Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Senzos Osijek

I was one of the only kids in college who had a reason

Bila sam jedna od onih studenata koji su imali razlog

to go to the P.O. box at the end of the day,

da na kraju dana odu do poštanskog pretinca,

and that was mainly because my mother has never believed

a to je bilo uglavnom zato što moja majka nikad nije vjerovala

in email, in Facebook, in texting or cell phones in general.

u e-mail, Facebook, SMS poruke ili mobitele uopće.

And so while other kids were BBM-ing their parents,

Dok su se drugi svojima javljali preko BlackBerryja,

I was literally waiting by the mailbox

ja sam doslovno kraj sandučića čekala

to get a letter from home to see how the weekend had gone,

pismo od kuće da čujem kako je prošao vikend,

which was a little frustrating when Grandma was in the hospital,

što je bilo malo frustrirajuće dok je baka bila u bolnici,

but I was just looking for some sort of scribble,

ali tražila sam bilo kakvu črčkariju,

some unkempt cursive from my mother.

neki neodržavani kurziv od moje majke.

And so when I moved to New York City after college

I tako kad sam se preselila u New York nakon faksa

and got completely sucker-punched in the face by depression,

iznenadila me depresija,

I did the only thing I could think of at the time.

i učinila sam jedinu stvar koja mi je tada pala na pamet.

I wrote those same kinds of letters that my mother had written me

Pisala sam ista pisma koja je meni pisala majka

for strangers, and tucked them all throughout the city,

za strance, i ostavljala sam ih posvuda u gradu,

dozens and dozens of them. I left them everywhere,

desetke i desetke njih, ostavljala sam ih svugdje,

in cafes and in libraries, at the U.N., everywhere.

u kafićima i knjižnicama, u U.N.-u, posvuda.

I blogged about those letters and the days

Pisala sam na blogu o tim pismima i danima

when they were necessary, and I posed

kada su oni bili potrebni, i dala sam

a kind of crazy promise to the Internet:

pomalo ludo obećanje internetu:

that if you asked me for a hand-written letter,

ako me zatražite rukom ispisano pismo,

I would write you one, no questions asked.

napisat ću ga, bez pogovora.

Overnight, my inbox morphed into this harbor of heartbreak --

Preko noći moj sandučić postao je utočište slomljenih srca --

a single mother in Sacramento, a girl being bullied

samohrana majka iz Sacramenta, djevojčica koju su zlostavljali

in rural Kansas, all asking me, a 22-year-old girl

u ruralnom Kansasu, svi su me tražili, 22-godišnja djevojka

who barely even knew her own coffee order,

koja je jedva znala naručiti kavu,

to write them a love letter and give them a reason

da im napišem ljubavno pismo i dam razlog

to wait by the mailbox.

da čekaju kraj sandučića.

Well, today I fuel a global organization

Pa, danas pokrećem globalnu organizaciju

that is fueled by those trips to the mailbox,

koja se pokreće tim posjetima sandučiću,

fueled by the ways in which we can harness social media

koji se pokreću načinima na koje možemo iskoristiti društvene medije

like never before to write and mail strangers letters

kao nikad prije da pišemo i šaljemo pisma strancima

when they need them most, but most of all,

kada ih najviše trebaju, no najvažnije,

fueled by crates of mail like this one, my trusty mail crate,

pokretan od sanduka pošte kao što je ovaj, moj vjerni sanduk za poštu,

filled with the scriptings of ordinary people,

ispunjen pisanjima običnih ljudi,

strangers writing letters to other strangers not because

stranaca koji su spremni pisati drugim strancima, ne zato što

they're ever going to meet and laugh over a cup of coffee,

će ih ikad upoznati i smijati se preko šalice kave,

but because they have found one another by way of letter-writing.

već zato što su pronašli jedno drugo putem pisanja pisama.

But, you know, the thing that always gets me

Ali znate, stvar koja me uvijek iznenadi

about these letters is that most of them have been written

kod tih pisama je da ih je većina pisana

by people that have never known themselves loved on a piece of paper.

od ljudi koji nikad nisu bili voljeni na komadu papira.

They could not tell you about the ink of their own love letters.

Nisu vam mogli pričali o tinti vlastitih ljubavnih pisama.

They're the ones from my generation,

Oni su dio moje generacije,

the ones of us that have grown up into a world

oni koji su odrasli u svijetu

where everything is paperless, and where some

gdje je sve bez papira, i gdje neki

of our best conversations have happened upon a screen.

od naših najboljih razgovora se događaju na ekranu.

We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook,

Naučili smo našu bol bilježiti na Facebooku,

and we speak swiftly in 140 characters or less.

i pričamo vješto u 140 znakova ili manje.

But what if it's not about efficiency this time?

Ali što ako se ne radi o učinkovitosi ovoga puta?

I was on the subway yesterday with this mail crate,

Bila sam u podzemnoj jučer sa ovim sandukom pošte,

which is a conversation starter, let me tell you.

koji je dobar početak razgovora, vjerujte mi kad vam kažem.

If you ever need one, just carry one of these. (Laughter)

Ako vam ikad treba tema, samo nosite ovo. (Smijeh)

And a man just stared at me, and he was like,

I čovjek je samo buljio u mene, i pitao je,

"Well, why don't you use the Internet?"

"Pa, zašto ne koristiš Internet?"

And I thought, "Well, sir, I am not a strategist,

I pomislila sam, "Pa gospodine, nisam strategist,

nor am I specialist. I am merely a storyteller."

niti sam specijalist, ja sam samo ona koja priča priče."

And so I could tell you about a woman

I tako vam mogu pričati o ženi

whose husband has just come home from Afghanistan,

čiji je muž došao iz Afganistana,

and she is having a hard time unearthing this thing called conversation,

i ima problema sa otkrivanjem te stvari koju zovemo razgovorom,

and so she tucks love letters throughout the house

i tako skriva ljubavna pisma po kući

as a way to say, "Come back to me.

kako bi mu rekla, "Vrati mi se.

Find me when you can."

Pronađi me ako možeš."

Or a girl who decides that she is going to leave love letters

Ili djevojka koja odluči da će ostavljati ljubavna pisma

around her campus in Dubuque, Iowa, only to find

na svom faksu u Dubuque, Iowi, kako bi utvrdila

her efforts ripple-effected the next day when she walks out

da je njen trud izazvao lančanu reakciju kada je izašla

onto the quad and finds love letters hanging

na trg i pronašla ljubavna pisma kako vise

from the trees, tucked in the bushes and the benches.

sa drveća, skrivena u grmlju i kod klupa.

Or the man who decides that he is going to take his life,

Ili čovjek koji odluči da će si oduzeti život,

uses Facebook as a way to say goodbye

koristi Facebook kako bi rekao zbogom

to friends and family.

prijateljima i obitelji.

Well, tonight he sleeps safely with a stack of letters

Pa, večeras spava sigurno sa hrpom pisama

just like this one tucked beneath his pillow,

poput ovih spremljenih pod jastukom,

scripted by strangers who were there for him when.

ispisanih od stranaca koji su bili tu za njega.

These are the kinds of stories that convinced me

To su priče koje su me uvjerile

that letter-writing will never again need to flip back her hair

da pisanje pisama nikada neće morati zabaciti kosu

and talk about efficiency, because she is an art form now,

i pričati o učinkovitosti, jer ona je sada oblik umjetnosti,

all the parts of her, the signing, the scripting, the mailing,

svi njeni dijelovi, potpisivanje, pisanje, slanje,

the doodles in the margins.

črčkarije na marginama.

The mere fact that somebody would even just sit down,

Sama činjenica da bi itko samo sjeo,

pull out a piece of paper and think about someone

izvukao komad papira i mislio o nekome

the whole way through, with an intention that is so much

cijelo vrijeme sa namjerom koju je tako

harder to unearth when the browser is up and the iPhone

teško otkriti kada vam je browser otvoren i iPhone

is pinging and we've got six conversations rolling in at once,

zvoni i imamo šest istovremenih razgovora,

that is an art form

to je oblik umjetnosti

that does not fall down to the Goliath of "get faster,"

koji ne spada u Golijata brzine,

no matter how many social networks we might join.

koliko god se društvenih mreža pridružili.

We still clutch close these letters to our chest,

I dalje privijamo ta pisma na grudi,

to the words that speak louder than loud,

privijamo riječi koje govore glasnije od glasnog,

when we turn pages into palettes to say the things

kada pretvaramo stranice u palete kako bismo rekli stvari

that we have needed to say,

koje smo trebali reći,

the words that we have needed to write, to sisters

riječi koje smo morali napisati, sestrama

and brothers and even to strangers, for far too long.

i braći, čak i strancima, već jako dugo.

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala vam. (Pljesak)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)