访谈录 【Interview】2007-06-17&06-19, 悄悄告诉爸爸:我爱你

Host: For dads across the country, this Sunday is their moment in the sun, it's Father's Day. A few years ago, NBC's Tim Russert wrote a book about his dad called 'Big Russ and Me'. Readers were inspired to write back to him with stories about their own fathers, and it wasn't just a few 60,000 people shared their stories. Those letters and e-mails became part of the best selling 'Wisdom of our Fathers' - lessons and letters from daughters and sons which is now available in paperback 1.

Tim, good morning to you.

Tim: Good morning.

Host: And you were saying to me in the break, how this has so changed your life. Your first book affected 2 so many people, and their response to it has really affected you as well.

Tim: It's a journey I never anticipated or expected, I couldn't believe how the story about my dad resonated all across the country. I lived in a political environment in Washington. And suddenly, Democrats 3, Republicans, Independents, Liberals, Conservatives and Moderates, they wanted to stop and talk about their dad. It was as if I just open the door and let them walk through. And all the stories, Meredith, were about not material goods, but a moment of something your fathers said or did. One gentleman from South Carolina said my dad didn't preach a sermon, he lived the sermon. And I began to look at my own dad differently. My son looked at me differently. My father was never demonstrative, or outgoing in terms of his words or expressions, and that's all changed. I now get rib-crushing bear hugs from dad, yeah. And even in uttering of "I love you" and I say "what did you say, you hurt me". But it's...

Host: Well, we said 60,000 letters and e-mails. I wanna touch on a couple of them this morning. The first one we're gonna focus on is a letter you have from a man, I wanna make sure his name Ray Passacantando from New Jersey 4. Tell me about Ray.

Tim: Yes, it's a wonderful Italian name, and it means passes by singing. And his dad Alphonso was a bricklayer, a mason. And Ray goes back to his house to see his dad and thinks of a way of repaying him by cutting his dad's hair. And here is Ray telling his story.

Ray: "Hair's getting shaggy, can I cut it?" He had given in to letting his mind wander and to gazing off. He turned the wine glass slowly, he wasn't wearing his hearing aid, he never did. "Can I give you a haircut?" I offered again louder. As though startled by my presence, although we've been together in this kitchen for the last hour. He turns to me, "No, what for, I go no place." "Maybe you will get a date." I run the narrow tapered 5 end of the comb through his eyebrows 6, and clip off white thatches 7 that stand up like picture wire. I snipped 8 the short, softer hair on the edges of his ears. I bent 9 in the ear forward to get out of a follow cut. He grimaces 10, but I know there was no pain, he loves me to cut his hair. At ease, content, he settles back in the warmth of soft, gentle stroking. His face is in my hands, he looks at me through eyes - hollow and clouded, "Gotta go, see you next week." "Huh? What?" his forehead furrows 11, "Gotta go, got work! See you next Tuesday." He grabs my hand, his grip is still strong. "Come early," he says. He doesn't see the tears as I turned for the door. "I love you, Ray." I hear him saying. It had taken him 50 years to say it, but it wasn't necessary. He had told me many times in many ways.

Host: I can see how this is affecting you, just hearing it.

Tim: Oh, it's oh, you know, men of that generation like Alphonso didn't tell their kids, they love them.

Host: Your dad.

Tim: And now they do, but it took such an interesting turn, here is a bricklayer who worked with his hand all his life to support his son and his family. And now his son comes home with his own hands, he cuts his own dad's hair, and holds his face and strokes his head. It's the circle of life.

Host: It's that transition, really. When you become a parent.

Tim: It is so powerful, this bond between father and son. To have written about it, and to now understand it, it has been such an honor for me, and to hear that story is just extraordinary for Father's Day.

Host: In some ways, is that your story as well now with your own dad?

Tim: Absolutely, I call him everyday. He is so funny; he is the cheapest most expensive folks group you could ever have. Well, I don't want the presidential contenders on the other day, and I said what do you think? He says that he is a good guy, but not for that job. Bingo!! Right to the base!


Host: Russert, I heard someone else like that. I wanna go to one more letter-- it's actually a little bit more...


Vocabulary


touch on v. To speak of or write of briefly 12.
The speaker touched on several other subjects in the course of his talk but mostly kept himself to the main topic.