不 No

    "不"ˇ肯定是ˇ而且也是唯一的能够拯救被奴役的人们的自由与尊严的词。

    直至十九世纪末期ˇ波多黎各一直是西班牙的殖民地。 由于波多黎各人民的强烈要求ˇ西班牙于1897年批准该岛完全自治。可是ˇ第二年在美国与西班牙的战争中ˇ美国军队占领了波多黎各ˇ在战争结束时ˇ西班牙割让该岛给美国管辖。美国把大陆的文化强加给波多黎各人民ˇ激怒了波多黎各的爱国者ˇ他们抱怨说波多黎各又回到了殖民地时期。1917年该岛人民获得了一些有ˇ的自治权ˇ居民成了美国公民。1948年当地居民获得选举地方长官的权利。波多黎各于1952年成了与美国行政上有联系的一个岛屿。该岛将与美国保持ˇ有的附属关系或将成为美国的一个州ˇ至今还是个悬而未决的问题。

    乔斯ˇ迪ˇ迪戈(1866ˇ1918)是波多黎各的政治家、诗人及政治运动领导人。他经历过西班牙与美国权力的转让ˇ在西班牙统治时期ˇ他曾短暂地在自治政府内阁供职过ˇ后来也曾在美国统治下的殖民地政府中服务。在他的诗歌和演讲中ˇ他热情地捍卫波多黎各的文化和政治独立。对于任何生活在没有获得被统治者同意的政权统治下的人们来说ˇ下面的文章《不》有其深刻的意义。

    强有力的回答"不"ˇ锤击声那样短暂、有力、干脆ˇ这就是在帝国主义横行霸道的不幸日子里该从我们口中愤怒地喷发而出ˇ用以挽救我们民族尊严的词。

    两三年前ˇ科尔ˇ托斯泰博士曾写过一些好文章ˇ说波多黎各人不懂得使用强有力的肯定回答表示抗议ˇ并认为波多黎各人应该学会这样做。这位学识渊博的博士错了ˇ因为我们精神上的最大痛苦是易受意志软弱的影ˇˇ不自觉地做出让步ˇ这就ˇ在劲风面前玫瑰丛可爱地点头弯腰那般情景一样。

    的确ˇ赞成、同意这一类的肯定回答推动并解决了许多科学、艺术、哲学、宗教方面的事情ˇ信仰与爱情方面的奇迹ˇ基督的殉难ˇ哥伦布的一生ˇ这些由肯定回答所创造出的奇迹使我们对服从、赞同称赞不已ˇ认为这是美德ˇ是精神上的升华。

    可是ˇ在政治进展过程中ˇ在争取自由的斗争中ˇ肯定回答这个副词几乎毫无用处ˇ而且还总给人们带来灾难。在所有的语种中ˇ肯定回答都十分温和ˇ罗曼语系中的肯定回答比起其拉丁语词源的肯定回答这个词要更亲切、温柔。拉丁语中的肯定回答"Certe quidem"不如西班牙语、意大利语、葡萄牙语和法语中的肯定回答"si"那么简洁和谐。法语中的"si"在最富有情感的情况下取代了"oui"ˇ表示"是的"。"si"在音乐中是音符"7"ˇ是长笛的琶音ˇ乌的颤音ˇ极适用于美妙的音乐、韵律、梦幻和爱情的表达。而要表达抗议、冲动、情感的突然发作、愤怒、诅咒、憎恨这一类ˇ划火柴点火那样瞬间爆发的情感ˇ否定回答"No"要比肯定回答适用得多。"No"中的"o"粗鲁、嘹亮、热烈ˇˇ怒吼ˇˇ给世界造成大乱的深藏在地底下的雷ˇ万钧之力突然爆发。

    自史前原始部落反抗亚洲帝国首领的统治开始ˇ在不愿屈从ˇ反抗暴君的斗争中ˇ"不"就一直是被压迫者所使用的词。它是使人民获得解放的开端。即使ˇ我们国家这样ˇ当我们的力量太弱ˇ不足以有效地实ˇ我们的理ˇ时ˇ当我们的革命力量与远大理ˇ之间差距太大时ˇ"不"ˇ肯定是ˇ而且也是唯一的可以拯救被奴役的人们的自由与尊严的词。

    我们的国家风景秀丽ˇ人民慷慨大方ˇ由于受环境的熏陶ˇ我们不知道如何把"不"字说出口ˇ我们经常不知不觉地被思ˇ中占主导地位的"是的"所影ˇˇ即使在该说"不"的情况下ˇ也用优柔寡断和蔼亲切的语言来推诱。总的来说ˇ波多黎各人不说"不"字ˇ也不知道该怎么启口。"我们再看看吧。""这件事我再ˇˇ。""我过后再决定吧。"当波多黎各人这样说时ˇ这意味着他不愿意这么做。最多也只能理解为他把"不"和"是的"这两个词放在一块ˇ作为条件句的连词ˇ使意思模棱两可ˇ含糊不清。他拿不定主意ˇ他的意愿ˇ无处藏身的小鸟在沙漠上无目标地飞着。

我们得学会说"不"ˇ张开嘴ˇ挺起胸ˇ让发音器官的肌肉紧张起来ˇ拿出勇气ˇ把"No"中的"o"这个音发出来。这个音也许将在美国和世界上回ˇˇˇ轰隆作ˇ的火炮声在天空中回荡。

Brief, solid, affirmative as a hammer blow, this is the virile word, which must enflame lips and save the honor of our people, in these unfortunate days of anachronistic imperialism.

      Two or three years ago Doctor Coil y Toste wrote some brilliant paragraphs to demonstrate that Puerto Ricans do not know and ought to know the protest of an energetic affirmation. The knowledgeable doctor was wrong: our greatest moral affliction is an atavistic predisposition to the irreflexive concession and to weakness of will, which bend lovingly, like a rose bush to the sighs of the wind.

      In truth, the affirmation has impelled and resolved great undertakings in science, in art, in philosophy, in religious sentiment: all the miracles of faith and love; the death of Christ and the life of Columbus; saintly wonders of affirmations, which were raised to the glorious summits of the rising spirit, to divine light.

      In political evolution, in the struggle for freedom, the affirmative adverb is almost always useless and always disastrous, so soft in all languages, so sweet in the Romance tongues, superior in this sense to the mother Latin tongue. Certe, quidem do not have the brevity and the harmony of the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese si and the French si, when the latter substitutes for oui in the most expressive sentences; si in singing, a musical note (B), an arpeggio of the flute, a bird's trill, noble and good for melody, for rhythm, for dreaming, for love: more for the protest and impetus, for the paroxysm, for wrath, for anathema, for dry fulminating hate, like the scratching of a ray of light, the no is far better, the rude, bitter O vast, like a roar, round and ardent like a chaos producer of life through the conflagration of all the forces of the abyss.

      From the almost prehistoric uprisings of savage tribes against chieftains of Asiatic empires, the negative to submission, the protest against the tyrant, the no of the oppressed has been the word, the genesis of the emancipation of peoples: and even when the impotency of the means and the efficacy of the goals, as in our homeland, separate the revolutionary fire from the vision of the ideal, the no must be and is the only saving word of the freedom and dignity of enslaved people.

      We do not know how to say "no," and we are attracted, unconsciously, like a hypnotic suggestion, by the predominant si of the word on thought, of the form on essence―artists and weak and kindly, as we have been made by the beauty and generosity of our land. Never, in general terms, does a Puerto Rican say, nor does he know how to say "no": "We'll see," "I'll study the matter," "I'll decide later"; when a Puerto Rican uses these expressions, it must be understood that he does not want to; at most, he joins the si with the no and with the affirmative and negative adverbs makes a conditional conjunction, ambiguous, nebulous, in which the will fluctuates in the air, like a little bird aimless and shelterless on the flatness of a desert. . . .

      We have to learn to say "no," raise our lips, unburden our chest, put in tension all our vocal muscles and all our will power to fire this o of no, which will resound perhaps in America and the world, and will resound in the heavens with more efficacy than the rolling of cannons.