An ode to living on Earth | Oliver Jeffers

Translator: Jessie Dima KusumaWardhani Reviewer: Yohealvien Himerlyn

[Oliver Jeffers]

[Oliver Jeffers]

[An ode to living on Earth]

[Syair untuk hidup di Bumi]

Hello.

Halo.

I'm sure by the time I get to end of this sentence,

Aku yakin di akhir kalimat ini,

given how I talk,

dari caraku berbicara,

you'll all have figured out that I'm from a place called

kalian semua tahu aku datang dari tempat

planet Earth.

bernama Bumi.

Earth is pretty great.

Bumi cukup bagus.

It's home to us.

Rumah bagi kita.

And germs.

Juga kuman.

Those [blip] take a back seat for the time being,

Kita abaikan dulu makhluk ini untuk sekarang,

because believe it or not, they're not the only thing going on.

karena percaya atau tidak, mereka bukan satu-satunya.

This planet is also home to cars, brussels sprouts;

Planet ini juga rumah untuk mobil, kubis;

those weird fish things that have their own headlights;

ikan aneh ini yang punya penerangan sendiri;

art, fire,

seni, api,

fire extinguishers,

pemadam api,

laws, pigeons, bottles of beer,

hukum, merpati, botol anggur,

lemons and light bulbs;

lemon dan bola lampu;

Pinot noir and paracetamol;

Pinot noir dan paracetamol;

ghosts, mosquitoes, flamingos, flowers,

hantu, nyamuk, flamingo, bunga,

the ukulele, elevators and cats,

ukulele, lift, dan kucing,

cat videos, the internet;

video kucing, internet;

iron beams, buildings and batteries,

kerangka besi, gedung, baterai,

all ingenuity and bright ideas, all known life ...

semua kepintaran dan kecerdasan, hidup yang ada...

and a whole bunch of other stuff.

dan semua hal lainnya.

Pretty much everything we know and ever heard of.

Segala yang pernah kita lihat dan dengar.

It's my favorite place, actually.

Ini sebenarnya tempat favorit.

This small orb,

Bola kecil ini,

floating in a cold and lonely part of the cosmos.

mengambang di bagian kosmos yang dingin dan sepi.

Oh, the accent is from Belfast, by the way, which is ...

Omong-omong, aksennya dari Belfast,

here.

yaitu di sana.

Roughly.

Kira-kira.

You may think you know this planet Earth,

Mungkin kalian mengerti planet Bumi ini,

as you're from here.

karena kalian dari sini.

But chances are,

Tapi mungkin saja,

you probably haven't thought about the basics in a while.

kalian belum pernah memikirkan dasarnya.

I thought I knew it.

Kupikir aku mengerti.

Thought I was an expert, even.

Bahkan kupikir aku sudah ahli.

Until, that is, I had to explain the entire place,

Hingga, aku harus menjelaskan keseluruhannya,

and how it's supposed to work,

dan bagaimana cara kerjanya,

to someone who had never been here before.

kepada orang yang belum pernah kemari.

Not what you might think,

Bukan itu maksudku,

although my dad always did say

meski ayahku selalu berkata

the sure sign of intelligent life out there

tanda pasti kehidupan cerdas luar sana

is that they haven't bothered trying to contact us.

adalah mereka tak akan menguhubungi kita.

It was actually my newborn son I was trying to explain things to.

Sebenarnya aku ingin menjelaskan kepada anakku yang baru lahir.

We'd never been parents before,

Kami belum pernah jadi orang tua,

my wife and I,

aku dan istriku,

and so treated him like most guests when he arrived home for the first time,

jadi kami memperlakukannya seperti tamu yang pertama kali datang ke rumah,

by giving him the tour.

dengan mengadakan tur.

This is where you live, son.

Ini tempatmu tinggal, Nak.

This room is where we make food at.

Ini tempat kita membuat makanan.

This is the room we keep our collection of chairs, and so on.

Ini tempat kita menyimpan kumpulan bangku, dan sebagainya.

It's refreshing,

Rasanya jadi segar lagi,

explaining how our planet works to a zero-year-old.

menjelaskan cara kerja planet kita pada bayi baru lahir.

But after the laughs,

Tapi setelah keseruan itu,

and once the magnitude that new humans know absolutely nothing

dan setelah tahu bahwa manusia baru tidak tahu apa-apa

settles on you and how little you know either,

menjadi tanggung jawabmu dan kita tidak tahu banyak,

explaining the whole planet becomes quite intimidating.

menjelaskan seluruh dunia menjadi hal yang menakutkan.

But I tried anyway.

Tapi tetap kucoba.

As I walked around those first few weeks,

Setelah jalan-jalan pada beberapa pekan pertama,

narrating the world as I saw it,

mendeskripsikan dunia menurut pandanganku,

I began to take notes of the ridiculous things I was saying.

aku mulai mencatat hal konyol yang kuucapkan.

The notes slowly morphed into a letter

Catatan perlahan berubah menjadi surat

intended for my son once he learned to read.

untuk putraku setelah mampu membaca.

And that letter became a book

Surat itu berubah menjadi buku

about the basic principles of what it is to be a human

tentang prinsip dasar cara menjadi manusia

living on Earth in the 21st century.

yang tinggal di Bumi pada abad ke-21.

Some things are really obvious.

Beberapa di antaranya sudah jelas.

Like, the planet is made of two parts:

Misal, planet ini terbuat dari dua hal:

land and sea.

daratan dan laut.

Some less obvious until you think about them.

Beberapa lainnya harus dipikirkan agar mengerti.

Like, time.

Misal, waktu.

Things can sometimes move slowly here on Earth.

Terkadang kita bergerak lambat di Bumi.

But more often, they move quickly.

Tapi seringkali, bergerak cepat.

So use your time well, it will be gone before you know it.

Jadi gunakan waktu sebaiknya, akan pergi sebelum sadar.

Or people.

Atau orang.

People come in all different shapes, sizes and colors.

Orang terdiri dari bebagai bentuk, ukuran, dan warna.

We may all look different,

Kita mungkin berbeda,

act different and sound different,

berlaku berbeda, dan bersuara berbeda,

but don't be fooled.

tapi jangan tertipu.

We are all people.

Kita semua orang.

It doesn't skip me that of all the places in the universe,

Itu tidak membuatku lupa bahwa dari semua tempat di alam semesta,

people only live on Earth,

kita hanya hidup di Bumi,

can only live on Earth.

hanya bisa hidup di Bumi.

And even then, only on some of the dry bits.

Bahkan, hanya di beberapa daratan.

There's only a very small part of the surface of our planet

Hanya sebagian kecil permukaan planet kita

that is actually habitable to human life,

yang bisa ditinggali manusia,

and squeezed in here is where all of us live.

dan tempat sempit ini adalah rumah kita.

It's easy to forget when you're up close to the dirt,

Mudah sekali lupa saat kita dekat dengan tanah,

the rocks, the foliage, the concrete of our lands,

batu, daun, benda padat di pulau kita,

just how limited the room for maneuvering is.

betapa terbatasnya ruang untuk bergerak.

From a set of eyes close to the ground,

Dari sepasang mata yang dekat dengan tanah,

the horizon feels like it goes forever.

kaki langit terasa tidak berujung.

After all, it's not an every-day ritual

Lagipula, ini bukan ritual harian

to consider where we are on the ball of our planet

untuk mengetahui letak kita di bola planet

and where that ball is in space.

dan letak planet ini di luar angkasa.

I didn't want to tell my son the same story of countries

Aku tak mau memberi tahu putraku cerita membosankan

that we were told where I was growing up in Northern Ireland.

bahwa kami diberi tahu tempat aku tumbuh di Irlandia Utara.

That we were from just a small parish,

Bahwa kami berasal dari paroki kecil,

which ignores life outside its immediate concerns.

yang mengabaikan hidup di luar kewajiban.

I wanted to try to feel what it was like to see our planet

Aku ingin mencoba mencari tahu apa rasanya melihat planet kita

as one system, as a single object,

sebagai satu sistem, sebagai satu objek,

hanging in space.

mengambang di luar angkasa.

To do this,

Untuk itu,

I would need to switch from flat drawings for books

aku harus beralih dari buku gambar yang datar

to 3D sculpture for the street,

ke model 3D di jalan,

and I'd need almost 200 feet,

dan memerlukan hampir 61 meter,

a New York City block,

blok Kota New York,

to build a large-scale model of the moon,

untuk membangun model bulan ukuran besar,

the Earth and us.

Bumi, dan kita.

This project managed to take place on New York City's High Line park

Proyek ini berhasil diadakan di taman High Line Kota New York

last winter,

musim dingin lalu,

on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's mission around the Moon.

dalam rangka peringatan ke-50 misi Apollo mengitari Bulan.

After its installation,

Setelah pemasangan,

I was able to put on a space helmet with my son

aku dapat mengenakan helm luar angkasa bersama putraku

and launch, like Apollo 11 did half a century ago,

dan meluncur, layaknya Apollo 11 setengah abad lalu,

towards the Moon.

menuju Bulan.

We circled around

Kami mengitarinya

and looked back at us.

dan melihat ke belakang.

What I felt was

Yang aku rasakan

how lonely it was there in the dark.

adalah betapa sepinya di luar sana.

And I was just pretending.

Padahal aku hanya berpura-pura.

The Moon is the only object

Bulan satu-satunya objek

even remotely close to us.

yang masih dekat dengan kita.

And at the scale of this project,

Dalam skala proyek ini,

where our planet was 10 feet in diameter,

tempat planet kita berdiameter 0,3 meter,

Mars, the next planet, will be the size of a yoga ball

Mars, planet tetangga, sama besarnya dengan bola yoga

and a couple of miles away.

dan bermil-mil jauhnya.

Although borders are not visible from space,

Meskipun tidak ada batasan dari luar angkasa,

on my sculpture,

pada modelku,

every single border was drawn in.

setiap batasan dibuat.

But rather than writing the country names on the carved-up land,

Daripada menuliskan nama negara di atas gambar pulau,

I wrote over and over again,

aku menulis lagi dan lagi,

"people live here, people live here."

"kita tinggal di sini, kita tinggal di sini."

"People live here."

"Kita tinggal di sini."

And off on the Moon, it was written,

dan di Bulan, tulisannya,

"No one lives here."

"Tak ada yang tinggal di sini."

Often, the obvious things

Seringkali, hal yang jelas

aren't all that obvious until you think about them.

tidaklah sejelas itu sampai kita memikirkannya.

Seeing anything from a vast enough distance

Melihat segalanya dari jarak yang cukup jauh

changes everything,

mengubah semuanya,

as many astronauts have experienced.

seperti yang dialami banyak astronot.

And human eyes have only ever seen our Earth

Mata manusia hanya pernah melihat Bumi kita

from as far as the Moon, really.

dari sejauh Bulan.

It's quite a ways further

Jaraknya cukup jauh

before we get to the edges of our own Solar System.

sebelum kita menuju ke tepi Tata Surya kita sendiri.

And even out to other stars, to the constellations.

Bahkan ke bintang lain, menuju rasi bintang.

There is actually only one point in the entire cosmos

Hanya ada satu titik di seluruh kosmos

that is present in all constellations of stars,

yang hidup dalam rasi bintang,

and that presence is

dan tempatnya

here, planet Earth.

adalah di sini, planet Bumi.

Those pictures we have made up for the clusters of stars

Gambar-gambar klaster bintang yang kita buat itu

only make sense from this point of view down here.

masuk akal hanya dari sudut pandang bawah sini.

Their stories only make sense here on Earth.

Kisah mereka masuk akal hanya di Bumi.

And only something to us.

Hanya berarti bagi kita.

To people.

Bagi manusia.

We are creatures of stories.

Kita makhluk dari cerita.

We are the stories we tell,

Cerita yang kita ceritakan,

we're the stories we're told.

cerita yang pernah kita ceritakan.

Consider briefly the story of human civilization on Earth.

Pikirkan cerita tentang peradaban manusia di Bumi.

It tells of the ingenuity, elegance,

Menceritakan kecerdasan, keanggunan,

generous and nurturing nature of a species

dermawan, dan sifat mengajar spesies

that is also self-focused, vulnerable

yang juga egois, rapuh,

and defiantly protective.

dan pelit.

We, the people, shield the flame of our existence

Kita, manusia, menjaga api keberadaan kita

from the raw, vast elements outside our control,

dari elemen luar kendali yang kuat dan luas,

the great beyond.

melampaui batas.

Yet it is always to the flame we look.

Tapi kita tetap memerhatikan apinya.

"For all we know,"

"Sejauh yang kami tahu,"

when said as a statement,

saat diucapkan,

it means the sum total of all knowledge.

berarti kesimpulan dari seluruh pengetahuan.

But when said another way,

Tapi jika dengan cara lain,

"for all we know,"

"sejauh yang kami tahu,"

it means that we do not know at all.

artinya kita sama sekali tidak tahu.

This is the beautiful, fragile drama of civilization.

Ini adalah drama indah dan rapuh peradaban.

We are the actors and spectators of a cosmic play

Kita aktor dan spektator pertunjukan kosmis

that means the world to us here,

yang berarti bagi kita di sini,

but means nothing anywhere else.

tapi tidak berarti di tempat lain.

Possibly not even that much down here, either.

Mungkin tidak seberarti itu juga di sini.

If we truly thought about our relationship with our boat,

Jika kita sungguh memikirkan hubungan dengan perahu kita,

with our Earth,

Bumi kita,

it might be more of a story of ignorance and greed.

mungkin akan menjadi cerita kesombongan dan keserakahan.

As is the case with Fausto,

Seperti halnya Fausto,

a man who believed he owned everything

pria yang percaya dia memiliki semuanya

and set out to survey what was his.

dan mulai mencari apa saja yang miliknya.

He easily claims ownership of a flower,

Dia dengan mudahnya mengklaim bunga,

a sheep, a tree and a field.

domba, pohon, ladang.

The lake and the mountain prove harder to conquer,

Danau dan gunung lebih sulit ditaklukan,

but they, too, surrender.

tapi mereka juga menyerah.

It is in trying to own the open sea

Dia juga mencoba mengklaim lautan luas

where his greed proves his undoing,

tempat keserakahannya membuktikan kehancurannya,

when, in a fit of arrogance,

saat, dengan sombongnya,

he climbs overboard to show that sea who is boss.

dia naik perahu untuk menunjukkan siapa yang berkuasa.

But he does not understand,

Tapi dia tidak mengerti,

slips beneath the waves, sinks to the bottom.

tersapu ombak, tenggelam ke dasar laut.

The sea was sad for him

Laut sedih untuknya

but carried on being the sea.

tapi tetap berlaku sebagaimana laut.

As do all the other objects of his ownership,

Begitu juga dengan objek lain miliknya,

for the fate of Fausto does not matter to them.

karena takdir Fausto tidak berarti bagi mereka.

For all the importance in the cosmos we believe we hold,

Dari semua kepentingan yang kita yakini kita miliki dalam kosmos ini,

we'd have nothing

kita tak punya apa-apa

if not for this Earth.

jika tidak karena Bumi ini.

While it would keep happily spinning,

Karena dia tetap berputar,

obliviously without us.

meski kita tidak ada.

On this planet, there are people.

Di planet ini, ada manusia.

We have gone about our days,

Kita melewati hari kita,

sometimes we look up and out,

kadang melihat ke atas sana,

mostly we look down and in.

lebih sering melihat ke bawah sini.

Looking up and by drawing lines between the lights in the sky,

Melihat ke atas dan dengan membuat garis antara sinar di langit,

we've attempted to make sense out of chaos.

kita mencoba meluruskan kekacauan.

Looking down, we've drawn lines across the land to know where we belong

Melihat ke bawah, kita menggarisi pulau agar tahu yang mana tempat kita

and where we don't.

dan yang bukan.

We do mostly forget that these lines that connect the stars

Kita sering lupa garis-garis ini yang menghubungkan bintang

and those lines that divide the land

dan garis yang membagi-bagi pulau

live only in our heads.

hanya hidup di pikiran kita.

They, too, are stories.

Itu semua hanya cerita juga.

We carry out our everyday routines and rituals

Kita jalani rutinitas dan ritual keseharian kita

according to the stories we most believe in,

menurut cerita yang paling kita percaya,

and these days, the story is changing as we write it.

dan itu mulai berubah seraya kita menuliskannya.

There is a lot of fear in this current story,

Banyak ketakutan di kisah saat ini,

and until recently,

dan hingga kini,

the stories that seemed to have the most power

cerita yang agaknya paling kuat

are those of bitterness,

adalah yang buruk,

of how it had all gone wrong for us individually and collectively.

bagaimana semuanya menjadi keliru bagi individu maupun kelompok.

It has been inspiring to watch how the best comes from the worst.

Perubahan dari terbaik menjadi terburuk membuka mata kita.

How people are waking up in this time of global reckoning

Bagaimana orang-orang di masa kini sadar

to the realization that our connections with each other

bahwa hubungan sesama kita

are some of the most important things we have.

adalah hal terpenting yang kita miliki.

But stepping back.

Namun melangkah mundur.

For all we've had to lament,

Dari semua yang kita sesali,

we spend very little time relishing the single biggest thing

kita menghabiskan sedikit waktu menikmati satu hal yang besar

that has ever gone right for us.

yang berjalan mulus bagi kita.

That we are here in the first place,

Bahwa kita masih di sini,

that we are alive at all.

bahwa kita tetap ada.

That we are still alive.

Bahwa kita masih hidup.

A million and a half years after finding a box of matches,

Satu setengah juta tahun setelah penemuan sekotak korek api,

we haven't totally burned the house down.

kita tidak benar-benar membakar rumah.

Yet.

Belum.

The chances of being here are infinitesimal.

Peluang berada di sini sangat kecil.

Yet here we are.

Tapi kita di sini.

Perils and all.

Penuh risiko dan lainnya.

There have never been more people living on Earth.

Jumlah manusia belum pernah sebanyak ini di Bumi.

Using more stuff.

Yang menggunakan banyak benda.

And it's become obvious that many of the old systems

Semakin lama semakin jelas bahwa banyak sistem lama

we invented for ourselves

yang kita temukan sendiri

are obsolete.

sudah kuno.

And we have to build new ones.

Kita perlu membuat yang baru.

If it wasn't germs,

Jika bukan kuman,

our collective fire might suffocate us before long.

semua api mungkin langsung mencekik leher kita.

As we watch the wheels of industry grind to a halt,

Seraya kita melihat roda industri berhenti berputar,

the machinery of progress become silent,

mesin kemajuan menjadi sunyi,

we have the wildest of opportunities

kita punya peluang paling gila

to hit the reset button.

untuk menekan tombol setel ulang.

To take a different path.

Untuk memilih jalur lain.

Here we are on Earth.

Di Bumi kita berada.

And life on Earth is a wonderful thing.

Kehidupan di Bumi adalah hal yang indah.

It looks big, this Earth,

Bumi ini terlihat besar,

but there are lots of us on here.

tapi jumlah kita sangat banyak.

Seven and a half billion at last count,

Tujuh setengah miliar, menurut perhitungan terakhir,

with more showing up every day.

dan terus bertambah setiap hari.

Even so,

Meski begitu,

there is still enough for everyone,

masih ada tempat untuk semua,

if we all share a little.

jika kita sedikit berbagi.

So please,

Jadi kumohon,

be kind.

jadilah dermawan.

When you think of it another way,

Jika mengubah cara berpikir,

if Earth is the only place where people live,

jika hanya Bumi tempat kita hidup,

it's actually the least lonely place in the universe.

sebenarnya merupakan tempat paling ramai di alam semesta.

There are plenty of people to be loved by

Banyak orang yang sayang pada kita

and plenty of people to love.

dan banyak orang yang bisa kita sayangi.

We need each other.

Kita butuh satu sama lain.

We know that now, more than ever.

Kini kita tahu, lebih dari sebelumnya.

Good night.

Selamat malam.