By the time I turned 19, I had already moved 20 times in my life,  当我19岁的时候，我已经搬超过20次家了，

and that instability during my childhood didn't really provide an opportunity to make many friends.  童年所经历的不稳定并未给我结交朋友的机会。

Each time I would begin to feel comfortable around someone,  每当我感到和附近人相熟时，

it was time to pack up and move to the next town.  就是我要收拾行囊去下一个地方的时候。

Being the perpetual new face in class, I was frequently the target of bullies.  作为永远的班级新生，我常是同学们欺负的对象。

I kept my identity a secret from my classmates to avoid being targeted,  为了不被同班同学欺负，我将自己的身份保密，

but as it turns out, being the quiet, chubby new kid in class was more than enough ammunition.  但结果是，作为安静又胖乎乎的新同学很轻易就成为被欺负的对象。

So for the most part, I spent my time at home reading books and watching TV or playing video games.  所以更多的时候，我待在家里看书看电视或者是打电动。

For those reasons, my social skills were lacking,  正因为这样，我的社交能力有所缺失，

to say the least, and growing up in a bigoted household,  简单地说，成长在固执的家庭，

I wasn't prepared for the real world.  我没有准备好应对现实世界。

I'd been raised to judge people based on arbitrary measurements, like a person's race or religion. 我被教育成用武断的方式，依据人们的脸或宗教，来评断他人。

So what opened my eyes?  什么让我开了眼界呢？

One of my first experiences that challenged this way of thinking was during the 2000 presidential elections.  某次经历挑战了我思考的方式发生于2000年美国总统竞选期间。

Through a college prep program,  在预科期间，

I was able to take part in the National Youth Convention in Philadelphia.  我参与了在费城举办的全国青年大会。

My particular group's focus was on youth violence,  我这组的话题是关于青少年暴力，

and having been the victim of bullying for most of my life,  作为倍受欺负的受害者，

this was a subject in which I felt particularly passionate.  这个话题我很感兴趣。

The members of our group came from many different walks of life.  组员都有着不同的生活轨迹。

One day toward the end of the convention,  大会临近结束的某天，

I found out that one of the kids I had befriended was Jewish.  我发现我的某个朋友是犹太人。

Now, it had taken several days for this detail to come to light,  我也是过了几天才知晓这件事情，

and I realized that there was no natural animosity between the two of us.  我认识到，我们之间并没有与生俱来的仇恨。

I had never had a Jewish friend before,  我从未有过犹太朋友，

and frankly I felt a sense of pride in having been able to overcome a barrier that for most of my life I had been led to believe was insurmountable.  坦白地说，我为此感到骄傲，能够跨越我人生绝大部分时间认为是不可能逾越的障碍。

Another major turning point came when I found a summer job at Busch Gardens, an amusement park.  另一个转折点是，某年暑假，我在布希花园这个主题乐园打工。

There, I was exposed to people from all sorts of faiths and cultures,  我见识到有着不同信仰，来自不同文化的人们，

and that experience proved to be fundamental to the development of my character.  这样的经验对我的人格发展是至关重要的。

Most of my life, I'd been taught that homosexuality was a sin,  因为在过去的日子，我接收到的教育是，同性恋是罪恶的，

and by extension, that all gay people were a negative influence.  据此推断，所有的同性恋者都有着消极的影响。

As chance would have it, I had the opportunity to work with some of the gay performers at a show there,  在我打暑期工的时间里，我有机会和同性恋演员一起合作，

and soon found that many were the kindest, least judgmental people I had ever met.  我很快发现，很多同性恋者是我所见过最善良，最自由开放尊重他人的人。

Being bullied as a kid created a sense of empathy in me toward the suffering of others,  在儿童时期被欺负的经历教给我要对他人的遭遇感到同情和怜悯，

and it comes very unnaturally to me to treat people who are kind in any other way than how I would want to be treated.  对我来说，我会善待那些对我好的人。

Because of that feeling, I was able to contrast the stereotypes I'd been taught as a child with real life experience and interaction.  因为这样的感受，我能够用真实生活和交际经历来抵挡从孩童时期就被灌输的成见。