Why bother leaving the house? | Ben Saunders

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Prevodilac: Filip Miletić Lektor: Ivana Korom

I essentially drag sledges for a living,

Posao mi je da vučem sanke,

so it doesn't take an awful lot to flummox me intellectually,

pa me je prilično lako intelektualno zbuniti,

but I'm going to read this question

ali ću pročitati pitanje

from an interview earlier this year:

sa ovogodišnjeg intervjua:

"Philosophically, does the constant supply of information

"Filozofski gledano, da li nam stalan priliv informacija

steal our ability to imagine

oduzima mogućnost maštanja

or replace our dreams of achieving?

ili zamenjuje snove o uspehu?

After all, if it is being done somewhere by someone,

Ako neko negde već radi istu stvar

and we can participate virtually,

i možemo da učestvujemo virtuelno,

then why bother leaving the house?"

zašto bismo izlazili iz kuće?"

I'm usually introduced as a polar explorer.

Obično me predstavljaju kao polarnog istraživača.

I'm not sure that's the most progressive or 21st-century

Ne znam koliko je taj naziv napredan

of job titles, but I've spent more than two percent now

ili odgovara 21. veku, ali sam proveo više od dva posto

of my entire life living in a tent inside the Arctic Circle,

života živeći u šatoru u arktičkom krugu,

so I get out of the house a fair bit.

tako da dosta vremena provodim napolju.

And in my nature, I guess, I am a doer of things

Rekao bih da po svojoj prirodi stvari radije radim

more than I am a spectator or a contemplator of things,

nego što ih posmatram ili razmišljam o njima,

and it's that dichotomy, the gulf between ideas and action

i to razilaženje, jaz između ideja i akcije

that I'm going to try and explore briefly.

pokušaću ukratko da istražim.

The pithiest answer to the question "why?"

Najkoncizniji odgovor na pitanje "zašto?"

that's been dogging me for the last 12 years

koje me muči poslednjih 12 godina

was credited certainly to this chap, the rakish-looking gentleman

dao je gospodin raskalašnog izgleda

standing at the back, second from the left,

u zadnjem redu, drugi sleva,

George Lee Mallory. Many of you will know his name.

Džordž Li Malori. Mnogima je poznat.

In 1924 he was last seen disappearing into the clouds

Poslednji put je viđen 1924. pod oblacima

near the summit of Mt. Everest.

blizu vrha Mont Everest.

He may or may not have been the first person to climb Everest,

Možda se baš on prvi popeo na Everest,

more than 30 years before Edmund Hillary.

više od 30 godina pre Edmunda Hilarija.

No one knows if he got to the top. It's still a mystery.

Još uvek niko ne zna da li se i popeo na vrh.

But he was credited with coining the phrase, "Because it's there."

Ipak, pripisana mu je rečenica: "Zato što postoji."

Now I'm not actually sure that he did say that.

Ne znam je li to stvarno rekao.

There's very little evidence to suggest it, but what he did say

Premalo je dokaza, ali je sigurno rekao

is actually far nicer,

nešto mnogo lepše,

and again, I've printed this. I'm going to read it out.

to sam odštampao. Pročitaću naglas.

"The first question which you will ask

"Prvo pitanje koje ćete postaviti

and which I must try to answer is this:

i na koje ću pokušati da odgovorim jeste:

What is the use of climbing Mt. Everest?

Koja je svrha penjanja na Mont Everest?

And my answer must at once be, it is no use.

I morao bih odgovoriti da nema svrhe.

There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.

Ne postoji najmanja mogućnost ikakve koristi.

Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior

Možda nešto saznamo o ponašanju

of the human body at high altitudes,

ljudskog tela na velikim visinama,

and possibly medical men may turn our observation

i možda lekari naša zapažanja

to some account for the purposes of aviation,

nekako iskoriste u svrhe avijacije,

but otherwise nothing will come of it.

ali druge koristi neće biti.

We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver,

Nećemo doneti zlato ili srebro,

and not a gem, nor any coal or iron.

dragi kamen, ugalj, gvožđe.

We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted

Nećemo pronaći ni metar zemlje pogodan

with crops to raise food. So it is no use.

za sejanje žitarica. Dakle, nema svrhe.

If you cannot understand that there is something in man

Ako ne razumete da u čoveku nešto

which responds to the challenge of this mountain

odgovara izazovima ove planine

and goes out to meet it, that the struggle

i spremno je da se suoči s njima, da ta težnja

is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward,

predstavlja životnu težnju ka gore i uvek ka gore,

then you won't see why we go.

nećete shvatiti zašto idemo.

What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy,

Od ove avanture dobijamo samo radost,

and joy, after all, is the end of life.

a radost je cilj života.

We don't live to eat and make money.

Ne živimo da bismo jeli i zarađivali.

We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life.

Jedemo i zarađujemo radi uživanja u životu.

That is what life means, and that is what life is for."

To je za nas smisao života i to je svrha života."

Mallory's argument that leaving the house,

Malorijeva tvrdnja da su odlazak od kuće

embarking on these grand adventures is joyful and fun,

i velike avanture veseli i zabavni

however, doesn't tally that neatly with my own experience.

ne odgovara potpuno mom iskustvu.

The furthest I've ever got away from my front door

Najdalje sam otišao od kuće

was in the spring of 2004. I still don't know exactly

u proleće 2004. I dalje ne znam

what came over me, but my plan was to make

šta mi je tačno bilo, ali sam planirao

a solo and unsupported crossing of the Arctic Ocean.

da sam, bez podrške, pređem Severni ledeni okean.

I planned essentially to walk from the north coast of Russia

Planirao sam da hodam od severne obale Rusije

to the North Pole, and then to carry on to the north coast of Canada.

do Severnog pola i produžim do severne obale Kanade.

No one had ever done this. I was 26 at the time.

Niko to ranije nije uradio. Imao sam 26 godina.

A lot of experts were saying it was impossible,

Stručnjaci su govorili da je nemoguće,

and my mum certainly wasn't very keen on the idea.

a mojoj mami se ideja, naravno, nije svidela.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

The journey from a small weather station on the north coast

Od male meteorološke stanice na severnoj obali

of Siberia up to my final starting point,

Sibira do pravog polazišta,

the edge of the pack ice, the coast of the Arctic Ocean,

ruba polarnog leda, obale Arktičkog okeana,

took about five hours, and if anyone watched fearless

putovao sam oko pet sati, a ako ste gledali i uspon,

Felix Baumgartner going up, rather than just coming down,

a ne samo skok hrabrog Feliksa Baumgartnera,

you'll appreciate the sense of apprehension,

razumećete osećaj iščekivanja

as I sat in a helicopter thundering north,

dok sam sedeo u helikopteru upućenom ka severu,

and the sense, I think if anything, of impending doom.

kao i osećaj nadolazeće katastrofe.

I sat there wondering what on Earth I had gotten myself into.

Sedeo sam i razmišljao u šta sam se to uvalio.

There was a bit of fun, a bit of joy.

Bilo je malo zabave i radosti.

I was 26. I remember sitting there

Imao sam 26 godina. Znam da sam sedeo

looking down at my sledge. I had my skis ready to go,

i gledao sanke. Skije su bile spremne,

I had a satellite phone, a pump-action shotgun

imao sam satelitski telefon i pušku,

in case I was attacked by a polar bear.

ako bi me napao beli medved.

I remember looking out of the window and seeing the second helicopter.

Sećam se da sam gledao kroz prozor i posmatrao drugi helikopter.

We were both thundering through this incredible Siberian dawn,

Tutnjali smo kroz prelepu sibirsku zoru,

and part of me felt a bit like a cross between Jason Bourne

a ja sam se osećao kao kombinacija Džejsona Borna

and Wilfred Thesiger. Part of me

i Vilfreda Tesidžera. Delom sam bio

felt quite proud of myself, but mostly I was just utterly terrified.

ponosan na sebe, ali sam uglavnom bio potpuno prestravljen.

And that journey lasted 10 weeks, 72 days.

Put je trajao 10 nedelja, 72 dana.

I didn't see anyone else. We took this photo next to the helicopter.

Nikog nisam sreo. To je uslikano kod helikoptera.

Beyond that, I didn't see anyone for 10 weeks.

Sledećih 10 nedelja nikog nisam video.

The North Pole is slap bang in the middle of the sea,

Severni pol je nasred mora,

so I'm traveling over the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean.

dakle, putovao sam preko zamrznutog Arktičkog okeana.

NASA described conditions that year as the worst since records began.

NASA je uslove te godine opisala kao najgore otkad je počelo merenje.

I was dragging 180 kilos of food and fuel and supplies,

Vukao sam 180 kila hrane, goriva i zaliha.

about 400 pounds. The average temperature for the 10 weeks

Prosečna temperatura tih 10 nedelja bila je

was minus 35. Minus 50 was the coldest.

minus 35. Najniža minus 50.

So again, there wasn't an awful lot of joy or fun to be had.

Tako da i nije bilo previše zabave ili radosti.

One of the magical things about this journey, however,

Divna strana ovog putovanja

is that because I'm walking over the sea,

jeste hodanje preko mora,

over this floating, drifting, shifting crust of ice

preko leda koji se kreće, plovi, pluta površinom

that's floating on top of the Arctic Ocean is

Arktičkog okeana,

it's an environment that's in a constant state of flux.

uvek novog okruženja.

The ice is always moving, breaking up, drifting around,

Led se stalno kreće, lomi, pluta,

refreezing, so the scenery that I saw for nearly 3 months

ponovo se ledi, pa su pejzaži koje sam gledao 3 meseca

was unique to me. No one else will ever, could ever,

bili jedinstveni meni. Više niko nikad neće

possibly see the views, the vistas, that I saw for 10 weeks.

videti te pejzaže, vidike, koje sam ja posmatrao 10 nedelja.

And that, I guess, is probably the finest argument for leaving the house.

To je verovatno najbolji razlog da se izađe napolje.

I can try to tell you what it was like,

Mogu da ispričam kako je bilo,

but you'll never know what it was like,

ali to nikad nećete doživeti,

and the more I try to explain that I felt lonely,

i ako bih objašnjavao da sam bio usamljen,

I was the only human being in 5.4 million square-miles,

jedini čovek na 14 miliona kvadratnih kilometara,

it was cold, nearly minus 75 with windchill on a bad day,

da je bilo hladno, skoro minus 75 kad je loše vreme i duva vetar,

the more words fall short, and I'm unable to do it justice.

rečima to ne bih verno predstavio.

And it seems to me, therefore, that the doing,

Zato mi se čini da ako nešto učinimo,

you know, to try to experience, to engage, to endeavor,

pokušamo da nešto iskusimo, doživimo, postignemo,

rather than to watch and to wonder, that's where

a ne samo gledamo i promišljamo,

the real meat of life is to be found,

možemo doći do srži života,

the juice that we can suck out of our hours and days.

sokova koje izvlačimo iz časova i dana.

And I would add a cautionary note here, however.

Ipak hoću da se ogradim.

In my experience, there is something addictive

Po mom iskustvu, postoji nešto zarazno

about tasting life at the very edge of what's humanly possible.

u vezi sa doživljavanjem života na granici ljudski izvodljivog.

Now I don't just mean in the field of

Ne mislim samo na bezumnu,

daft macho Edwardian style derring-do,

mačo, edvardijansku hrabrost,

but also in the fields of pancreatic cancer,

već i na rak pankreasa,

there is something addictive about this, and in my case,

nešto u vezi s tim je zarazno i mislim

I think polar expeditions are perhaps not that far removed

da se polarne ekspedicije ne razlikuju mnogo

from having a crack habit.

od narkomanije.

I can't explain quite how good it is until you've tried it,

Ne može se objasniti koliko je dobro dok sami ne probate,

but it has the capacity to burn up all the money I can get my hands on,

ali može da proguta sav novac do kog uspem da dođem,

to ruin every relationship I've ever had,

da uništi svaku vezu koju sam imao,

so be careful what you wish for.

dakle, čuvajte se onoga što želite.

Mallory postulated that there is something in man

Malori je pretpostavio da nešto u čoveku

that responds to the challenge of the mountain,

odgovara izazovu planine,

and I wonder if that's the case whether there's something

i pitam se da li nas privlači nešto

in the challenge itself, in the endeavor, and particularly

u samom izazovu, u nastojanju i naročito

in the big, unfinished, chunky challenges that face humanity

u velikim nedovršenim izazovima s kojima je čovečanstvo suočeno.

that call out to us, and in my experience that's certainly the case.

U mom slučaju je tako.

There is one unfinished challenge

Jedan nedovršeni izazov

that's been calling out to me for most of my adult life.

me privlači veći deo odraslog života.

Many of you will know the story.

Mnogi znaju priču.

This is a photo of Captain Scott and his team.

Ovo je kapetan Skot sa timom.

Scott set out just over a hundred years ago to try

On je pre više od sto godina

to become the first person to reach the South Pole.

pokušao da prvi dođe do Južnog pola.

No one knew what was there. It was utterly unmapped

Niko nije znao šta se tamo nalazi.

at the time. We knew more about the surface of the moon

Nije bilo karti. Više smo znali o Mesecu

than we did about the heart of Antarctica.

nego o srcu Antarktika.

Scott, as many of you will know, was beaten to it

Kao što mnogi od vas znaju, Skota je pretekao

by Roald Amundsen and his Norwegian team,

norveški tim Roalda Amundsena,

who used dogs and dogsleds. Scott's team were on foot,

čije su sanke vukli psi. Skotov tim je pešačio,

all five of them wearing harnesses and dragging around sledges,

sva petorica su nosila amove i vukla sanke,

and they arrived at the pole to find the Norwegian flag already there,

a kad su stigli na pol, zatekli su norvešku zastavu.

I'd imagine pretty bitter and demoralized.

Sigurno su bili razočarani i demoralisani.

All five of them turned and started walking back to the coast

Okrenuli su se i pošli ka obali,

and all five died on that return journey.

i sva petorica su poginula u povratku.

There is a sort of misconception nowadays that

Danas postoji pogrešno shvatanje

it's all been done in the fields of exploration and adventure.

da je u oblastima istraživanja i avanture sve učinjeno.

When I talk about Antarctica, people often say,

Kad pričam o Antarktiku,

"Hasn't, you know, that's interesting,

često mi kažu: "Baš zanimljivo,

hasn't that Blue Peter presenter just done it on a bike?"

a je l' nije onaj voditelj to nedavno izveo na biciklu?"

Or, "That's nice. You know, my grandmother's going

Ili: "Baš lepo. Moja baka sledeće godine

on a cruise to Antarctica next year. You know.

ide na krstarenje Antarktikom.

Is there a chance you'll see her there?"

Hoćete se možda sresti tamo?"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But Scott's journey remains unfinished.

Ipak, Skotov put je i dalje nedovršen.

No one has ever walked from the very coast of Antarctica

Niko još nije prepešačio put od obale Antarktika

to the South Pole and back again.

do Južnog pola i nazad.

It is, arguably, the most audacious endeavor

Možda to jeste najsmeliji pohod

of that Edwardian golden age of exploration,

edvardijanskog zlatnog doba istraživanja,

and it seemed to me high time, given everything

i s obzirom na sve

we have figured out in the century since

što smo od tada saznali,

from scurvy to solar panels, that it was high time

od skorbuta do solarnih panela, mislim da je krajnje vreme

someone had a go at finishing the job.

da neko proba to da dovrši.

So that's precisely what I'm setting out to do.

Upravo to ću pokušati da uradim.

This time next year, in October, I'm leading a team of three.

Sledećeg oktobra ću predvoditi tročlani tim.

It will take us about four months to make this return journey.

Trebaće nam oko četiri meseca za povratno putovanje.

That's the scale. The red line is obviously halfway to the pole.

To je razmera. Crvena linija je pola puta, do J. pola.

We have to turn around and come back again.

Treba i da se vratimo.

I'm well aware of the irony of telling you that we will be

Svestan sam koliko je ironično što ćemo

blogging and tweeting. You'll be able to live

blogovati i tvitovati. Moći ćete da proživite

vicariously and virtually through this journey

ovo putovanje posredno, virtuelno,

in a way that no one has ever before.

kao niko do sada.

And it'll also be a four-month chance for me to finally

Ja ću imati četiri meseca da konačno

come up with a pithy answer to the question, "Why?"

dođem do konciznog odgovora na pitanje: "Zašto?"

And our lives today are safer and more comfortable

Danas živimo bezbednije i komfornije nego ikad.

than they have ever been. There certainly isn't much call

Svakako nema mnogo potražnje

for explorers nowadays. My career advisor at school

za istraživačima. Na profesionalnoj orijentaciji mi

never mentioned it as an option.

to niko nije pomenuo.

If I wanted to know, for example,

Ako bih hteo da saznam, recimo,

how many stars were in the Milky Way,

koliko je zvezda u Mlečnom putu,

how old those giant heads on Easter Island were,

koliko su stare glave na Uskršnjem ostrvu,

most of you could find that out right now

mogli biste to da saznate odmah,

without even standing up.

a da i ne ustanete.

And yet, if I've learned anything in nearly 12 years now

Ipak, naučio sam za 12 godina,

of dragging heavy things around cold places,

koliko vučem teške stvari po hladnim mestima,

it is that true, real inspiration and growth

da istinska, prava inspiracija i napredak

only comes from adversity and from challenge,

dolaze samo od teškoća i izazova,

from stepping away from what's comfortable and familiar

udaljavanjem od poznatog i bliskog

and stepping out into the unknown.

i zakoračavanjem u nepoznato.

In life, we all have tempests to ride and poles to walk to,

U životu svako mora da savlada svoje bure i okeane.

and I think metaphorically speaking, at least,

Makar u prenesenom smislu,

we could all benefit from getting outside the house

svima bi bilo bolje kad bismo izlazili napolje

a little more often, if only we could summon up the courage.

malo češće, samo treba prikupiti hrabrosti.

I certainly would implore you to open the door just a little bit

Naravno, preklinjem vas da samo malo otvorite vrata

and take a look at what's outside.

i pogledate šta se nalazi napolju.

Thank you very much.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)