1978 - San Diego: 1978 - 圣地亚哥：

   

I'd just come out the other side of a relationship that blew up 我刚出来的关系，另一边是炸毁

I was angry, and disillusioned, and ultimately self-destructive. 我很生气，和幻灭，最终自我毁灭。

I'd lost everything I believed in 我失去了一切，我相信

I was as utterly, completely alone as I've ever been. 我是作为完全，完全孤独，因为我去过。

So I began going on walks. 于是我就开始去散步。

   

I started taking late-night walks around the San Diego suburb I was living in at the time. 我开始服用周围的圣地亚哥郊区我住在当时深夜散步。

I'd start walking early evening, and come back close to midnight, sometimes later 我开始走路傍晚回来接近午夜时分，有时后

Walking and thinking and chewing over what had gone wrong with my life. 散步和思考，嚼在什么地方出错了我的生活。

   

One night, at Fourth and E Streets, I got mugged and beaten by a street gang 一天晚上，在第四和E街，我得到了抢劫和街头帮派殴打

Sent me to the hospital with serious intimations of mortality. 送我到了死亡的严重暗示的医院。

When the ER techs asked what my religion was, I refused to answer. 在急诊室的技术人员问我的宗教是的，我拒绝回答。

I made my private peace with the universe, 我做我的私人和平与宇宙，

Content with whatever was going to happen, live or die. 内容有什么事情要发生，死活。

   

Then something happened. 然后，发生了一件事。

I got angry. 我有生气。

I got angry because I still had stories to tell. 我有生气，因为我仍然有故事可讲。

So I fought back. 于是我打了回去。

   

It took two months to fully recover. 花了两个月的时间来完全恢复。

But two things came out of that incident. 但是有两件事传出事件。

First: I have no fear of death. None whatsoever. 第一：我没有对死亡的恐惧。无任何责任。

Second: As soon as I was well enough, I started walking again. 第二：当我不够好，我又开始走。

Sometimes until 3 or 4 in the morning, 有时直到早上3或4 ，

Through parts of town that made even street people nervous. 通过镇的部分，使得即使是街上的人紧张。

   

When people asked what I was doing out there that late at night, 当人们问我在做什么，在那里，在深夜，

the only answer I could give was, "I'm looking for something." 我能给的唯一答案是， “我在寻找的东西。 ”

So I kept walking through some of the most dangerous parts of San Diego, 所以我一直通过一些圣地亚哥的最危险的地方行走，

before it got cleaned up, 之前，它得到了清理，

When it was still home to hookers and drunks and gangs 当它还是回家妓女和酒鬼和帮派

   

Finally, one afternoon, I came to the same areas I walked through at night 终于，在一个下午，我来到了同一领域一晚上走过

And I was struck by the dichotomy between that corner at night, 我感到震惊的，晚上那个角落之间的对立，

And the very same corner during the day. 和白天非常相同的角。

In the daylight, there were businessmen and kids and clerks, 在白天，有商人和孩子，文员，

Eager to get home to dinner and TV and family. 急于回家吃饭，电视和家庭。

Then, later, came the night shift - the lost people 然后，后来，来了夜班 - 失落的人

emerging from shadows and beds of pain to walk the same streets 摆脱阴影和床位疼痛走同一条街道

In search of fixes, money, and bars, 在搜索修复，金钱和酒吧，

Gradually fading away with the dawn. 渐渐渐行渐远的曙光。

   

Two totally different worlds, 两个完全不同的世界，

Sharing nothing but longitude and latitude. 分享无非是经度和纬度。

There was the nation in the day, and the nation at night, 有国家在这一天，和民族的夜晚，

Existing side by side but each fleeing the other; 并存，但每个逃避对方;

A daylight nation and a midnight nation. 日光民族，一个午夜的国家。

   

I saw a country bifurcated by more than just the presence and absence of light, 我看到超过光只是存在和不存在分叉的国家，

But by lives cast aside and lost and uncared for; 但是，生活的唾弃，失去了和没人照看;

The walked away and the thrown-away on one side, and on the other, 该走了，并在一侧抛出外卖，另一方面，

Those who pretended not to see them, because not seeing is easier. 这些谁假装没看到他们，因为没有看到比较容易。

   

And I saw someone forced to walk both sides of the metaphor, 而且我看到有人被迫走隐喻的两侧，

To learn that the greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others, 要知道，最残酷的是我们的休闲失明别人的绝望，

That there but for the grace of whatever god you subscribe to goes any of us. 有，但不管是什么神的恩典，你订阅的推移我们任何人。

   

And finally, I realized that I had found what I was looking for, 最后，我意识到，我已经找到了我一直在寻找，

Without ever being quite sure what it was. 而没有被肯定那是什么。

I found a story that would make my own life make sense again. 我发现了一个故事，将再次让自己的人生是有意义的。

This story. 这个故事。

   

I still take long walks 我还需要很长时间散步

And I still stop and talk to the people who stand at the corner 我还是停下来交谈，谁站在角落里的人

And wait for something to happen to them, 并等待事情发生在自己身上，

Who wait for money to fall into a hat or a cup, 谁的钱等到陷入帽子或一个杯子，

Who wait for someone to recognize their pain. 谁等着别人来承认他们的痛苦。

Because the line between the midnight nation 因为午夜的国家之间的界线

And the place where I sit right now, 而且，我坐在现在的地方，

Writing these words, is thin and ephemeral and can be crossed in an instant. 写这些话，细而短暂，能在瞬间穿越。

Because the road to the midnight nation can be erased only through compassion. 因为路到半夜国家只能通过同情被删除。

   

I found my story, this story, on a hazy afternoon in 1978. 我1978年发现了我的故事，这样的故事，在一片朦胧的下午。

Now it's yours. 现在是你的了。

The keys to the midnight nation are in your hands. 钥匙，半夜国家都在你的手中。

What you do with them is up to you. 你跟他们是你的。

   

J. Michael Straczynski. J·迈克尔· Straczynski 。

Sherman Oaks, CA 谢尔曼奥克斯，加利福尼亚

July 21st, 2002. 2002年7月21日。