Jacqueline Woodson: What reading slowly taught me about writing | TED

Translator: Yohanes Tri Santosa Reviewer: Azfa Adid

A long time ago, there lived a Giant,

Pada zaman dahulu kala, hiduplah seorang raksasa,

a Selfish Giant, whose stunning garden was the most beautiful in all the land.

Raksasa Egois yang memiliki taman paling indah di seluruh pelosok negeri.

One evening, this Giant came home

Suatu sore, ia pulang

and found all these children playing in his garden,

dan melihat anak-anak sedang bermain di tamannya.

and he became enraged.

Ia pun menjadi murka.

"My own garden is my own garden!"

"Tamanku, milikku!"

the Giant said.

kata Raksasa.

And he built this high wall around it.

Ia pun membangun tembok tinggi mengelilingi taman.

The author Oscar Wilde wrote the story of "The Selfish Giant" in 1888.

Sang pengarang, Oscar Wilde menulis "The Selfish Giant" pada tahun 1888.

Almost a hundred years later, that Giant moved into my Brooklyn childhood

Hampir 100 tahun kemudian, kisah itu terjadi di masa kecil saya di Brooklyn,

and never left.

dan tak pernah pergi.

I was raised in a religious family,

Saya tumbuh dalam keluarga religius,

and I grew up reading both the Bible and the Quran.

dan saya terbiasa membaca Alkitab dan Al-Quran.

The hours of reading, both religious and recreational,

Membaca berjam-jam untuk hal keagamaan maupun hiburan

far outnumbered the hours of television-watching.

jauh melebihi waktu menonton televisi

Now, on any given day, you could find my siblings and I

Setiap saat, saya bersama saudara saya

curled up in some part of our apartment reading,

meringkuk di apartemen kami membaca,

sometimes unhappily,

dan terkadang tidak senang

because on summer days in New York City, the fire hydrant blasted,

karena pada musim panas di New York, "fire hydrant" meledak

and to our immense jealousy, we could hear our friends down there

dan kami iri, teman-teman di bawah

playing in the gushing water,

bermain-main dengan semburan air

their absolute joy making its way up through our open windows.

kebahagiaan mereka terlihat jelas dari jendela kami

But I learned that the deeper I went into my books,

Namun saya belajar bahwa semakin saya mendalami buku-buku saya,

the more time I took with each sentence,

Semakin lama untuk membaca setiap kalimat,

the less I heard the noise of the outside world.

semakin jarang saya mendengar kebisingan di dunia luar

And so, unlike my siblings, who were racing through books,

tidak seperti saudara kandung saja, membaca seperti balapan

I read slowly --

Saya membaca perlahan --

very, very slowly.

sangat pelan

I was that child with her finger running beneath the words,

Dari kecil, jari-jari saya selalu menunjuk kata per kata,

until I was untaught to do this; told big kids don't use their fingers.

walaupun saya tahu bahwa membaca tidak boleh menggunakan jari.

In third grade, we were made to sit with our hands folded on our desk,

Di kelas tiga, kami diajarkan untuk duduk dan melipat tangan di atas bangku

unclasping them only to turn the pages, then returning them to that position.

kecuali saat membuka halaman buku.

Our teacher wasn't being cruel.

Guru kami tidaklah galak.

It was the 1970s,

Itu di tahun 1970an

and her goal was to get us reading not just on grade level

dia menyuruh kami membaca tidak hanya pada level siswa

but far above it.

tetapi jauh di atas itu

And we were always being pushed to read faster.

Dan kami selalu didorong untuk membaca lebih cepat.

But in the quiet of my apartment, outside of my teacher's gaze,

Tapi dalam keheningan apartemen saya, tanpa ada guru yang mengawasi,

I let my finger run beneath those words.

saya membiarkan jari saya mengikuti kata-kata itu.

And that Selfish Giant again told me his story,

Dan Si Raksasa Egois kembali menceritakan kisahnya,

how he had felt betrayed by the kids sneaking into his garden,

bagaimana ia sakit hati melihat anak-anak menyelinap di tamannya,

how he had built this high wall,

bagaimana ia membangun tembok tingginya,

and it did keep the children out,

yang memang berhasil menjauhkan anak-anak itu,

but a grey winter fell over his garden

namun salju kelabu turun di atas tamannya

and just stayed and stayed.

dan susah untuk hilang.

With each rereading, I learned something new

Setiap kali membacanya ulang, saya belajar hal baru

about the hard stones of the roads that the kids were forced to play on

tentang kerasnya jalanan dan anak-anak terpaksa bermain di sana

when they got expelled from the garden,

ketika mereka diusir dari taman,

about the gentleness of a small boy that appeared one day,

tentang kebaikan hati seorang bocah kecil yang muncul suatu hari,

and even about the Giant himself.

dan bahkan tentang si Raksasa itu sendiri.

Maybe his words weren't rageful after all.

Mungkin kata-katanya justru bukan ungkapan kemarahan.

Maybe they were a plea for empathy,

Mungkin ia sedang memohon empati,

for understanding.

pengertian.

"My own garden is my own garden."

"Tamanku adalah milikku."

Years later, I would learn of a writer named John Gardner

Bertahun-tahun saya belajar pada penulis, John Gardner

who referred to this as the "fictive dream,"

yang menyebutnya "fictive dream"

or the "dream of fiction,"

atau "dream of fiction"

and I would realize that this was where I was inside that book,

dan saya menyadari di sanalah saya mendalami buku itu,

spending time with the characters and the world that the author had created

mengabiskan waktu dengan karakter dan dunia yang pengarang ciptakan

and invited me into.

dan ajak saya masuk ke dalam.

As a child, I knew that stories were meant to be savored,

Semasa kecil pun saya tahu, cerita itu dibuat untuk dinikmati

that stories wanted to be slow,

cerita yang diinginkan lebih lama,

and that some author had spent months, maybe years, writing them.

beberapa pengarang butuh bulanan bahkan tahunan untuk menulisnya.

And my job as the reader --

Dan tugas saya membaca --

especially as the reader who wanted to one day become a writer --

terlebih saya ingin menjadi seorang penulis suatu hari ini,

was to respect that narrative.

menghormati narasi itu.

Long before there was cable or the internet or even the telephone,

Jauh sebelum adanya TV kabel, atau internet, atau bahkan telepon,

there were people sharing ideas and information and memory through story.

ada beberapa orang yang berbagi ide, informasi dan ingatan melalui cerita.

It's one of our earliest forms of connective technology.

Ini adalah bentuk awal dari terhubungnya teknologi.

It was the story of something better down the Nile

Ini adalah cerita tentang keindahan sungai nil

that sent the Egyptians moving along it,

yang membuat orang Mesir menyusuri sungai ini,

the story of a better way to preserve the dead

tentang cara untuk mengawetkan orang mati

that brought King Tut's remains into the 21st century.

yang membuat Jasad King Tut awet hingga ke abad ke-21

And more than two million years ago,

dan lebih dari 2 juta tahun silam

when the first humans began making tools from stone,

ketika manusia pertama kali membuat alat dari batu

someone must have said, "What if?"

Ada yang berkata,"bagaimana jika?'

And someone else remembered the story.

dan seseorang lain mengingat cerita

And whether they told it through words or gestures or drawings,

entah disampaikan melalui kata, gestur atau gambar

it was passed down; remembered:

cerita itu diwariskan dan dikenang

hit a hammer and hear its story.

dengarkan ceritanya.

The world is getting noisier.

Dunia semakin berisik.

We've gone from boomboxes

Dari "boomboxes"

to Walkmen to portable CD players

kita beralih ke "walkmen" kemudian ke "CD Player" portabel

to iPods

lalu ke "Ipods"

to any song we want, whenever we want it.

sampai lagu yang bisa kita putar kapan saja.

We've gone from the four television channels of my childhood

kita beralih dari empat saluran televisi pada masa anak-anak

to the seeming infinity of cable and streaming.

ke saluran kabel dan "streaming" yang tidak terbatas

As technology moves us faster and faster through time and space,

ketika teknologi menggerakkan kita semakin cepat melalui waktu dan ruang,

it seems to feel like story is getting pushed out of the way,

Ini seperti sebuah cerita yang keluar dari alurnya

I mean, literally pushed out of the narrative.

Saya sebut ini keluar dari narasi.

But even as our engagement with stories change,

Bahkan keterikatan kita dengan cerita telah berubah

or the trappings around it morph from book to audio to Instagram to Snapchat,

dari buku ke saluran audio hingga Instagram dan Snapchat

we must remember our finger beneath the words.

kita harus mengingat tangan kita di bawah kata-kata

Remember that story, regardless of the format,

Ingat. Terlepas dari bentuknya, cerita

has always taken us to places we never thought we'd go,

telah membawa kita ke tempat yang tak pernah kita pikirkan

introduced us to people we never thought we'd meet

mengenalkan kita pada orang yang tak pernah terpikirkan.

and shown us worlds that we might have missed.

dan menunjukkan pada dunia yang mungkin kita lewatkan.

So as technology keeps moving faster and faster,

Ketika teknologi bergerak semakin cepat,

I am good with something slower.

saya senang dengan sesuatu yang lebih lambat

My finger beneath the words has led me to a life of writing books

jari-jari saya di bawah kata-kata telah membawa saya pada dunia menulis buku

for people of all ages,

yang cocok untuk segala umur

books meant to be read slowly,

buku-buku yang dibaca secara lambat

to be savored.

dinikmati.

My love for looking deeply and closely at the world,

Kecintaan saya untuk melihat dunia lebih dalam dan dekat

for putting my whole self into it, and by doing so,

untuk masuk di dalamnya dan melakukannya

seeing the many, many possibilities of a narrative,

untuk melihat banyak kemungkinan dari sebuah narasi,

turned out to be a gift,

berubah menjadi sebuah hadiah

because taking my sweet time

karena waktu saya telah tersita untuknya.

taught me everything I needed to know about writing.

mengajarkan saya tentang penulisan.

And writing taught me everything I needed to know about creating worlds

dan menulis mengajarkan saya bagaimana menciptakan dunia

where people could be seen and heard,

di mana banyak orang bisa dilihat dan didengar

where their experiences could be legitimized,

di mana pengalaman mereka dapat disahkan

and where my story, read or heard by another person,

di mana cerita saya dibaca dan didengar oleh orang lain

inspired something in them that became a connection between us,

menginspirasi sehingga tercipta hubungan di antara kita,

a conversation.

obrolan.

And isn't that what this is all about --

Bukankah begitu seharusnya?

finding a way, at the end of the day, to not feel alone in this world,

menemukan cara untuk tidak merasa sendiri di dunia ini

and a way to feel like we've changed it before we leave?

dan cara untuk merasa kita telah mengubahnya sebelum kita meninggalkannya?

Stone to hammer, man to mummy,

Batu ke palu, manusia ke mumi,

idea to story -- and all of it, remembered.

ide ke cerita-- dan semua ini, dikenang.

Sometimes we read to understand the future.

Kita kadang-kadang membaca untuk mengerti masa depan.

Sometimes we read to understand the past.

Kita kadang-kadang membaca untuk mengerti masa lalu

We read to get lost, to forget the hard times we're living in,

kita membaca untuk melupakan masa-masa sulit yang kita hadapi

and we read to remember those who came before us,

dan kita membaca untuk tahu para pendahulu kita

who lived through something harder.

dengan kehidupan yang lebih keras

I write for those same reasons.

Itulah alasan saya untuk menulis.

Before coming to Brooklyn, my family lived in Greenville, South Carolina,

Sebelum di Brooklyn, keluarga saya tinggal di Greenville, South Carolina

in a segregated neighborhood called Nicholtown.

dalam lingkungan yang terpisah, Nicholtown

All of us there were the descendants of a people

dan kami semua adalah keturunan dari orang-orang

who had not been allowed to learn to read or write.

yang tidak boleh belajar membaca dan menulis

Imagine that:

Bayangkan:

the danger of understanding how letters form words,

bahayanya mengerti bagaimana huruf membentuk kata

the danger of words themselves,

bahayanya kata-kata itu sendiri,

the danger of a literate people and their stories.

bahayanya orang yang terpelajar dan kisahnya.

But against this backdrop of being threatened with death

Tapi dengan melawan ancaman kematian

for holding onto a narrative,

untuk berpegang pada narasi,

our stories didn't die,

cerita kami tidak mati,

because there is yet another story beneath that one.

karena ada cerita lain di bawahnya.

And this is how it has always worked.

Dan begitulah sistemnya.

For as long as we've been communicating,

selama kita mampu melakukan komunikasi,

there's been the layering to the narrative,

Narasi itu banyak lapisannya,

the stories beneath the stories and the ones beneath those.

Cerita ini di bawah yang itu, cerita itu di bawah yang ini.

This is how story has and will continue to survive.

Begitulah cara cerita bertahan.

As I began to connect the dots that connected the way I learned to write

Saat saya mulai menghubungkan titik-titik di mana saya belajar menulis

and the way I learned to read

di mana saya belajar membaca

to an almost silenced people,

terhadap orang yang miris pendiam.

I realized that my story was bigger and older and deeper

saya menyadari bahwa cerita saya lebih besar, tua dan mendalam

than I would ever be.

dari pada yang saya alami.

And because of that, it will continue.

maka dari itu cerita saya akan berlanjut.

Among these almost-silenced people

Di antara banyak orang yang bersikap diam

there were the ones who never learned to read.

Ada beberapa orang yang belum pernah belajar membaca

Their descendants, now generations out of enslavement,

Keturunan mereka, generasi yang bebas dari perbudakan,

if well-off enough,

kalau cukup kaya,

had gone on to college, grad school, beyond.

bisa belajar di perguruan tinggi, bahkan lebih.

Some, like my grandmother and my siblings, seemed to be born reading,

Beberapa seperti nenek dan saudara saya tampaknya dilahirkan untuk membaca,

as though history stepped out of their way.

walau dilupakan sejarah.

Some, like my mother, hitched onto the Great Migration wagon --

Beberapa seperti ibu saya menumpang di kereta Great Migration --

which was not actually a wagon --

yang sebenarnya bukan kereta

and kissed the South goodbye.

mengucapkan The South goodbye.

But here is the story within that story:

Namun, inilah cerita dalam cerita

those who left and those who stayed

Orang-orang pergi dan tinggal,

carried with them the history of a narrative,

membawa sejarah sebuah cerita.

knew deeply that writing it down wasn't the only way they could hold on to it,

Mereka paham, menuliskannya bukanlah satu-satunya cara untuk mempertahankannya

knew they could sit on their porches or their stoops at the end of a long day

paham bahwa mereka dapat duduk di teras setiap senja

and spin a slow tale for their children.

dan bercerita ke anak-cucu mereka.

They knew they could sing their stories through the thick heat of picking cotton

Mereka paham mereka bisa menyanyikan cerita di kepanasan memetik kapas

and harvesting tobacco,

dan memanen tembakau,

knew they could preach their stories and sew them into quilts,

mereka dapat berkreasi dengan cerita mereka

turn the most painful ones into something laughable,

mengubah sesuatu yang paling menyakitkan menjadi sesuatu yang lucu

and through that laughter, exhale the history a country

dan melalui humor, mereka bercerita tentang negara

that tried again and again and again

yang terus menerus mencoba

to steal their bodies,

mencuri tubuh mereka,

their spirit

semangat mereka

and their story.

dan cerita mereka.

So as a child, I learned to imagine an invisible finger

Saat saya kecil, saya belajar untuk membayangkan jari

taking me from word to word,

yang membawa saya menyelami kata per kata,

from sentence to sentence,

dari kalimat ke kalimat lain,

from ignorance to understanding.

dan ketidaktahuan menjadi pengetahuan.

So as technology continues to speed ahead,

Jadi, ketika teknologi semakin cepat

I continue to read slowly,

saya terus membaca dengan lambat,

knowing that I am respecting the author's work

karena saya menghargai karya penulis

and the story's lasting power.

dan kekuatan sebuah cerita yang bertahan lama

And I read slowly to drown out the noise

saya membaca untuk mengurangi kebisingan

and remember those who came before me,

dan mengingat mereka yang telah mendahului saya,

who were probably the first people who finally learned to control fire

mungkin orang pertama yang belajar cara mengendalikan api

and circled their new power

dan memutar kekuatan baru mereka

of flame and light and heat.

dari api dan cahaya dan panas

And I read slowly to remember the Selfish Giant,

dan saya membaca lambat untuk mengingat The Selfish Giant

how he finally tore that wall down

bagaimana dia merobohkan tembok

and let the children run free through his garden.

dan membiarkan anak-anak berlari melewati taman

And I read slowly to pay homage to my ancestors,

dan saya membaca secara pelan untuk menghormati nenek moyang saya

who were not allowed to read at all.

yang tidak diizinkan untuk membaca sama sekali

They, too, must have circled fires,

mereka dapat memutar api

speaking softly of their dreams,

berbicara secara halus tentang mimpi mereka

their hopes, their futures.

harapan mereka, dan masa depan mereka

Each time we read, write or tell a story,

setiap saya kita membaca, menulis, dan mengisahkan sebuah cerita

we step inside their circle,

kita memasuki lingkaran mereka

and it remains unbroken.

dan ini masih belum terpecahkan

And the power of story lives on.

dan kekuatan dari cerita akan tetap hidup.

Thank you.

Terima kasih

(Applause)

(Tepuk tangan)