寬恕與原諒 - 林書豪與被解雇的編輯午餐

今天天氣像嬰孩的臉，剛才烏雲滾滾，雨水如注，與先生午餐時卻是雨過天晴，而午後桌邊，屋外陰晴多變，白雲和烏雲在捉迷藏。明天學院的兩班學生們考試，不用備課，倒有時間靜下心來寫文。

剛閱讀了這篇報道，很感動，遂記錄下來與大家分享：

今年二月，美國最大的網頁體育頻道 ESPN 的編輯 Federico用了 "chink in the armor" （穿盔甲的中國佬）帶有種族歧視的文字來形容紐約尼克斯籃球隊的亞裔主打控球後衛林書豪，編輯立刻被解雇。chink是雙關語，既有縫隙的意思，又與 china（中國）隻有一個字母之差，而一百多年以前華人初到北美，常被形容為“眯縫眼”的“中國佬”，100多年以來，chink這個詞從來就帶有歧視亞裔的色彩。

遭到解雇之後，編輯向林書豪道歉，並解釋他不是有意的。林書豪家庭主動與編輯聯係。

昨日，林書豪邀請這位編輯與他共進午餐，告訴編輯，他完全不懷恨。編輯Federico對媒體談到：“繁忙的林書豪專門抽出時間來與我相聚，可見他是多麽好，多麽謙卑的人！他其實根本沒有必要與我見麵，尤其是這些事情早已塵埃落定的情況下。我們交談了大約一個鍾頭，談論的話題有信仰和和解，我們共同的基督信仰、價值觀等。”

。。。。

雖然編輯是無意的，但不管怎樣，編輯確實做錯了，而林書豪能夠大度地原諒編輯，活出了主耶穌的樣式，很classy, 正如《聖經》裏的那句：“倘若這人與那人有嫌隙，總要彼此包容，彼此饒恕；主怎樣饒恕了你們，你們也要怎樣饒恕人。"(Colossians 歌羅西書 3:13）

這位編輯呢，感動之餘，也很開心，能夠與大名鼎鼎的紐約尼克斯主打控球後衛林書豪共進午餐，很引以為榮呢！


英文原文來源：
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/jeremy-lin-had-lunch-since-fired-editor-inadvertently-142104342.html

In February, a few eagle-eyed NBA fans spotted what turned out to be an inadvertently racially insensitive headline penned by an editor on ESPN's mobile site. The cliché "chink in the armor" was used to describe Asian-American New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin's turnover-prone growing pains, but because the first word in the headline can also be used as a racial epithet to describe Asians, the editor was eventually fired. Anthony Federico, the editor, claimed that his use of the phrase, while distressing, was unintentional. And we believed him.

On Tuesday, Lin had lunch with the editor, in an attempt to show that there were no hard feelings. Outside of ESPN re-hiring Federico, this is as good as these stories usually end. From Newsday:

"The fact that he reached out to me," Federico said. "The fact that he took the time to meet with me in his insanely busy schedule ... He's just a wonderful, humble person. He didn't have to do that, especially after everything had kind of died down for the most part.

"We talked more about matters of faith [and] reconciliation. We talked about our shared Christian values and what we're both trying do with this situation .. . We didn't talk about the headline for more than three minutes."

Newsday's Anthony Riebar reports that it was Lin's family that got in touch with the editor via email, after Federico's apology following his dismissal. The only reason it took this long for the two to meet is because, as you may have read, Jeremy Lin is the starting point guard on an NBA team that is playing a slapdash 66-game schedule.

A Knicks spokesman and Jeremy Lin's representatives both told Newsday that Lin would like to decline comment on the lunch. Bummer. The least he could have done was take some Instagram pictures of his club sandwich to post on Twitter.

From the outset, we were dubious that Federico's headline was some lame attempt at frat boy humor. It's always possible to use a phrase with racial implications — as Steve Kerr, Rick Kamla and I have found out in our time in media — and be unaware that the phrase was that bad, on a level with other words we won't even reprint. But because the phrase that Federico used is such a go-to move for those of us in the business of churning out endless amounts of copy, it makes sense that he was the victim of two significant factors (the fact that Lin's turnover issues were a mitigating influence on his game, and his Asian-American heritage) aligning in an unfortunate way.

ESPN's defense, and it is a fair one, is that Federico should have given the headline the once-over, known that some would construe it as a reference to the racial epithet, and gotten rid of it. And yes, you are supposed to spend your time working at a computer coming up with headlines for ESPN's mobile phone application in the first few hours of a Saturday morning as if you're dreaming up front-page ledes for the Washington Post at the height of the Watergate scandal, so pointing out that relatively few people actually saw the headline isn't much of a defense. The relative obscurity of Federico's output is no excuse for the misstep.

It was a mistake, regardless of the intent, and Federico claims that it was unintentional. We take his word on that, and whatever the intent, Lin has forgiven his slip-up. And though Federico would probably like his job back, his class and tact in this whole affair is to be commended.

He also got to have lunch with the starting point guard of the New York Knicks. Not a bad capper, if you ask me.