President Obama: The World I Want My Daughters to Grow Up In

*本文原载于http://time.com/4199637/barack-obama-daughters/

By Barack Obama February 3, 2016

One of America’s greatest strengths right now is the fact that our
young generation—the millennials—is also the biggest, most educated,
most diverse and most digitally fluent generation in our history. And
one thing my daughters have taught me about their generation is that
they’re not going to wait for anyone else to build a better world;
they’re just going to go ahead and create that world for themselves.

We can create the circumstances that give them every
chance to do that, of course—to make sure they can grow up free from
debt and free to make their own choices in a world that’s not beyond
their capacity to repair. That’s why my administration has reduced
student loan payments to 10% of a borrower’s income, so that young
people who choose college aren’t punished for that choice. We’ve
reformed our health-care system so that when young people change jobs,
go back to school, chase that new idea or start a family of their own,
they’ll still have coverage. We led nearly 200 nations to the most
ambitious agreement in history to combat climate change.

But my daughters’ generation knew long before Paris that protecting
the one planet we’ve got isn’t something that’s up for debate. They knew
long before the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality last June
that all love is created equal. They don’t see each of us first and
foremost as black or white, Asian or Latino, gay or straight, immigrant
or native-born. They view our diversity as a great gift.

In many ways, their generation is already pushing the rest of us toward change.

So for the sake of our future, one thing we have to do, maybe even
above all others, is to make sure they grow up knowing that their voices
matter, that they have agency in our democracy.

Those of us in positions of power have to set an
example with the way we treat each other—not by viewing those who
disagree with us as unpatriotic or motivated by malice, but with a
willingness to compromise. We have to listen to those with whom we don’t
agree.We have to reduce the corrosive influence of
money in our politics that makes people feel like the system is rigged. We
have to make voting easier, not harder, and modernize it for the way we
live now. And we have to encourage our young people to stay active in
our public life so that it reflects the goodness and decency and
fundamental optimism that they exhibit every day.

The world we want for our kids—one with opportunity
and security for our families; one with rising standards of living and a
sustainable, peaceful planet; one that’s innovative and inclusive, bold
and big-hearted—it’s entirely
within our reach. The only constraints on
America’s future are the ones we impose on ourselves. That’s always
been the case with America—our destiny isn’t decided for us, but by us.
And as long as we give our young people every tool and every chance to
decide the future for themselves, I have incredible faith in the choices
they’ll make.