【文章标题】：鲍勃与范
【文章正文】： Bob and Van 鲍勃与范
For the first half of my childhood in suburban Ohio, we lived next to Bob. 在俄亥俄州郊区的童年时光里，前半段我们与鲍勃为邻。
Bob and his wife were a kind, reserved older couple who decorated their home mostly with crucifixes and talked about Jesus a lot. 鲍勃夫妇是慈祥而含蓄的老夫妇，家中装饰多以十字架为主，时常谈论耶稣。
Bob helped my mom with a lot of common household tasks after my dad died. When she woke up to a small fire on our deck, she didn’t call the fire department â she called Bob.1 父亲去世后，鲍勃常帮母亲处理家务。当母亲发现露台起火时，她没拨打消防电话——而是打给了鲍勃。
I never learned any of Bob’s political views, though I can make some guesses in retrospect. They never mattered. He was just our neighbor. 我从未知晓鲍勃的政治立场（尽管如今可推测一二）。那些从不重要，他只是我们的邻居。
We later moved, and hit the neighbor jackpot with Van. 后来我们搬家，幸运地遇到了范这样的好邻居。
Van was deeply kind, generous, and friendly â the sort of neighbor everyone wishes for. 范极其善良、慷慨且友善——是人人向往的理想邻居。
In my lazy teenage years, he’d often mow our lawn or shovel our snow for us before I even woke up. 在我慵懒的青少年时期，他总在我醒来前就帮我们修剪草坪或铲雪。
As his mobility later declined, I was honored to return the favor. 当他晚年行动不便时，我很荣幸能回报这份善意。
Van and his delightful wife passed away years ago, before I learned how either of them felt on any political issue. 范和他可爱的妻子多年前就已离世，而我始终不知他们对任何政治议题的看法。
If they were my neighbors today, how likely would that be? 若在今日，我们还能如此相处吗？
If I learn today that my neighbors have political views that my “side” considers unacceptable and unforgivable, should I be able to have dinner at their house, shovel their snow, or even greet them outside? 若今日发现邻居持我方”阵营”认为不可饶恕的政治观点，我是否还能去他家吃饭、帮他铲雪，或在门口寒暄？
Should I be condemned for supporting or associating with them in non-political contexts? 我该因在非政治场合支持或接触他们而受谴责吗？
Should I be condemned for not publicly condemning them myself? 我该因未公开谴责他们而遭批判吗？
While privilege and power dynamics play a complex and unavoidable role in this, I don’t want to associate with any community that would insist on either of those.2 尽管特权与权力机制在此起着复杂且不可避免的作用，但我不愿加入任何坚持此类准则的群体。
And I can’t help but feel that maybe we were better off before we knew everyone’s hot takes on everything. 不禁觉得，或许在知晓所有人对每件事的激烈观点之前，我们的处境反而更好。
The town coffee shop was just a coffee shop. 街角咖啡馆就只是咖啡馆。
We weren’t publicly shamed for going there because one of the owners was an ass. 我们不会因店主之一是个混蛋而遭受公开羞辱。
It was just a place to hang out with our friends. 那只是与朋友相聚的场所。
Our casual work friends were just casual work friends. 职场熟人就是职场熟人。
We didn’t expect them to take positions on the world’s most complicated conflicts. 我们不要求他们对世界最复杂的冲突表态。
We could just talk about weather and TV shows, and maybe sometimes get a beer after work. 我们只聊天气和电视剧，偶尔下班喝杯啤酒。
And our neighbors were just our neighbors. 而邻居，就只是邻居。