演讲中，从全球日益严峻的艾滋病形势，到人们相应的冷酷无知的处理态度；从纵向历史的教训警醒人们的关注，到横向家庭的责任突显勇气的可嘉；Mary Fisher雄辩有力、充满激情地表达了“关爱艾滋病人”这个主题。
In the context of an election year, I ask you, here in this GREat hall, or listening in the quiet of your home, to recognize that AIDS virus is not a political creature. It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican; it does not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old.
Tonight, I represent an AIDS community whose members have been reluctantly drafted from every segment of American society. Though I am white and a mother, I am one with a black infant struggling with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital. Though I am female and contracted this disease in marriage and enjoy the warm support of my family, I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind of this family’s rejection.
This is not a distant threat. It is a present danger. The rate of infection is increasing fasted among women and children. Largely unknown a decade ago, AIDS is the third leading killer of young adult Americans today. But it won’t be for long. Because unlike other diseases, this one travels. Adolescents don’t give each other cancer or heart disease because they believe they are in love, but HIV is different; and we helped it along. We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence.
We may take refuge in our stereotypes, but we cannot hide there long, because HIV asks only one thing of those it attacks. Are you human? And this is the right question. Are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human. They have not earned cruelty, and they do not deserve meanness. They don’t benefit from being isolated or treated as outcasts. Each of them is exactly what God made: a person; not evil, deserving of our judgment; not victims, longing for our pity—people, ready for support and worthy of compassion.
My father has devoted much of his lifetime guarding against another holocaust. He is part of the generation who heard Pastor Nemoellor come out of the Nazi death camps to say,
“They came after the Jews, and I was not a Jew, so, I did not protest. They came after the trade unionists, and I was not a trade unionist, so, I did not protest. Then they came after the Roman Catholics, and I was not a Roman Catholic, so, I did not protest. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to protest.”
The…The lesson history teaches is this: If you believe you are safe, you are at risk. If you do not see this killer stalking your children, look again. There is no family or community, no race or religion, no place left in America that is safe. Until we genuinely embrace this message, we are a nation at risk.
Someday our children will be grown. My son Max, now four, will take the measure of his mother. My son Zachary, now two, will sort through his memories. I may not be here to hear their judgments, but I know already what I hope they are. I want my children to know that their mother was not a victim. She was a messenger. I do not want them to think, as I once did, that courage is the absence of fear. I want them to know that courage is the strength to act wisely when most we are afraid.
I ask no more of you than I ask of myself or of my children. To the millions of you who are grieving, who are frightened, who have suffered the ravages of AIDS firsthand: Have courage, and you will find support. To the millions who are strong, I issue the plea: Set aside prejudice and politics to make room for compassion and sound policy.
To all within the sound of my voice, I appeal: Learn with me the lessons of history and of grace, so my children will not be afraid to say the word “AIDS” when I am gone. Then, their children and yours may not need to whisper it at all.
God bless the children, and God bless us all.
Good night.
译文：
借此大选年之机，我希望在座的所有人，以及安坐在家中的所有听众，都能够认识到艾滋病病毒不是一种政治产物。它不在乎你是民主党人还是共和党人；也不管你是黑人还是白人，男性还是女性，同性恋者还是异性恋者，青年人还是老年人。
今天晚上，我代表的是一个艾滋病者团体。那些无奈地成为这个团体成员的人们，来自美国社会的各个领域。我是一名白人母亲，但同时也代表费城医院里那些正与输液管抗争的黑人婴儿。我是一名在婚后感染了艾滋病毒的女性，家人的支持让我倍感温暖；但我同时也代表那些孤独的同性恋男子，他们在家人排斥的冷风下，苦苦守护着自己那摇曳飘忽的生命之火。
艾滋病不是遥远的威胁，而是眼前的危险。而妇女和儿童的感染率上升得最快。十年前，大多数人还没有听说过艾滋病，现在，它已经是美国年轻人群的第三大杀手了。而且它不会一直停留在第三的位置上，因为与其它疾病不同，艾滋病是具有传染性的。年轻人不会因为相爱而互相传染癌症或者心脏病，但艾滋病毒不同，我们助长了它的传播。我们因为自己的无知、偏见和缄默而相互伤害。
我们可以用老一套方法来逃避，但却躲避不了多久。因为艾滋病毒在袭击目标的时候只考虑一点：你是不是人类？艾滋病毒携带者并没有并没有变成什么奇异物种。他们仍是人类。他们并没有变的更凶残，不应该因此而遭受刻薄的对待。孤立和鄙视对他们没有任何的帮助。他们中的每一个也都是上帝创造的人，不是等候我们判决的魔鬼，也不是渴盼我们怜悯的受害者——他们都是人，希望得到大家的支持，也值得大家的同情。
我父亲把生命的大部分时间贡献给了另一场屠戮的抗争。他们那一代人都听说过内莫洛神父的那段话。从纳粹集中营中出来后，神父说：
“他们追捕犹太人，我不是犹太人，所以，我没有抗议。他们追捕工会主义者，我不是工会主义者，所以，我没有抗议。接着，他们追捕罗马天主教徒，我不是罗马天主教徒，所以，我没有抗议。再接下来，他们追捕我，这时，已经没有刻意抗议的人了。”
历史的教训告诉我们：如果你认为自己是安全的，那么你已身处险境。如果你没有发现这个杀手正悄悄地走近你的孩子，那么请再仔细看一眼。在美国，没有任何一个家庭或社区，没有任何一个种族或宗教，没有任何一个地方，是安全的了。在我们能够真正确信这一点之前，我们的国家都出境危险。
有一天，我们的孩子会长大成人。我四岁的儿子马克斯，将会审视他的母亲。我两岁的儿子扎卡里，也会搜寻关于母亲的记忆。我也许无法听到他们的评价了，但我已经知道我希望得到怎样的评价。我希望孩子们明白，他们的母亲并不是一个受害者，而是一个信使。我希望他们不会像我从前那样，认为勇气等于无所畏惧。我希望他们明白，真正的勇气，是一种能在最害怕的时候采取明智行为的能力。
我对你们的期望与我对自己及我的孩子们的期望是一样的。数以百万计因直接受到艾滋病侵害而正伤心恐惧的人们：请拿出勇气来吧，你们一定会得到支持的。而那些广大的身体健康的人们，我请求你们：把偏见和政治成见凡在一旁吧，好为同情心和明智的政策预留出空间。
我向所有能听见我的声音的人们呼吁：请和我一起吸取历史的教训，学会感恩。这样，当我去世之后，我的孩子们就不会害怕提及“艾滋病”这一字眼。将来，他们的孩子，你们大家的孩子，都无需再低声密语地说出这个字眼。
愿上帝保佑孩子们，愿上帝保佑我们每一个人。
晚安。
