Jok Church: A circle of caring

Prevoditelj: Tilen Pigac - EFZG Recezent: Zrinka Gattin

You know, what I do is write for children,

Znate, ja pišem za djecu

and I'm probably America's

i vjerojatno sam

most widely read children's author, in fact.

najčitaniji dječji autor u Americi, zapravo.

And I always tell people

Uvijek kažem ljudima

that I don't want to show up looking like a scientist.

kako se ne želim pojaviti izgledajući kao znanstvenik.

You can have me as a farmer, or in leathers,

Mogu biti farmer, ili u koži

and no one has ever chose farmer.

i nitko još nije odabrao farmera.

I'm here today to talk to you

Ovdje sam danas kako bih vam pričao

about circles and epiphanies.

o krugovima i prosvjetljenju.

And you know, an epiphany

A znate, prosvjetljenje

is usually something you find that you dropped someplace.

je kada iznova nađete nešto za što ste smatrali da je odavno izgubljeno.

You've just got to go around the block

Samo morate zaći za ugao

to see it as an epiphany.

kako biste to vidjeli kao prosvjetljenje.

That's a painting of a circle.

Ovo je slika kruga.

A friend of mine did that -- Richard Bollingbroke.

Moj prijatelj je to napravio -- Richard Bollingbroke.

It's the kind of complicated circle

To je vrsta kompliciranog kruga

that I'm going to tell you about.

o kojemu ću vam pričati.

My circle began back in the '60s

Moj krug je započeo u 60-ima

in high school in Stow, Ohio

u srednjoj školi u Stowu, Ohio

where I was the class queer.

gdje sam bio razredni peder.*

I was the guy beaten up bloody

Bio sam krvavo pretučen

every week in the boys' room,

svaki tjedan u muškom zahodu,

until one teacher saved my life.

sve dok mi jedna učiteljica nije spasila život.

She saved my life by letting me go to the bathroom

Ona mi je spasila život dozvolivši mi da koristim

in the teachers' lounge.

zahod za učitelje.

She did it in secret.

Radila je to potajno,

She did it for three years.

radila je to tri godine

And I had to get out of town.

i ja sam morao otići iz tog grada.

I had a thumb, I had 85 dollars,

Imao sam palac, imao sam 85$

and I ended up in San Francisco, California --

i završio sam u San Franciscu, Kalifornija --

met a lover --

upoznao ljubavnika --

and back in the '80s, found it necessary

i u 80-ima, shvatio kako je neophodno

to begin work on AIDS organizations.

da započnem raditi s AIDS organizacijama.

About three or four years ago,

Prije otprilike tri ili četiri godine,

I got a phone call in the middle of the night

primio sam telefonski poziv usred noći

from that teacher, Mrs. Posten,

od te učiteljice, gđe. Posten

who said, "I need to see you.

koja je rekla, "Moram te vidjeti.

I'm disappointed

Razočarana sam

that we never got to know each other as adults.

što se nikada nismo upoznali kao odrasli.

Could you please come to Ohio,

Možeš li, molim te, doći u Ohio,

and please bring that man

i, molim te, dovedi tog čovjeka

that I know you have found by now.

kojeg si, znam, već dosada našao.

And I should mention

I moram spomenuti

that I have pancreatic cancer,

kako imam rak gušterače,

and I'd like you to please

i voljela bih ako bi mogao

be quick about this."

biti brz s tim."

Well, the next day we were in Cleveland.

I tako, idući dan bili smo u Clevelandu.

We took a look at her, we laughed, we cried,

Posjetili smo je, smijali smo se, plakali,

and we knew that she needed to be in a hospice.

i znali smo kako bi trebala biti u domu za nemoćne.

We found her one, we got her there,

Pronašli smo joj jedan, odvezli je tamo

and we took care of her

i pobrinuli se za nju,

and watched over her family,

i pazili na njezinu obitelj,

because it was necessary.

jer je bilo nužno,

It's something we knew how to do.

to je nešto što smo znali raditi.

And just as the woman who wanted to know me as an adult

I kada me žena koja me željela poznavati kao odraslog,

got to know me,

upoznala,

she turned into a box of ashes

pretvorila se u kutiju pepela

and was placed in my hands.

i stavljena je u moje ruke.

And what had happened

A ono što se dogodilo

was the circle had closed,

je da se krug zatvorio,

it had become a circle --

postao je krug --

and that epiphany I talked about

a to prosvjetljenje o kojem sam pričao

presented itself.

se dogodilo.

The epiphany is

Prosvjetljenje je u spoznaji

that death is a part of life.

da je i smrt dio života.

She saved my life;

Ona je spasila moj život,

I and my partner saved hers.

ja i moj partner smo spasili njezin.

And you know, that part of life needs everything

I znate, tom dijelu života treba sve ono

that the rest of life does.

što je potrebno i u ostatku života.

It needs truth and beauty,

Potrebna mu je istina i ljepota

and I'm so happy it's been mentioned so much here today.

i tako sam sretan što je toliko puta to spominjano danas ovdje.

It also needs --

Potrebno mu je --

it needs dignity,

potrebno mu je dostojanstvo,

love and pleasure,

ljubav i zadovoljstvo.

and it's our job to hand those things out.

A naš je zadatak da dijelimo te stvari.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)