Jok Church: A circle of caring

Translator: Matej Divjak Reviewer: Klavdija Cernilogar

You know, what I do is write for children,

Veste, jaz pišem za otroke

and I'm probably America's

in sem pravzaprav najbrž najbolj bran

most widely read children's author, in fact.

ameriški pisatelj za otroke.

And I always tell people

In ljudem vedno govorim,

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

da nočem priti oblečen kot znanstvenik.

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

Lahko pridem kot kmetovalec ali v usnju

and no one has ever chose farmer.

in nihče ni nikoli izbral kmetovalca.

I'm here today to talk to you

Danes sem tukaj, da vam povem

about circles and epiphanies.

nekaj o krogih in razsvetljenjih.

And you know, an epiphany

In veste, razsvetljenje je običajno nekaj,

is usually something you find that you dropped someplace.

ko najdete, kar ste nekje izgubili.

You've just got to go around the block

Le krog morate narediti okoli bloka,

to see it as an epiphany.

da bi to videli kot razsvetljenje.

That's a painting of a circle.

To je slika kroga.

A friend of mine did that -- Richard Bollingbroke.

Naredil jo je moj prijatelj -- Richard Bollingbroke.

It's the kind of complicated circle

Je vrsta zapletenega kroga,

that I'm going to tell you about.

o katerem vam bom govoril.

My circle began back in the '60s

Moj krog se je začel v 60-ih

in high school in Stow, Ohio

v srednji šoli v Stowu, v Ohiu,

where I was the class queer.

kjer sem bil razredni peder.

I was the guy beaten up bloody

Bil sem fant, ki so ga vsak teden

every week in the boys' room,

na moškem stranišču pretepli do krvi,

until one teacher saved my life.

dokler mi ni ena učiteljica rešila življenja.

She saved my life by letting me go to the bathroom

Življenje mi je rešila s tem, da mi je dovolila uporabljati

in the teachers' lounge.

stranišče za učitelje.

She did it in secret.

To je delala na skrivaj,

She did it for three years.

to je delala tri leta

And I had to get out of town.

in moral sem oditi iz mesta.

I had a thumb, I had 85 dollars,

Imel sem palec, imel sem 85 $

and I ended up in San Francisco, California --

in končal sem v San Franciscu, v Kaliforniji --

met a lover --

spoznal ljubimca --

and back in the '80s, found it necessary

in v 80-ih sem spoznal, da moram

to begin work on AIDS organizations.

začeti z delom na AIDS organizacijah.

About three or four years ago,

Pred približno tremi ali štirimi leti

I got a phone call in the middle of the night

sem sredi noči dobil telefonski klic

from that teacher, Mrs. Posten,

od tiste učiteljice, ge. Posten,

who said, "I need to see you.

ki je rekla, "Moram te videti.

I'm disappointed

Razočarana sem,

that we never got to know each other as adults.

ker se nikoli nisva spoznala kot odrasla.

Could you please come to Ohio,

Lahko, prosim, prideš v Ohio?

and please bring that man

In, prosim, pripelji zraven moškega,

that I know you have found by now.

za katerega vem, da si ga do zdaj že našel.

And I should mention

In omeniti moram,

that I have pancreatic cancer,

da imam raka trebušne slinavke,

and I'd like you to please

in bi želela,

be quick about this."

če lahko, prosim, pohitiš s tem."

Well, the next day we were in Cleveland.

Naslednji dan sva bila v Clevelandu.

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

Obiskala sva jo, smejali smo se, jokali,

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

in vedela sva, da bi morala biti v domu za onemogle.

We found her one, we got her there,

Našla sva ji enega, jo odpeljala tja

and we took care of her

in skrbela za njo

and watched over her family,

in pazila na njeno družino,

because it was necessary.

ker je bilo to nujno,

It's something we knew how to do.

to je nekaj, kar sva znala delati.

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

In ravno, ko me je ženska, ki me je želela spoznati kot odraslega,

got to know me,

spoznala,

she turned into a box of ashes

se je spremenila v škatlo pepela

and was placed in my hands.

in bila dana v moje roke.

And what had happened

Kar se je zgodilo,

was the circle had closed,

je, da se je krog zaključil,

it had become a circle --

postal je krog --

and that epiphany I talked about

in tisto razsvetljenje, o katerem sem govoril,

presented itself.

se je pojavilo.

The epiphany is

Razsvetljenje je,

that death is a part of life.

da je smrt del življenja.

She saved my life;

Rešila je moje življenje,

I and my partner saved hers.

jaz in moj partner sva rešila njeno.

And you know, that part of life needs everything

In veste, tisti del življenja potrebuje vse,

that the rest of life does.

kar potrebuje tudi preostanek življenja.

It needs truth and beauty,

Potrebuje resnico in lepoto

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

in tako sem srečen, da je bilo to danes tukaj tolikokrat omenjeno.

It also needs --

Potrebuje tudi --

it needs dignity,

potrebuje dostojanstvo,

love and pleasure,

ljubezen in radost.

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

In naša naloga je, da te stvari delimo.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(aplavz)