社会倾听的人的尊敬，问他们：你们是谁，你们在生活中有什么收获，你们希望如何被这个世界记住。
19:12
10年前，我与父亲进行了一次StoryCorps访谈，他是一名医师，也是一个知名的同性恋活动家。这是那次访谈的照片。直到数年前，当我那看起来很健康、依旧保持每周行医40小时的父亲突然被诊断出癌症时，我才想到了这段访谈。确诊后没几天，他就撒手而去，那是2012年6月28日，石墙事件的纪念日。
19:45
他离开那天的凌晨三点，我第一次听那段访谈。我家里有几个小孩子，我知道，他们了解这个在我心目中无比高尚的人的唯一方法就是通过这段录音。过去我认为我已经对StoryCorps了解的足够彻底了，但只有在那一刻，我才真正地，发自肺腑地体会到了制作这些录音的真谛。
20:11
每天，都会有人跟我说，我多么希望能跟我的父亲，或祖母，或兄弟进行一次访谈，但我等了太久。如今，没人需要等了。在这个人与人之间的沟通交流变得平淡无奇的年代，与我们一起，录制一段历久弥新且无比珍贵的访谈。与我们一起，为我们的孩子制作一份礼物，一份展现人类本我的箴言。希望你会帮助我们，让它变为现实。与你的家人，朋友，甚至是一个陌生人进行一段访谈。我们一起努力，来收集人类智慧的结晶，或许，在这个过程中，我们会学着慎言，善听。或许这些对话会提醒我们什么才是真正重要的。或许，仅仅是或许，这将会帮助我们意识到一个简单的真理，众生平等，生命的意义没有极限。非常感谢。
The End
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00:13
Tonight, I'm going to try to make the case that inviting a loved one, a friend or even a stranger to record a meaningful interview with you just might turn out to be one of the most important moments in that person's life, and in yours.
00:29
When I was 22 years old, I was lucky enough to find my calling when I fell into making radio stories. At almost the exact same time, I found out that my dad, who I was very, very close to, was gay. I was taken completely by surprise. We were a very tight-knit family, and I was crushed. At some point, in one of our strained conversations, my dad mentioned the Stonewall riots. He told me that one night in 1969, a group of young black and Latino drag queens fought back against the police at a gay bar in Manhattan called the Stonewall Inn, and how this sparked the modern gay rights movement.
01:10
It was an amazing story, and it piqued my interest. So I decided to pick up my tape recorder and find out more. With the help of a young archivist named Michael Shirker, we tracked down all of the people we could find who had been at the Stonewall Inn that night. Recording these interviews, I saw how the microphone gave me the license to go places I otherwise never would have gone and talk to people I might not otherwise ever have spoken to. I had the privilege of getting to know some of the most amazing, fierce and courageous human beings I had ever met. It was the first time the story of Stonewall had been told to a national audience. I dedicated the program to my dad, it changed my relationship with him, and it changed my life.
02:00
Over the next 15 years, I made many more radio documentaries, working to shine a light on people who are rarely heard from in the media. Over and over again, I'd see how this simple act of being interviewed could mean so much to people, particularly those who had been told that their stories didn't matter. I could literally see people's back straighten as they started to speak into the microphone.
02:22
In 1998, I made a documentary about the last flophouse hotels on the Bowery in Manhattan. Guys stayed up in these cheap hotels for decades. They lived in cubicles the size of prison cells covered with chicken wire so you couldn't jump from one room into the next. Later, I wrote a book on the men with the photographer Harvey Wang. I remember walking into a flophouse with an early version of the book and showing one of the guys his page. He stood there staring at it in silence, then he grabbed the book out of my hand and started running down the long, narrow hallway holding it over his head shouting, "I exist! I exist." (Applause)
03:08
In many ways, "I exist" became the clarion call for StoryCorps, this crazy idea that I had a dozen years ago. The thought was to take documentary work and turn it on its head. Traditionally, broadcast documentary has been about recording interviews to create a work of art or entertainment or education that is seen or heard by a whole lot of people, but I wanted to try something where the interview itself was the purpose of this work, and see if we could give many, many, many people the chance to be listened to in this way. So in Grand Central Terminal 11 years ago, we built a booth where anyone can come to honor someone else by interviewing them about their life. You come to this booth and you're met by a facilitator who brings you inside. You sit across from, say, your grandfather for close to an hour and you listen and you talk. Many people think of it as, if this was to be our last conversation, what would I want to ask of and say to this person who means so much to me? At the end of the session, you walk away with a copy of the interview and another copy goes to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress so that your great-great-great-grandkids can someday get to know your grandfather through his voice and story.
04:25
So we open this booth in one of the busiest places in the world and invite people to have this incredibly intimate conversation with another human being. I had no idea if it would work, but from the very beginning, it did. People treated the experience with incredible respect, and amazing conversations happened inside.
04:44
I want to play just one animated excerpt from an interview recorded at that original Grand Central Booth. This is 12-year-old Joshua Littman interviewing his mother, Sarah. Josh has Asperger's syndrome. As you may know, kids with Asperger's are incredibly smart but have a tough time socially. They usually have obsessions. In Josh's case, it's with animals, so this is Josh talking with his mom Sarah at Grand Central nine years ago.
05:12
(Video) Josh Littman: From a scale of one to 10, do you think your life would be different without animals? Sarah Littman: I think it would be an eight without animals, because they add so much pleasure to life.
05:22
JL: How else do you think your life would be different without them?
05:25
SL: I could do without things like cockroaches and snakes.
05:28
JL: Well, I'm okay with snakes as long as they're not venomous or constrict you or anything.
05:32
SL: Yeah, I'm not a big snake person --
05:34
JL: But cockroach is just the insect we love to hate.
05:37
SL: Yeah, it really is.
05:38
JL: Have you ever thought you couldn't cope with having a child?
05:41
SL: I remember when you were a baby, you had really bad colic, so you would just cry and cry.
05:46
JL: What's colic? SL: It's when you get this stomach ache and all you do is scream for, like, four hours.
05:52
JL: Even louder than Amy does?
05:54
SL: You were pretty loud, but Amy's was more high-pitched.
05:57
JL: I think it feels like everyone seems to like Amy more, like she's the perfect little angel.
06:03
SL: Well, I can understand why you think that people like Amy more, and I'm not saying it's because of your Asperger's syndrome, but being friendly comes easily to Amy, whereas I think for you it's more difficult, but the people who take the time to get to know you love you so much.
06:19
JL: Like Ben or Eric or Carlos? SL: Yeah --
06:22
JL: Like I have better quality friends but less quantity? (Laughter)
06:26
SL: I wouldn't judge the quality, but I think -- JL: I mean, first it was like, Amy loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia, she loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia.
06:34
SL: Part of that's a girl thing, honey. The important thing for you is that you have a few very good friends, and really that's what you need in life.
06:42
JL: Did I turn out to be the son you wanted when I was born? Did I meet your expectations?
06:49
SL: You've exceeded my expectations, sweetie, because, sure, you have these fantasies of what your child's going to be like, but you have made me grow so much as a parent, because you think --
07:00
JL: Well, I was the one who made you a parent.
07:02
SL: You were the one who made me a parent. That's a good point. (Laughter) But also because you think differently from what they tell you in the parenting books, I really had to learn to think outside of the box with you, and it's made me much more creative as a parent and as a person, and I'll always thank you for that.
07:21
JL: And that helped when Amy was born?
07:22
SL: And that helped when Amy was born, but you are so incredibly special to me and I'm so lucky to have you as my son. (Applause)
07:38
David Isay: After this story ran on public radio, Josh received hundreds of letters telling him what an amazing kid he was. His mom, Sarah, bound them together in a book, and when Josh got picked on at school, they would read the letters together. I just want to acknowledge that two of my heroes are here with us tonight. Sarah Littman and her son Josh, who is now an honors student in college. (Applause)
08:03
You know, a lot of people talk about crying when they hear StoryCorps stories, and it's not because they're sad. Most of them aren't. I think it's because you're hearing something authentic and pure at this moment, when sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's an advertisement. It's kind of the anti-reality TV. Nobody comes to StoryCorps to get rich. Nobody comes to get famous. It's simply an act of generosity and love. So many of these are just everyday people talking about lives lived with kindness, courage, decency and dignity, and when you hear that kind of story, it can sometimes feel like you're walking on holy ground. So this experiment in Grand Central worked,
08:45
and we expanded across the country. Today, more than 100,000 people in all 50 states in thousands of cities and towns across America have recorded StoryCorps interviews. It's now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. (Applause)
09:06
We've hired and trained hundreds of facilitators to help guide people through the experience. Most serve a year or two with StoryCorps traveling the country, gathering the wisdom of humanity. They call it bearing witness, and if you ask them, all of the facilitators will tell you that the most important thing they've learned from being present during these interviews is that people are basically good. And I think for the first years of StoryCorps, you could argue that there was some kind of a selection bias happening, but after tens of thousands of interviews with every kind of person in every part of the country -- rich, poor, five years old to 105, 80 different languages, across the political spectrum -- you have to think that maybe these guys are actually onto something.
09:53
I've also learned so much from these interviews. I've learned about the poetry and the wisdom and the grace that can be found in the words of people all around us when we simply take the time to listen, like this interview between a betting clerk in Brooklyn named Danny Perasa who brought his wife Annie to StoryCorps to talk about his love for her.
10:18
(Audio) Danny Perasa: You see, the thing of it is, I always feel guilty when I say "I love you" to you. And I say it so often. I say it to remind you that as dumpy as I am, it's coming from me. It's like hearing a beautiful song from a busted old radio, and it's nice of you to keep the radio around the house.
10:35
Annie Perasa: If I don't have a note on the kitchen table, I think there's something wrong. You write a love letter to me every morning. DP: Well, the only thing that could possibly be wrong is I couldn't find a silly pen.
10:45
AP: To my princess: The weather outside today is extremely rainy. I'll call you at 11:20 in the morning.
10:51
DP: It's a romantic weather report.
10:52
AP: And I love you. I love you. I love you.
10:55
DP: When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens in the rest of the day, there's a shelter when you get home, there's a knowledge knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you downstairs and saying, "Get your hands off me." Being married is like having a color television set. You never want to go back to black and white. (Laughter)
11:16
DI: Danny was about five feet tall with crossed eyes and one single snaggletooth, but Danny Perasa had more romance in his little pinky than all of Hollywood's leading men put together.
11:29
What else have I learned? I've learned about the almost unimaginable capacity for the human spirit to forgive. I've learned about resilience and I've learned about strength.
11:39
Like an interview with Oshea Israel and Mary Johnson. When Oshea was a teenager, he murdered Mary's only son, Laramiun Byrd, in a gang fight. A dozen years later, Mary went to prison to meet Oshea and find out who this person was who had taken her son's life. Slowly and remarkably, they became friends, and when he was finally released from the penitentiary, Oshea actually moved in next door to Mary. This is just a short excerpt of a conversation they had soon after Oshea was freed.
12:14
(Video) Mary Johnson: My natural son is no longer here. I didn't see him graduate, and now you're going to college. I'll have the opportunity to see you graduate. I didn't see him get married. Hopefully one day, I'll be able to experience that with you. Oshea Israel: Just to hear you say those things and to be in my life in the manner in which you are is my motivation. It motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path. You still believe in me, and the fact that you can do it despite how much pain I caused you, it's amazing.
12:49
MJ: I know it's not an easy thing to be able to share our story together, even with us sitting here looking at each other right now. I know it's not an easy thing, so I admire that you can do this.
13:03
OI: I love you, lady. MJ: I love you too, son. (Applause)
13:18
DI: And I've been reminded countless times of the courage and goodness of people, and how the arc of history truly does bend towards justice.
13:28
Like the story of Alexis Martinez, who was born Arthur Martinez in the Harold Ickes projects in Chicago. In the interview, she talks with her daughter Lesley about joining a gang as a young man, and later in life transitioning into the woman she was always meant to be. This is Alexis and her daughter Lesley.
13:48
(Audio) Alexis Martinez: One of the most difficult things for me was I was always afraid that I wouldn't be allowed to be in my granddaughters' lives, and you blew that completely out of the water, you and your husband. One of the fruits of that is, in my relationship with my granddaughters, they fight with each other sometimes over whether I'm he or she.
14:07
Lesley Martinez: But they're free to talk about it.
14:10
AM: They're free to talk about it, but that, to me, is a miracle.
14:13
LM: You don't have to apologize. You don't have to tiptoe. We're not going to cut you off, and that's something I've always wanted you to just know, that you're loved.
14:24
AM: You know, I live this every day now. I walk down the streets as a woman, and I really am at peace with who I am. I mean, I wish I had a softer voice maybe, but now I walk in love and I try to live that way every day.
14:43
DI: Now I walk in love.
14:46
I'm going to tell you a secret about StoryCorps. It takes some courage to have these conversations. StoryCorps speaks to our mortality. Participants know this recording will be heard long after they're gone. There's a hospice doctor named Ira Byock who has worked closely with us on recording interviews with people who are dying. He wrote a book called "The Four Things That Matter Most" about the four things you want to say to the most important people in your life before they or you die: thank you, I love you, forgive me, I forgive you. They're just about the most powerful words we can say to one another, and often that's what happens in a StoryCorps booth. It's a chance to have a sense of closure with someone you care about -- no regrets, nothing left unsaid. And it's hard and it takes courage, but that's why we're alive, right?
15:43
So, the TED Prize. When I first heard from TED and Chris a few months ago about the possibility of the Prize, I was completely floored. They asked me to come up with a very brief wish for humanity, no more than 50 words. So I thought about it, I wrote my 50 words, and a few weeks later, Chris called and said, "Go for it."
16:05
So here is my wish: that you will help us take everything we've learned through StoryCorps and bring it to the world so that anyone anywhere can easily record a meaningful interview with another human being which will then be archived for history.
16:25
How are we going to do that? With this. We're fast moving into a future where everyone in the world will have access to one of these, and it has powers I never could have imagined 11 years ago when I started StoryCorps. It has a microphone, it can tell you how to do things, and it can send audio files. Those are the key ingredients.
16:50
So the first part of the wish is already underway. Over the past couple of months, the team at StoryCorps has been working furiously to create an app that will bring StoryCorps out of our booths so that it can be experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Remember, StoryCorps has always been two people and a facilitator helping them record their conversation, which is preserved forever, but at this very moment, we're releasing a public beta version of the StoryCorps app. The app is a digital facilitator that walks you through the StoryCorps interview process, helps you pick questions, and gives you all the tips you need to record a meaningful StoryCorps interview, and then with one tap upload it to our archive at the Library of Congress.
17:38
That's the easy part, the technology. The real challenge is up to you: to take this tool and figure out how we can use it all across America and around the world, so that instead of recording thousands of StoryCorps interviews a year, we could potentially record tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or maybe even more.
18:01
Imagine, for example, a national homework assignment where every high school student studying U.S. history across the country records an interview with an elder over Thanksgiving, so that in one single weekend an entire generation of American lives and experiences are captured. (Applause) Or imagine mothers on opposite sides of a conflict somewhere in the world sitting down not to talk about that conflict but to find out who they are as people, and in doing so, begin to build bonds of trust; or that someday it becomes a tradition all over the world that people are honored with a StoryCorps interview on their 75th birthday; or that people in your community go into retirement homes or hospitals or homeless shelters or even prisons armed with this app to honor the people least heard in our society and ask them who they are, what they've learned in life, and how they want to be remembered. (Applause)
19:12
Ten years ago, I recorded a StoryCorps interview with my dad who was a psychiatrist, and became a well-known gay activist. This is the picture of us at that interview. I never thought about that recording until a couple of years ago, when my dad, who seemed to be in perfect health and was still seeing patients 40 hours a week, was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away very suddenly a few days later. It was June 28, 2012, the anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
19:46
I listened to that interview for the first time at three in the morning on the day that he died. I have a couple of young kids at home, and I knew that the only way they were going to get to know this person who was such a towering figure in my life would be through that session. I thought I couldn't believe in StoryCorps any more deeply than I did, but it was at that moment that I fully and viscerally grasped the importance of making these recordings.
20:11
Every day, people come up to me and say, "I wish I had interviewed my father or my grandmother or my brother, but I waited too long." Now, no one has to wait anymore. At this moment, when so much of how we communicate is fleeting and inconsequential, join us in creating this digital archive of conversations that are enduring and important. Help us create this gift to our children, this testament to who we are as human beings. I hope you'll help us make this wish come true. Interview a family member, a friend or even a stranger. Together, we can create an archive of the wisdom of humanity, and maybe in doing so, we'll learn to listen a little more and shout a little less. Maybe these conversations will remind us what's really important. And maybe, just maybe, it will help us recognize that simple truth that every life, every single life, matters equally and infinitely. Thank you very much.
The End
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