曾经感动过我的一篇演说，演说者本或籍籍无名，但仅凭此亦当永垂青史矣！

又：Google果然是先进生产力的代表。

 

FLAG MAKERS

 

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 

（From an address delivered by Franklin K. Lane, then Secretary of the Interior, before more than 1,000 employees of the Department of the Interior on Flag Day, June 14, 1914.）

 

  This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, the Flag dropped me a most cordial salutation, and from its rippling folds I heard it say: 'Good morning, Mr Flag Maker'

 

‘I beg your pardon, Old Glory,' I said. 'Aren't you mistaken? I am not the President of the United States, nor a member of Congress, nor even a general in the Army. I am only a government clerk.' 

 

‘I greet you again, Mr Flag Maker.' replied the cheerful voice. 'I know you well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of yesterday, straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or perhaps you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or helped to clear that patent for a hopeful inventor in New York, or pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming. No matter: whatever one of these beneficent individuals you happen to be, I give you greeting. Mr Flag Maker' 

 

  I was about to pass on, when the Flag stopped me with these words:

 

‘Yesterday the President spoke a word that made happier the future of ten million peons in Mexico; but that act looms no larger on the Flag than the struggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn Club prize this summer. 

 

‘Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of Alaska; but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the Flag. 

 

‘Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yesterday, maybe a schoolteacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our race. We are all making the Flag.' 

 

‘But,' I said impatiently, 'these people were only working!' 

 

  Then came a great shout from the Flag: 

 

‘The work that we do is the making of the Flag. 'I am not the Flag; not at all. I am but its shadow.'

 

‘I am whatever you make me, nothing more.'

 

‘I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.'

 

‘I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks and tired muscles.'

 

‘Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, fitting the rails together truly.'

 

‘Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I play the coward.'

 

‘Sometimes I am loud, garish and full of ego that blasts judgement.'

 

‘But always, I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try for.'

 

‘I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.'

 

‘I am the day's work of the weakest man and the largest dream of the most daring.'

 

‘I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and state-maker, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and sweep, cook, counselor and clerk.'

 

‘I am the battle of yesterday and the mistake of tomorrow.'

 

‘I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.'

 

‘I am the clutch of an idea and the reasoned purpose of resolution.'

 

‘I am no more than what you believe me to be and I am all that you believe I can be.'

 

‘I am what you make me; nothing more.'

 

‘I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this nation. My stars and my stripes are your dreams and your labors. They are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because you have made them so out of your hearts; for you are the makers of the Flag, and it is well that you glory in the making.'

  今日午后，忽地心神不定，惦记起一位当年的好兄弟，不自禁的无比思念。想起上回发念要和这位兄弟联系时，在BBS上要过他的电话，抱着试试看的态度，我连上了已有近一年没去的科大“瀚海星云”站。

 

  首先映入眼帘的，是大红的进站画面，是啊，新年了，微笑着，我输入在记忆中几近尘封的帐号和密码，还好，未上站还没满365天，帐号还在。漫不经心的一路回车，来到了“新信件”，信手打开最后挤进我早已爆满信箱的信件，居然是“瀚海星云建站十周年庆”！

 

  仔细一想，“瀚海星云”从96年建站至今，可不是已经十年！

 

   刹那间，前尘往事，全都涌上心头，真是情以何堪！

 

  一直自认不是网虫的我，情愿游离于网络之外，但我和作为科大人网上家园的瀚海，还是有着千丝万缕的联系。

 

  96年到98年一段时间，BBS刚刚建站，套用现在不大流行的话来说，正是“方兴未艾”，当时我的一班同学，恰是接近毕业的闲人，理所当然的成为奠定瀚海基础的一批主力。而那几年受古大侠毒害极深的我，正“两个洋洋”的活着（懒洋洋＋得意洋洋），对身边之事极少关心，从未想到我的这班貌不惊人的兄弟姐妹，用时下快不流行的话来说，居然也一个个都是“腕”级人物。BBS对于我，除了毕业时发在系版的一两篇纪念文章，不过是和mm们聊天的一个大茶室。等到毕业后，同学星散，各赴大洋两岸，我偶尔翻出瀚海的老精华文章，才吃惊的发现，我的这班同学，比如当过站长、果然奇妙无比的“奇妙的微生物”，或是担当技术站长的“Lynn_Zhang”，又或是总是“惊虹一现”的“Anna_Zhang”，又或是那些我只记得名字而记不住网名的同学，无论哪一个拎出去，每一个都曾是瀚海大名鼎鼎的人物。：）

 

  类似的“有眼不识泰山”的例子，之后又发生过一次。99年底，我准备考研回科大，便拜托好友－袁师兄－打听复习班的事，随后在瀚海看到有一位叫“hubugui(胡不归)”的同学也在发文打听。于是我很高兴的跟师兄说：看来有戏，我看到一个叫“胡不归”的人也在问… 师兄立刻大faint，说：我就是胡不归，胡不归就是我，你连这个都不知道？于是我也大faint：为什么我就一定要知道？难道胡不归很有名？？？于是我们两个相对faint… 过了半年，我回到学校，上瀚海多了，才发现，“胡不归”果然很有名，真的很有名，简直不能再有名了：作为从一开始就参与瀚海奠基的元老，作为一代风流倜傥的才子，作为一个坚持“人民，只有人民才是创造历史的动力”的身体力行者，作为一任大有作为的站长，“胡不归”三个字，对每个对瀚海熟悉的人来说，都可谓是如雷贯耳。瀚海星云，这个虚拟的世界，也第一次，与我的现实世界汇集。

 

  自然的，从那以后，瀚海便加入到我的生活，成为我现实世界的一部分，有问题要问，有东西要查，瀚海是第一站；同样的，有牢骚要骂，有想法要说，第一站，还是瀚海。于是，有了“蚂蟥事件”的拍案而起、拔剑长啸，有了“我说科大”的横眉冷对、嬉笑怒骂，有了“签证包车”的挺身而出、皆大欢喜；瀚海伴我，同喜、同怒、同悲、同庆。

 

  白驹过隙，时光如水般流逝，当日并肩战斗的兄弟，已多时不会；曾经叱咤风云的弄潮儿，已淡然而出；往昔似乎不共戴天的大仇，已不知所往；当年悄然而生的瀚海，已送走了十岁的生日；而我，也已不再年少。

 

  谨以此不成文的短文，纪念瀚海十年，并纪念其间悄然流走的，我的青春岁月。