The mornings are dark, the late afternoons are dusky, and before we finish making dinner, the daylight is gone. As we approach the darkest days of the year, we’re confronted with the darkness of wars, a dysfunctional government, fentanyl deaths, mass shootings and reports of refugees crawling through the Darién Gap or floundering in small boats in the Mediterranean. And we cannot avoid the tragedy of climate change with its droughts, floods, fires and hurricanes. Indeed, the world is pummeled with misfortune. 清晨漆黑一片，傍晚昏暗無光，晚餐還沒做完，天就黑了。一年中最黑暗的日子即將到來，我們面臨著戰爭的黑暗、政府的失靈、芬太尼致死事件、大規模槍擊事件，以及難民艱難跋涉穿越達連隘口或在地中海乘小船掙扎求生的報道。我們也無法避免氣候變遷帶來的旱災、洪災、火災和颶風等悲劇。事實上，世界正遭受不幸的侵襲。
We can count ourselves lucky if we do not live in a war zone or a place without food or drinking water, but we read the news. We see the disasters on our screens. Ukraine, Israel and Gaza are all inside us. If we are empathic and awake, we share the pain of all the world’s tragedies in our bodies and in our souls. We cannot and should not try to block out those feelings of pain. When we try, we are kept from feeling much of anything, even love and joy. We cannot deny reality, but we can control how much we take in. 如果我們沒有住在戰區或缺水缺糧的地方，我們或許算幸運的，但我們卻讀著新聞。我們從螢幕上看到災難。烏克蘭、以色列和加薩的災難都發生在我們心中。如果我們心存同理心，並且保持清醒，我們就能體會到世界上所有悲劇的痛苦，無論是在身體上還是在靈魂深處。我們不能也不應該試圖屏蔽這些痛苦的感受。當我們嘗試時，我們幾乎感受不到任何東西，甚至是愛和喜悅。我們無法否認現實，但我們可以控制自己接受多少。
I am in the last decades of life, and sometimes I feel that my country and our species are also nearing end times. The despair I feel about the world would ruin me if I did not know how to find light. Whatever is happening in the world, whatever is happening in our personal lives, we can find light. 我已步入人生的最後幾十年，有時我感覺我的國家和我們這個物種也瀕臨末日。如果我不知道如何尋找光明，我對世界的絕望會毀了我。無論世間發生什麼，無論我們個人生活中發生什麼，我們都能找到光明。
This time of year, we must look for it. I am up for sunrise and outside for sunset. I watch the moon rise and traverse the sky. I light candles early in the evening and sit by the fire to read. And I walk outside under the blue-silver sky of the Nebraska winter. If there is snow, it sparkles, sometimes like a blanket of diamonds, other times reflecting the orange and lavender glow of a winter sunset. 每年的這個時候，我們都必須尋找光明。日出而作，日落而息。我看著月亮升起，劃過天空。傍晚時分，我點燃蠟燭，坐在爐火旁讀書。我漫步在內布拉斯加州冬日銀藍交織的天空下。如果下雪，雪花會閃閃發光，有時像鋪滿鑽石的毯子，有時又反射著冬日夕陽橙色和淡紫色的光芒。
We can watch the birds. Recently, it was the two flickers at my suet feeder with the yellow undersides of their wings flashing, the male so redheaded and protective, the female so hungry. Today, it may be the juncos, hopping about our driveway, looking for seeds. The birds are always nearby. Their calls are temple bells reminding me to be grateful. 我們可以觀鳥。最近，我的奶油餵食器旁有兩隻撲翅雀，黃色的翅腹閃閃發光，雄鳥紅著頭，充滿保護欲，雌鳥則飢腸轆轆。今天，可能是燈草鹀在我們家車道上蹦蹦跳跳，尋找種子。這些鳥兒總是在附近。它們的叫聲如同寺廟的鐘聲，提醒我要心存感激。
For other kinds of light, we can turn to our friends and family. Nothing feels more like sunlight than walking into a room full of people who are happy to see me. I think of my son and daughter-in-law on my birthday, Zeke making homemade ravioli and Jamie baking an apple cake, their shining eyes radiating love. Or of my friends, sitting outdoors around a campfire in coats and hats, reciting poetry and singing songs. 想要其他類型的光亮，我們可以向朋友和家人尋求幫助。沒有什麼比走進一個充滿歡迎我到來的人的房間更能感受到陽光了。我想起我生日那天的兒子和兒媳，Zeke 做著自製的餛飩，Jamie 烤著蘋果蛋糕，他們閃亮的眼睛裡散發著愛意。或是想起我的朋友們，穿著外套戴著帽子，圍坐在戶外營火旁，吟詩唱歌。
We also have the light of young children. My own grandchildren are far away, but I spend time with 9-year-old Kadija. My husband and I are sponsoring her family; they arrived here from Afghanistan, with only the father speaking English, just a few months ago. Already, she can bring me a picture book and read “whale,” “porpoise” and “squid” in a voice that reminds me of sleigh bells. I know someday she will be a surgeon, or perhaps a poet. 我們也有孩子的光亮。我的孫輩們遠在他鄉，但我會花時間陪伴9歲的Kadija。我和丈夫正在資助她的家庭；幾個月前，他們從阿富汗來到這裡，只有父親會說英語。現在，她已經能帶一本圖畫書，用一種讓我想起雪橇鈴鐺的聲音念出「鯨魚」、「海豚」和「魷魚」了。我知道，有一天她會成為外科醫生，或是成為詩人。
In our darkest moments, art creates a shaft of light. There is light in a poetry book by Joy Harjo, in a recording by Yo-Yo Ma and in a collection of Monet’s paintings of snow. 在我們最黑暗的時刻，藝術能創造出一束光。喬伊哈喬的詩集、馬友友的錄音以及莫內的雪景畫集，都為我們帶來了光明。
The rituals of spiritual life will also illuminate our days. In my case, it is sun salutations, morning prayers, meditation and readings from Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and influential Zen master. Also, it’s the saying of grace and the moments when I slow down and am present. Whatever our rituals, they allow us to hold on through the darkness until the light returns. 靈修生活的儀式也會照亮我們的每一天。對我來說，是太陽敬禮、晨禱、冥想，以及越南佛教僧侶、頗具影響力的禪宗大師一行禪師的著作。此外，感恩的誦讀，以及我放慢腳步、活在當下的時刻，也照亮了我們。無論我們採取何種儀式，它們都能讓我們在黑暗中堅持下去，直到光明回歸。
Finally, we will always have the light of memory. When I recall my grandmother’s face as she read to me from “Black Beauty” or held my hand in church, I can calm down and feel happy. I feel the light on my skin when I remember my mother at the wheel of her Oldsmobile, her black doctor’s bag beside her. Driving home from a house call, she would tell me stories from her life on a ranch in the Great Depression and during the Dust Bowl. 最終，我們將永遠擁有記憶的光芒。每當我回想起祖母唸《黑駿馬》給我聽時，或在教堂裡牽著我的手時的表情，我就能平靜下來，感到快樂。每當我想起母親開著奧茲莫比爾，身邊放著黑色的醫療包時，我都能感到皮膚上洋溢著光芒。她出診回家後，會告訴我她在大蕭條時期和沙塵暴時期在牧場上的生活故事。
Deep inside us are the memories of all the people we’ve ever loved. A favorite teacher, a first boyfriend, a best friend from high school or a kind aunt or uncle. And when I think of my people, I’m suffused with light that reminds me that I have had such fine people in my life and that they are still with me now and coming back to help me through hard times. 我們內心深處，都珍藏著所有我們曾經愛過的人的記憶。一位最愛的老師，初戀男友，高中好友，或是慈祥的叔叔阿姨。每當我想起我的家人，我心中便充滿著光芒，提醒著我生命中曾有過如此美好的人，他們如今依然陪伴著我，並會回來幫助我度過難關。
Every day I remind myself that all over the world most people want peace. They want a safe place for their families, and they want to be good and do good. The world is filled with helpers. It is only the great darkness of this moment that can make it hard to see them. 每天我都會提醒自己，全世界大多數人都渴望和平。他們渴望為家人提供一個安全的棲身之所，他們渴望善良，行善。這個世界充滿了樂於助人的人。唯有此刻的黑暗，才能讓我們難以看見這些。
No matter how dark the days, we can find light in our own hearts, and we can be one another’s light. We can beam light out to everyone we meet. We can let others know we are present for them, that we will try to understand. We cannot stop all the destruction, but we can light candles for one another.
無論日子多麼黑暗，我們都能在心中找到光明，並成為彼此的光。我們可以將光明傳遞給我們遇到的每一個人。我們可以讓別人知道，我們與他們同在，我們會努力理解。我們無法阻止所有的毀滅，但我們可以為彼此點燃蠟燭。
本屆蕭邦鋼琴大賽另一個受到矚目的現象是亞裔參賽者的佔比相當驚人。第一輪84位參賽者中，亞裔參賽者的比例大約佔60%。晉級決賽的11位參賽者雖然來自7個國家，但除了來自喬治亞的David Khrikuli和波蘭本地鋼琴家Piotr Alexewicz之外，其他鋼琴家不是來自東亞國家，就是擁有亞裔血統。相較而言，其他三大鋼琴賽事雖然也都有為數不少的亞裔參賽者，比例上卻沒有蕭邦大賽如此懸殊。