Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Iris Xholi Reviewer: Alisa Xholi

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

Isha nje nder te vetmit studente ne universitet qe e kishte nje arsye

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

per te kontrolluar posten cdo dite,

and that was mainly because my mother has never believed

dhe kjo sepse nena ime nuk ka besuar kurre

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

ne email, Facebook, mesazhe apo celulare.

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

Dhe, ndersa studentet e tjere shkembenin mesazhe celulari me prinderit e tyre,

I was literally waiting by the mailbox

une prisja prane deres se postes

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

per te marre leter nga shtepia se si kish kaluar fundjava,

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

c'ka ishte frustruese kur gjyshja ishte e shtruar ne spital,

but I was just looking for some sort of scribble,

dhe une rrija e prisja per ca fjali,

some unkempt cursive from my mother.

leter me shkrim dore nga mami im.

And so when I moved to New York City after college

Dhe, kur leviza ne New York pas universitetit

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

dhe pata momente depresioni,

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

bera te vetmen gje qe mund te mendoja atehere.

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

Shkrova te njejtat letra qe me kish shkruar ime me

for strangers, and tucked them all throughout the city,

per te huajt, dhe i ngjita ngado ne qytet,

dozens and dozens of them. I left them everywhere,

dhjetra e dhjetra prej tyre. I vendosa ngado,

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

neper kafe, librari, ne OKB, gjithkund.

I blogged about those letters and the days

Bera bllog rreth kesaj eksperinence cdo dite

when they were necessary, and I posed

kur ishte e nevojshme, dhe bera

a kind of crazy promise to the Internet:

nje premtim te cmendur ne internet:

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

nqs me kerkoni nje leter me shkrim,

I would write you one, no questions asked.

do jua shkruaja nje, pas asnje dyshim.

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

Gjate nates, inboksi u mbyt me mesazhe--

a single mother in Sacramento, a girl being bullied

nje nene e vetme ne Sakramento, nje vajze te cilen e tallnin shoket e klases ne

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

fshatrat e Kansasit, te gjithe duke me pyetur, nje vajze 22 vjecare

who barely even knew her own coffee order,

qe as te porosiste nje kafe nuk dinte, ti shkruaja nje leter dashurie

to write them a love letter and give them a reason

dhe ti jepja nje arsye

to wait by the mailbox.

per te pritur ne kutine postare.

Well, today I fuel a global organization

Epo, sot une jam gjeneratori i nje organizate

that is fueled by those trips to the mailbox,

qe karikohet me ato udhetime ne poste,

fueled by the ways in which we can harness social media

nga menyrat se si mund te shtyjme mediat sociale

like never before to write and mail strangers letters

si kurre me pare per te skruar dhe derguar letra te panjohurve

when they need them most, but most of all,

kur me shume kane nevoje, por mbi te gjitha,

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

karikuar me ate arke letrash si kjo, arka ime e besuar,

filled with the scriptings of ordinary people,

mbushur me shkrimin e njerezve te zakonshem,

strangers writing letters to other strangers not because

te huaj qe i shkruajne letra te huajve jo sepse

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

ato do te takohen ndonjehere dhe do qeshin me nje filxhan kafe para tyre,

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

por sepse e kane gjetur njeri-tjetrin nepermjet ketyre letrave.

But, you know, the thing that always gets me

Por, ato gjera qe me bejne me shume pershtypje

about these letters is that most of them have been written

mbi keto letra, eshte qe pjesa me e madhe e tyre eshte shkruar

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

nga njerez qe nuk e kane ndjere veten kurre te dashuruar ne nje leter.

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

Ata nuk mund te te thone asgje per bojen e letrave te tyre te dashurise.

They're the ones from my generation,

Ato jane gjenerata ime,

the ones of us that have grown up into a world

ne qe jemi rritur ne nje bote,

where everything is paperless, and where some

ku gjithcka eshte pa leter, dhe ku disa

of our best conversations have happened upon a screen.

nga bisedat tona me te bukura kane ndodhur mbi nje ekran.

We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook,

Kemi mesuar te perdorim Facebook-un si ditar i dhimbjes sone,

and we speak swiftly in 140 characters or less.

dhe flasim kuptueshem me me pak se 140 germa.

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

Por cfare ndodh kur kete here nuk behet me fjale per eficence?

I was on the subway yesterday with this mail crate,

Isha ne metro dje, me kete arke letrash,

which is a conversation starter, let me tell you.

qe krijon biseda me te panjohur, garant.

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

Nqs te nevojitet ndonjehere, mbaj nje si kjo. (Te qeshura)

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

Nje burre po me shihte, dhe me tha,

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

"Po, perse nuk perdorni internetin?"

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

Dhe une mendova, "Epo, zoteri, une nuk jam nje strategjist,

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

as specialist. Une jam vecse pak tregimtar."

And so I could tell you about a woman

Mund t'ju tregoj per nje grua

whose husband has just come home from Afghanistan,

bashkeshorti i se ciles sapo ish kthyer nga Afganistani,

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

dhe ajo po e kishte te veshtire te rifillonte ate gjene qe quhet bashkebisedim,

and so she tucks love letters throughout the house

dhe vendoste letra dashurie ngado ne shtepi

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

si nje menyre per te thene, "Rikthehu tek une.

Find me when you can."

Rigjeme kur te mundesh."

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

Ose nje vajze e cila vendos te lere letra dashurie

around her campus in Dubuque, Iowa, only to find

ne kampusin e Dubuque, Iowa, vetem per te gjetur

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

qe perpjekja e saj gurgulloi diten e neserme

onto the quad and finds love letters hanging

dhe gjeti letra dashurie te varura gjithkund

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

neper kampus nga pemet, neper shkurre a dege.

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

Ose nje burre i cili donte te vriste veten,

uses Facebook as a way to say goodbye

perdori Facebook si nje menyre per te thene mirupafshim

to friends and family.

miqve dhe familjes.

Well, tonight he sleeps safely with a stack of letters

Sot, i njejti burre, fle mire nen nje stok letrash poshte jastekut

just like this one tucked beneath his pillow,

tamam si keto,

scripted by strangers who were there for him when.

shkruar nga te huaj qe i ishin prane ne ate moment.

These are the kinds of stories that convinced me

Keto jane ato histori qe me binden mua

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

qe leter-shkruarjes nuk do ti duhet me kurre

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

te perballet me dyshueshmerine e efikasitetit te saj, sepse eshte nje menyre arti tashme,

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

c'do pjese e tyre, firma, shkrimi, dergimi i letrave,

the doodles in the margins.

shkarravinat ne qoshe.

The mere fact that somebody would even just sit down,

Thjesht fakti qe dikush do merrte mundimin te ulej,

pull out a piece of paper and think about someone

te marre nje cope leter e te mendoje per dike

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

gjate gjithe kohes, me nje qellim qe eshte shume me i madh

harder to unearth when the browser is up and the iPhone

se sa te nxjerrit ne drite kur shfletuesi shfaqet dhe IPhone

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

nis fishkellen dhe ke gjashte biseda qe te shfaqen ne te njejten kohe,

that is an art form

e cila eshte nje forme arti

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

qe nuk zbret deri ne piken e "shpejto hapin,"

no matter how many social networks we might join.

pa rendesi se e sa rrjeteve sociale mund te jemi pjese.

We still clutch close these letters to our chest,

Ne ende i shtrengojme fort ne gji ato letra,

to the words that speak louder than loud,

fjalet qe flasin me shume se fjalet,

when we turn pages into palettes to say the things

kur ne i kthejme faqet ne palete per ti thene gjerat

that we have needed to say,

qe kemi nevoje te themi,

the words that we have needed to write, to sisters

fjalet qe kemi nevoje ti shkruajme per nje kohe te gjate, motrave

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

vllezerve, a ndoshta dhe te huajve.

Thank you. (Applause)

Faleminderit. (Duartrokitje)

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)