As I scanned the pages of this incredible compilation of kindness, bravery, community, resilience, and triumph, I was overwhelmed with pride, gratitude, and appreciation for the people sharing their stories with me, with you, and with the world. Contained in these pages is the proof of a kinder, braver world that I envisioned more than eight years ago when I confounded Born This Way Foundation with my mother, the proof that I had so desperately prayed for as a young girl, and the proof that I’ve tried to work tirelessly for my lifetime. 当我浏览这包含善良、勇敢、共生、坚韧和胜利的优美汇编时,我被骄傲、感激和感激淹没了,因为人们与我、与你们、与世界分享他们的故事。呈现在书里的,是早8年之前,我和我妈妈成立BTW基金会时想象的友善、坚强的世界;是我还是一个女孩时不断地祈祷得到的;是我曾经努力奋斗一生的证明。
Though I was surrounded by love, I often lived in the world by myself-whether writing and performing songs on the piano, creating elaborate stories and performances in the most unlikely of situations, turning strangers into friends at restaurants where I waitressed, or, unfortunately, trying to escape the harsh reality of bullies and the unkindness that often surrounded me. The world that I created in my dreams was one in which people led with kindness, were emboldened by bravery, and accumulated love and community. As I read the stories within these pages-stories of standing up for love, standing up for others, and the quiet courage it takes to stand up for yourself-I believed the world I created in my dreams could one day be possible for everyone else, too. 虽然我被爱包围着,但我经常一个人生活—无论是写作或在钢琴前演奏,亦或是在毫无希望的情况下煞费苦心地进行表演;有时在我当服务生的餐厅里和陌生人交朋友;再不理想的话就是试图逃避这个周围总是存在欺凌和不善的残酷现实。我在梦中创造的世界,是一个人们被善良领导、被勇敢鼓舞,并积累了爱和共生的世界。当我阅读这些书中的故事时—那些为爱挺身而出的故事,为他人挺身而出的故事,以及为自己挺身而出所需要的无声的勇气—我相信,我在梦想中创造的世界,有一天也可以为其他人创造。
Our book, told from the vantage point of young people from all across the country, highlights random acts of kindness given to and by strangers during periods of grief, loneliness, and hardship. It emphasizes the connection and tender care that come with building genuine friendships. And it is a gentle reminder of the kindness and love we all have the potential to share. I can see that through the hearts and passion of the young people in our Born This Way Foundation family, our kinder, braver world is becoming a reality. 我们这本由全国各地的年轻人从有利角度来讲述的书,突出了在悲伤、孤独和困难时期,陌生人所给予的无目的性的善意行为。它强调建立真正友谊所带来的人情和温柔关怀。它温柔地提醒我们,所有人都拥有可分享的善意和爱。我可以看到,通过我们BTW基金会大家庭中的年轻人所拥有的的爱心和激情,那个梦想中更善良、更勇敢的世界正在来临。
Born This Way Foundation was a movement before it was formalized as an organization. The same can be said of Channel Kindness, which I refer to as the kindest place on the internet and now-the kindest place in print. Both were built out of the experiences that I had growing up and the profound impact that kindness (and its absence) has had on my life. As I began to tour the world, I would share my experiences onstage, and thousands of young people from all over the world would share theirs with me. We would cry together, laugh together, heal together, and promise one another that we’d continue to not only survive, but that we would find a way to thrive. BTW基金会在正式成为一个组织之前是一个运动。善意频道也是如此,我把它称为互联网上最善良的地方,现在也是在售中最具善意的地方。两者都是基于我成长的经历,以及善良(和它的缺失)对我生活的深刻影响而建立起来的。当我开始世界巡演时,我会在舞台上分享我的生活经历,成千上万来自世界各地的年轻人会和我分享他们的生活经历。我们会一起哭,一起笑,一起相互勉励,并向彼此承诺,我们不仅会继续生活下去,而且会找到一条繁荣昌盛的道路。
It was in that spirit-and with their spirit-that we started our work at Born This Way Foundation for a generation of young people who shouldn’t have to live in a brave, kind world that only exists in their heads. Our goals at the foundation (and I would venture, in our lives-for the team of people who have made this work their mission) are threefold: to make kindness cool; to validate the emotions of young people around the world; and to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health. It will take all of us to accomplish these lofty goals, and we believe that young people are uniquely positioned to create this kinder, braver world because they are filled with hope, compassion, and a commitment to community, and they are defined by diversity, inclusivity, and a distinct perseverance that make them powerful beyond even their own wildest imaginations. In each interaction I have with young people, I see this. And you will see this here, too, on every page, in every story. 正是基于这种精神,也正是基于他们的精神,我们在BTW基金会开始了我们为不应该生活在一个只存在于他们头脑中的勇敢、充满善意的世界里的年轻人的工作。我们基金会的目标(我敢说,在我们的生活中——为了完成这项任务的团队成员)有三个方面:让善意变得酷起来;去了解全世界年轻人的情感;消除围绕着心理健康的负面烙印。完成这些远大的目标需要我们“所有”人。我们相信年轻人在创造这个更具善意、更加坚强的世界中占据独特的地位,因为他们充满着希望、同情和对共生的热情,而且他们所定义的多样性、包容性和独特的毅力让他们强大到甚至超过了他们自己狂野的想象力。在我与年轻人的每一次互动中,我都看到了这一点。你在这里也可以看到,在每一页,每一个故事里。
When I was young, I prayed a lot. (Whether that implicitly means that someone should or should not read this book, however, is decidedly irrelevant.) It wasn’t because I was religious. It was because I was a deep and passionate thinker-who thought a lot-and was spiritual and creative even when I was very little. So if we substitute prayer with asking the universe questions about my life, this, to me, would be a more accurate way for you to understand the beginning of my story as Lady Gaga and why it is important to read and share this book with others. I always considered myself a theorist and would posture ideas constantly to myself and those around me. Who am I? What am I? Who are we as humankind? Then I began channeling this into inventions: music, characters in school plays, poetry, and writing. Needless to say, at some point, lots of people have found me to be very peculiar. Weird was a word I heard a lot. Why do you want to be a singer, actress, dancer, performer, artist, writer? was also condescendingly asked of me. And to be honest, it ultimately felt as though many relentless and quite mean children and adults around me were asking me why I existed. Because I never felt existed without art. 在我小时候,我经常祈祷(当然啦,这无关于是不是有些人应该或不应该读这本书。)这并不是因为我信仰宗教。而是因为我是一个深刻且充满激情的思考者——我想得很多——甚至在我很小的时候我就有精神和创造力。所以,如果我们把祈祷换成问世界关于我生活的问题,对我来说,这将可以更准确地让你理解我作为Lady Gaga的故事的开始,以及为什么阅读和与他人分享这本书很重要。我一直认为自己是一个理论家,会不断地向自己和周围的人阐述自己的观点。我是谁?我是什么?作为人类,我们又是谁?然后,我开始把这些运用到艺术才能上:如音乐、学校戏剧中的人物、诗歌和写作。不用说,在某些程度上,很多人都觉得我很奇怪。我经常听到“奇怪”这个词。你为什么想成为歌手、演员、舞者、表演者、艺术家、作家?这类问题也是屈尊地问我的。说实话,我周围的很多薄情、相当刻薄的孩子和大人都在问我为什么会存在。因为我感觉到没有艺术的话我无法存在。
I was upset that I actually did something I hadn’t done so openly before. I used to cry at home or in the school bathroom or the nurse’s office, but this time, I burst into tears in front of my entire class and sobbed uncontrollably with my hands over my face while everyone stared at me. When my teacher reentered the room, I very quickly composed myself and continued to share my project. The only thing worse for me in this moment than having a breakdown in public in front of my bully would have been my teacher catching on, asking me who bullied me, and then me having to lie or tell the truth-both of which would have gotten me in trouble, either in school or socially with the other students. 我很沮丧,因为我确实做了一件以前没有当众做过的事。过去,我常常在家里、学校的洗手间、护士间里哭,但这次,我却直接在全班同学面前放声大哭,双手捂着脸,大家都盯着我看。当我的老师重新走进教室时,我很快使自己镇定下来,继续分享我的课题。此时此刻,对我来说,唯一比在我的恶霸面前当众崩溃更糟糕的事情是老师明白了状况,问我谁欺负我,然后我不得不撒谎或者讲真话-但这两者都会让我陷入麻烦,无论是在学校还是社会方面与其他学生接触。
So that was that. And even as I type this, it reminds me of how flippantly my tribulations as a young person both came and went without anything to remedy them. They were over as quickly as that last sentence. Once I was thrown in a trash can on a street corner by a group of boys that were friends with my bully. (They were instructed to do so.) I distinctly recall the laughter and joy they took in humiliating me while shouting, “That’s where you belong!” When I was younger, I was also pinched in the hallway by older girls who would grip my arm tightly and whisper to me, “You’re a slut,” as I walked to class. They were jealous that the older boys at our brother school paid a lot attention to me. Funnily enough, this impacted me so much that I even feel the need to clarify while writing this for you-I was most certainly not a slut. 就这样吧。就在我写下这句话的时候,它提醒了我,我年轻时的苦难是多么随意地来了又去,却没有任何办法来补救。就像最后一句话一样,他们很快就结束了。有一次,我被一群男孩扔进了街角的垃圾桶,他们是欺负我的那群男孩的朋友。(他们被指示这么做。)我清楚地记得他们羞辱我时的笑声和欢乐,他们大叫:“那才是你的归宿!”“当我年轻时,在我去上课的路上,我也在走廊上被年长的女孩拦下,紧紧地掐住我的胳膊并对我耳语,“你是一个糟婆娘,”。他们嫉妒我们兄弟学校的大男孩对我太关注了。有趣的是,这对我的影响如此之大,以至于在为你写这篇文章时,我甚至觉得有必要澄清一下—我肯定不是糟婆娘。
I’m leaving out a lot because there’s so much to say, I would have to write an entire book myself. Having depression, anorexia, bulimia, anxiety, and masochistic tendencies that included scratching or cutting my arms with knives when I was in emotional distress. This went on from age eleven till rather recently in my early thirties, and I still struggle with some of these things. 我省略了很多,因为有太多要说的了,我得自己写一整本书。伴随着抑郁,厌食症,暴食症,焦虑和受虐倾向,包括在我情绪痛苦的时候用刀抓或割我的手臂。这种情况从我11岁一直持续到我30岁出头,我至今仍在为这些事情而挣扎。
[I imagine my brain is like a pinball machine with uncomfortable marbles, and each one of my obstacles is a marble. Every once in a while, one or a few shoot out and I can either gain points for dealing with them using skills I’ve learned, suffer while they fall past the flippers into an abyss of panic, or just hope they roll back into the trigger slot and keep quiet so I don’t have to play pinball wizard with my mental issues. What I really wish to make a point of is: amidst all this, eventually I became a famous artist, but all of these things came with me.] [我想象我的大脑就像一个弹球机,里面装着不舒服的弹珠,我遇到的每一个障碍都是弹珠。每隔一段时间,一次或几次弹射,我可以获得点处理它们使用我所学到的技能,受到过去的鳍状肢陷入深渊时的恐慌,或者只是希望他们滚回触发槽和保持安静所以我没有玩弹球向导和我的心理问题。我真正想说的是:在这一切之中,我最终成为了一名著名的艺术家,但所有这些东西都伴随着我。]
Becoming a star does not fix anything. In fact, the demands of it made it all the more complicated. Imagining having an eating disorder and just after a segment on prime time news about the current state of the US’s attack on terrorism, there is a report that you have gained weight, with a photo of you onstage where you clearly have gained weight and a news anchor actually discussing and gawking at how unattractive you now are. 成为明星并不能解决任何问题。事实上,对它的要求使它变得更加复杂。想象有一个饮食失调和后一段黄金时段的新闻关于美国对恐怖主义的袭击的当前状态,有一个报告,你有体重增加,与你在舞台上的照片显然已经胖了一点,一个新闻主播实际上讨论和傻傻的看着你现在多没有吸引力。
Fantastic. Cut to me in a hotel room somewhere on a world tour having a panic attack over a fear of my body image that I’ve had for so long I don’t know who I am without it. 太棒了。镜头切换到我在某个酒店的房间里,我正在进行世界巡演,由于长期以来对自己的身体形象的恐惧,我不知道如果没有它,我是谁。