Wes Moore: How to talk to veterans about the war

Prevodilac: Stefan Zrnović Lektor: Mile Živković

I'm excited to be here to speak about vets,

Drago mi je što sam ovde da pričam o veteranima,

because I didn't join the Army

jer se nisam priključio vojsci

because I wanted to go to war.

zbog toga što sam želeo da idem u rat.

I didn't join the Army because I had a lust

Nisam se priključio vojsci jer sam imao želju

or a need to go overseas and fight.

i potrebu da odem preko okeana i borim se.

Frankly, I joined the Army because

Iskreno, priključio sam se vojsci

college is really damn expensive,

jer je koledž prokleto skup

and they were going to help with that,

i trebalo je da mi pomognu sa time,

and I joined the Army because

te sam se priključio vojsci

it was what I knew,

jer sam to znao i to je ono

and it was what I knew that I thought I could do well.

što sam znao i što sam mislio da mogu dobro da radim.

I didn't come from a military family.

Ne potičem iz vojne porodice.

I'm not a military brat.

Nisam vojni potomak.

No one in my family ever had joined the military at all,

Niko u mojoj porodici se nikad nije priključio vojsci

and how I first got introduced to the military

i prvi put kad sam se upoznao sa vojskom

was when I was 13 years old

bilo je kada sam imao 13 godina

and I got sent away to military school,

i kada sam poslat u vojnu školu,

because my mother had been threatening me

jer mi je majka pretila

with this idea of military school ever since I was eight years old.

tom idejom vojne škole od moje 8. godine.

I had some issues when I was coming up,

Imao sam problema tokom odrastanja

and my mother would always tell me, she's like,

i majka bi mi uvek govorila stvari poput:

"You know, if you don't get this together,

"Ako ne središ ovo,

I'm going to send you to military school."

poslaću te u vojnu školu."

And I'd look at her, and I'd say, "Mommy,

Pogledao bih je i rekao: "Mama,

I'll work harder."

potrudiću se više."

And then when I was nine years old,

Kada sam imao 9 godina,

she started giving me brochures to show me she wasn't playing around,

počela je da mi daje brošure da mi pokaže da se ne šali.

so I'd look at the brochures, and I'm like,

Pogledao bih ih i rekao:

"Okay, Mommy, I can see you're serious, and I'll work harder."

"U redu mama, vidim da si ozbiljna i potrudiću se više."

And then when I was 10 and 11,

Zatim kada sam imao 10 i 11 godina,

my behavior just kept on getting worse.

moje ponašanje se pogoršavalo.

I was on academic and disciplinary probation

Bio sam na akademskom i disciplinskom ispitivanju

before I hit double digits,

pre nego što sam napunio 10 godina

and I first felt handcuffs on my wrists

i prvi put sam osetio lisice na svojim zglobovima

when I was 11 years old.

kada sam imao 11 godina.

And so when I was 13 years old,

Kada sam imao 13 godina

my mother came up to me, and she was like,

majka mi je prišla i rekla:

"I'm not going to do this anymore.

"Neću više ovo da trpim.

I'm going to send you to military school."

Poslaću te u vojnu školu."

And I looked at her, and I said, "Mommy,

Pogledao sam je i rekao: "Mama,

I can see you're upset, and I'm going to work harder."

vidim da si uzrujana i potrudiću se više."

And she was like, "No, you're going next week."

Rekla je: "Ne, ideš tamo sledeće nedelje."

And that was how I first got introduced

I tako sam se prvi put upoznao

to this whole idea of the military,

sa čitavom tom idejom o vojsci,

because she thought this was a good idea.

jer je mislila da je to dobra ideja.

I had to disagree with her wholeheartedly

Nisam se uopšte složio sa njom

when I first showed up there,

kada sam prvi put došao tamo

because literally in the first four days,

jer sam bukvalno u prva 4 dana

I had already run away five times from this school.

pobegao čak 5 puta iz te škole.

They had these big black gates that surrounded the school,

Velika crna ograda je ograđivala školu

and every time they would turn their backs,

i svaki put kada bi okrenuli leđa,

I would just simply run out of the black gates

ja bih samo pobegao kroz crnu kapiju

and take them up on their offer that if we don't want to be there,

i prihvatio ponudu da ako ne želimo da budemo tamo

we can leave at any time.

možemo da odemo bilo kada.

So I just said, "Well, if that's the case,

Rekao sam: "Ako je tako,

then I'd like to leave." (Laughter)

želeo bih da odem." (Smeh)

And it never worked.

I nikad nije funkcionisalo.

And I kept on getting lost.

Nastavio sam da se gubim.

But then eventually,

Ali onda

after staying there for a little while,

nakon ostajanja tamo neko vreme

and after the end of that first year

i nakon kraja te godine

at this military school,

u toj vojnoj školi,

I realized that I actually was growing up.

shvatio sam da zapravo odrastam.

I realized the things that I enjoyed about this school

Shvatio sam da su stvari u kojima sam uživao

u vezi sa tom školom i u vezi sa tom strukturom

and the thing that I enjoyed about the structure

was something that I'd never found before:

bile nešto što nisam otkrio ranije:

the fact that I finally felt like I was part of something bigger,

činjenica da sam se konačno osetio kao deo nečega većeg,

part of a team, and it actually mattered to people

deo tima i zapravo je značilo ljudima

that I was there,

što sam tamo,

the fact that leadership wasn't just a punchline there,

činjenica da liderstvo nije bilo samo naređenje,

but that it was a real, actually core part

već je bilo pravi jezgroviti deo

of the entire experience.

čitavog iskustva.

And so when it was time for me to actually

Kada je došlo vreme da je zapravo trebalo

finish up high school,

da završim srednju školu

I started thinking about what I wanted to do,

počeo sam da razmišljam o tome šta želim da radim

and just like probably most students,

i verovatno kao i većina učenika,

had no idea what that meant or what I wanted to do.

nisam imao pojma šta to znači i šta želim da radim.

And I thought about the people who I

Mislio sam o ljudima koje

respected and admired.

poštujem i kojima se divim.

I thought about a lot of the people,

Mislio sam o mnogim ljudima,

in particular a lot of the men, in my life

posebno o muškarcima u svom životu

who I looked up to.

na koje sam se ugledao.

They all happened to wear the uniform

Svi oni su nosili uniformu

of the United States of America,

Sjedinjenih američkih država,

so for me, the question and the answer

za mene je, pitanje i odgovor

really became pretty easy.

bio prilično jednostavan.

The question of what I wanted to do

Pitanje o tome čime želim da se bavim

was filled in very quickly with saying,

bilo je ispunjeno veoma brzo rečima:

I guess I'll be an Army officer.

verovatno ću biti vojni oficir.

So the Army then went through this process

Stoga je vojska prošla kroz ovaj proces

and they trained me up,

i istrenirali su me,

and when I say I didn't join the Army

a kad kažem da se nisam priključio vojsci

because I wanted to go to war,

jer sam želeo da idem u rat,

the truth is, I joined in 1996.

istina je da sam se priključio vojsci 1996.

There really wasn't a whole lot going on.

Ništa veliko se tada nije dešavalo.

I didn't ever feel like I was in danger.

Nikad nisam osećao da sam u opasnosti.

When I went to my mom,

Kad sam otišao kod majke,

I first joined the Army when I was 17 years old,

prvi put sam se priključio vojsci sa 17,

so I literally needed parental permission

tako da mi je trebalo odobrenje da se priključim vojsci,

to join the Army,

so I kind of gave the paperwork to my mom,

te sam dao papirologiju majci

and she just assumed it was kind of like military school.

i pretpostavila je da je to poput vojne škole.

She was like, "Well, it was good for him before,

Rekla je: "Bilo je dobro

so I guess I'll just let him keep doing it,"

po njega i pre i pretpostavljam da će nastaviti tako."

having no idea that the paperwork that she was signing

nemajući ideju da je zapravo potpisivala

was actually signing her son up

saglasnost da njen sin

to become an Army officer.

postane vojni oficir.

And I went through the process,

Prošao sam kroz proces

and again the whole time still just thinking,

i ponovo sve vreme sam mislio:

this is great, maybe I'll serve on a weekend,

to je sjajno, možda ću služiti za vikend,

or two weeks during the year, do drill,

ili dve nedelje tokom godine, odraditi vežbu,

and then a couple years after I signed up,

a onda par godina nakon što sam se prijavio,

a couple years after my mother signed those papers,

nakon što je moja majka potpisala te papire,

the whole world changed.

čitav svet se promenio.

And after 9/11, there was an entirely new context

Nakon 11. septembra, izgradio se čitav novi kontekst

about the occupation that I chose.

oko zanimanja koje sam izabrao.

When I first joined, I never joined to fight,

Kada sam se prvi put priključio, nisam to učinio zbog borbe,

but now that I was in,

ali tad kada sam bio tu,

this is exactly what was now going to happen.

to je upravo ono što će se dogoditi.

And I thought about so much about the soldiers

Puno sam razmišljao o vojnicima

who I eventually had to end up leading.

koje sam na kraju morao da vodim.

I remember when we first, right after 9/11,

Setio sam se kada smo prvi put nakon 11. septembra

three weeks after 9/11, I was on a plane heading overseas,

3 nedelje nakon 11. septembra, išao sam preko okeana,

but I wasn't heading overseas with the military,

ali nisam išao sa vojskom,

I was heading overseas because I got a scholarship

već zato što sam dobio školarinu

to go overseas.

da idem u inostranstvo.

I received the scholarship to go overseas

Dobio sam školarinu da idem u insotranstvo

and to go study and live overseas,

i da idem da studiram preko okeana,

and I was living in England and that was interesting,

a živeo sam u Engleskoj i bilo je interesantno,

but at the same time, the same people who

ali u isto vreme,

I was training with,

ti isti ljudi sa kojima sam vežbao,

the same soldiers that I went through all my training with,

isti vojnici sa kojima sam prošao čitav trening,

and we prepared for war,

i spremali smo se za rat,

they were now actually heading over to it.

i oni su sada leteli ka tome.

They were now about to find themselves

Sada će se naći

in the middle of places the fact is

u sred mesta, koje

the vast majority of people,

većina ljudi,

the vast majority of us as we were training,

većina nas koji smo trenirali,

couldn't even point out on a map.

ne bi mogla da pokaže na mapi.

I spent a couple years finishing graduate school,

Proveo sam nekoliko godina završavajući školu

and the whole entire time while I'm sitting there

i sve vreme dok sam sedeo tamo

in buildings at Oxford

u zgradama Oksforda

that were literally built hundreds of years

koje su izgrađene stotine godina

before the United States was even founded,

pre nego što su SAD uopšte osnovane,

and I'm sitting there talking to dons

i sedeo sam razgovarajući sa profesorima

about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand,

o atentatu na prestolonaslednika Franca Ferdinanda,

and how that influenced the start of World War I,

i kako je to uticalo na početak Prvog svetskog rata,

where the entire time my heart and my head

gde su sve vreme moje srce i um

were on my soldiers

bili uz moje vojnike

who were now throwing on Kevlars

koji su sada oblačili kevlar

and grabbing their flak vests

i uzimali svoje vojničke prsluke

and figuring out how exactly do I change around

pokušavajući da shvate kako tačno repetirati

or how exactly do I clean a machine gun

ili kako tačno očistiti pušku

in the darkness.

u mraku.

That was the new reality.

To je bila nova stvarnost.

By the time I finished that up and I rejoined

Dok sam završio školu i priključio se vojnoj jedinici,

my military unit and we were getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan,

bili smo spremni da krenemo ka Avganistanu,

there were soldiers in my unit who were now

a bilo je vojnika u mojoj jedinici

on their second and third deployments

koji su tu bili drugi i treći put

before I even had my first.

pre nego što sam ja bio prvi.

I remember walking out with my unit for the first time,

Sećam se prvog hodanja sa svojom jedinicom,

and when you join the Army

a kada se priključite vojsci

and you go through a combat tour,

i kada prođete kroz borbenu turu,

everyone looks at your shoulder,

svako vas gleda u rame,

because on your shoulder is your combat patch.

jer vam je na ramenu vaše borbeno obeležje.

And so immediately as you meet people,

Čim upoznate ljude,

you shake their hand,

rukujete se sa njima

and then your eyes go to their shoulder,

i oči vam krenu ka njihovom ramenu,

because you want to see where did they serve,

jer želite da vidite gde služe

ili sa kojom jedinicom su služili.

or what unit did they serve with?

And I was the only person walking around

Ja sam bio jedina osoba koja šeta

with a bare shoulder,

sa golim ramenima,

and it burned every time someone stared at it.

i peklo je svaki put kada je neko buljio u mene.

But you get a chance to talk to your soldiers,

Ali dobijete priliku da pričate sa vašim vojnicima

and you ask them why did they sign up.

i pitate ih zašto su se prijavili.

I signed up because college was expensive.

Prijavio sam se jer je koledž bio skup.

A lot of my soldiers signed up for completely different reasons.

Dosta mojih vojnika se prijavilo iz totalno drugačijih razloga.

They signed up because of a sense of obligation.

Prijavili su iz osećaja obaveznosti.

They signed up because they were angry

Prijavili su jer su bili besni

and they wanted to do something about it.

i želeli su da urade nešto povodom toga.

They signed up because

Prijavili su se jer

their family said this was important.

im je porodica rekla da je to važno.

They signed up because they wanted some form of revenge.

Prijavili su se jer su želeli neki oblik osvete.

They signed for a whole collection of different reasons.

Prijavili su se iz čitave grupe razloga.

And now we all found ourselves overseas

A onda smo se svi našli preko okeana

fighting in these conflicts.

boreći se u tim konfliktima.

And what was amazing to me was that I

Ono što je mi je bilo fantastično je da

very naively started hearing this statement

sam veoma naivno počeo da slušam ovu izjavu

that I never fully understood,

koju nisam baš shvatio,

jer odmah nakon 11. septembra počnete da sluštate tu ideju

because right after 9/11, you start hearing this idea

where people come up to you and they say,

gde vam ljudi prilaze i kažu:

"Well, thank you for your service."

"Hvala ti na službi."

And I just kind of followed in and started saying

Ja sam samo pratio sve i počeo da govorim

the same things to all my soldiers.

iste stvari mojim vojnicima.

This is even before I deployed.

To je bilo pre nego što sam svrstan.

But I really had no idea what that even meant.

Ali nisam imao ideju šta je to značilo.

I just said it because it sounded right.

Samo sam to rekao jer je zvučalo tačno.

I said it because it sounded like the right thing to say

Zvučalo je kao prava stvar za reći

to people who had served overseas.

ljudima koji su služili preko okeana.

"Thank you for your service."

"Hvala ti na službi."

But I had no idea what the context was

Nisam imao pojma kakav je bio kontekst

or what that even,

ili šta je to uopšte,

what it even meant to the people who heard it.

šta je to uopšte značilo ljudima koji su to čuli.

When I first came back from Afghanistan,

Kada sam se prvi put vratio iz Avganistana,

I thought that if you make it back from conflict,

mislo sam da ako se vratite iz konflikta,

then the dangers were all over.

da će se opastnosti završiti.

I thought that if you made it back from a conflict zone

Mislio sam da ako se vratite iz zone sukoba

that somehow you could kind of

da bi nekako mogli da obrišete znoj sa čela

wipe the sweat off your brow and say,

i kažete:

"Whew, I'm glad I dodged that one,"

"Uh, drago mi je da sam to izbegao."

without understanding that for so many people,

bez shvatanja da za većinu ljudi,

as they come back home,

kada se vrate kući

the war keeps going.

rat se nastavlja.

It keeps playing out in all of our minds.

Nastavlja da se odigrava i našim umovima.

It plays out in all of our memories.

Odigrava se u svim našim sećanjima.

It plays out in all of our emotions.

Odigrava se u svim našim osećanjima.

Please forgive us

Molim vas oprostite nam

if we don't like being in big crowds.

ako ne volimo da budemo u velikim društvima.

Please forgive us

Molimo vas opostite nam

when we spend one week in a place

kada provodimo jednu nedelju na mestu

that has 100 percent light discipline,

koje ima 100% svetlosnu disciplinu, jer vam nije

because you're not allowed to walk around with white lights,

dozvoljeno da idete okolo sa belim svetlima,

because if anything has a white light,

jer ako nešto ima belu svetlost,

it can be seen from miles away,

može se videti kilometrima daleko

versus if you use little green

u odnosu na mala zelena

or little blue lights,

ili mala plava svetla,

they cannot be seen from far away.

ne mogu se videti iz daljine.

So please forgive us if out of nowhere,

Molimo vas oprostite nam ako niotkuda

we go from having 100 percent light discipline

idemo od 100% svetlosne discipline,

to then a week later being back in the middle of Times Square,

a onda se nedelju dana kasnije vraćamo u sred Tajms Skvera,

and we have a difficult time adjusting to that.

i imamo poteškoća da se prilagodimo tome.

Please forgive us

Molimo vas oprostite nam

when you transition back to a family

kada se vratimo porodici

who has completely been maneuvering without you,

koja je totalno vođena bez nas,

and now when you come back, it's not that easy

i sada kada se vratite nije tako lako

to fall back into a sense of normality,

upasti nazad u osećaj normalnosti,

because the whole normal has changed.

jer se čitava normalnost promenila.

I remember when I came back, I wanted to talk to people.

Sećam se kada sam se vratio da sam želeo da pričam sa ljudima.

I wanted people to ask me about my experiences.

Želeo sam da me ljudi pitaju o mojim iskustvima.

I wanted people to come up to me and tell me,

Želeo sam da mi ljudi priđu

"What did you do?"

i pitaju: "Šta si radio?"

I wanted people to come up to me and tell me,

Da mi ljudi priđu i pitaju:

"What was it like? What was the food like?

"Kako je bilo? Kakva je bila hrana?

What was the experience like? How are you doing?"

Kakvo je bilo iskustvo? Kako si?"

And the only questions I got from people was,

Jedino što su me pitali bilo je:

"Did you shoot anybody?"

"Da li si ubio nekoga?"

And those were the ones who were even curious

To su bili oni koji su bili čak dovoljno radoznali

enough to say anything.

da nešto kažu.

Because sometimes there's this fear

Jer ponekad tu je strah i slutnja

and there's this apprehension that if I say anything,

da ako kažem nešto,

I'm afraid I'll offend,

uplašen sam da ću uvrediti,

or I'm afraid I'll trigger something,

ili se bojim da ću pokrenuti nešto,

so the common default is just saying nothing.

tako da je najbolji oblik ponašanja ne reći ništa.

The problem with that

Problem sa time je da

is then it feels like your service

to izgleda kao da vaša služba

was not even acknowledged,

uopšte nije prepoznata

like no one even cared.

kao da nikoga nije bilo briga.

"Thank you for your service,"

"Hvala ti na službi.",

and we move on.

i nastavimo dalje.

What I wanted to better understand

Ono što sam hteo bolje da razumem

was what's behind that,

je šta je iza toga,

and why "thank you for your service" isn't enough.

i zašto "hvala ti na službi" nije dovoljno.

The fact is, we have literally

Činjenica je da imamo bukvalno

2.6 million men and women

2,6 miliona muškaraca i žena

who are veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan

koji su veterani iz Iraka i Avganistana

who are all amongst us.

koji su svi među nama.

Sometimes we know who they are,

Ponekad znamo ko su oni,

sometimes we don't,

ponekad ne znamo,

but there is that feeling, the shared experience,

ali je tu taj osećaj, deljeno iskustvo,

the shared bond

deljena povezanost

where we know that that experience

gde znamo da to iskustvo

and that chapter of our life,

i to poglavlje našeg života,

while it might be closed,

iako je možda zatvoreno,

it's still not over.

i dalje nije gotovo.

We think about "thank you for your service,"

Mislimo o "hvala ti na službi"

and people say, "So what does 'thank you for your service' mean to you?"

i ljudi kažu: "Šta to tebi znači?"

Well, "Thank you for your service" means to me,

"Hvala ti na službi" mi znači,

it means acknowledging our stories,

to znači prepoznavanje naših priča,

asking us who we are,

pitanje nas ko smo,

understanding the strength

razumevanje snage,

that so many people, so many people who we serve with, have,

koju ima toliko ljudi sa kojima služimo,

and why that service means so much.

i zašto ta služba toliko puno znači.

"Thank you for your service" means acknowledging the fact

"Hvala ti na službi" znači prepoznavanje činjenice

that just because we've now come home

da samo zašto što smo se sad vratili kući

and we've taken off the uniform

i skinuli uniforme

does not mean our larger service to this country

ne znači da je naša veća služba državi

is somehow over.

nekako završena.

The fact is, there's still a tremendous amount

Činjenica je da postoji ogromna količina

that can be offered and can be given.

koja se može ponuditi i može dati.

When I look at people

Gledamo u ljude

like our friend Taylor Urruela,

poput našeg prijatelja Tejlora Urele,

who in Iraq loses his leg,

koji je u Iraku izgubio nogu,

had two big dreams in his life.

imao je dva sna u svom životu.

One was to be a soldier. The other was to be a baseball player.

Jedan je bio da bude vojnik. Drugi da bude bejzbol igrač.

He loses his leg in Iraq.

Izgubio je nogu u Iraku.

He comes back

Vratio se kući

and instead of deciding that,

i uprkos odučivanju da,

well, now since I've lost my leg, that second dream is over,

nakon što je izgubio nogu, da je i drugi san gotov,

he decides that he still has that dream of playing baseball,

odlučio je da i dalje ima taj san da igra bejzbol,

and he starts this group called VETSports,

i započeo je svoju grupu, VETSports,

which now works with veterans all over the country

koja danas radi sa veteranima širom države

and uses sports as a way of healing.

i koristi sport kao način ozdravljenja.

People like Tammy Duckworth,

Ljudi poput Tami Dakvort

who was a helicopter pilot

koja je bila pilot helikoptera

and with the helicopter that she was flying,

i helikopterom kojim je letela

you need to use both your hands

treba da se koriste obe ruke

and also your legs to steer,

i noge za upravljanje,

and her helicopter gets hit,

i njen helikopter je udaren,

and she's trying to steer the chopper,

i pokušavala je da upravlja

but the chopper's not reacting

ali helikopter nije reagovao

to her instructions and to her commands.

na njene instrukcije i komande.

She's trying to land the chopper safely,

Pokušavala je da sigurno sleti helikopter,

but the chopper doesn't land safely,

ali nije sleteo sigurno,

and the reason it's not landing safely

a to se nije desilo

is because it's not responding to the commands that her legs are giving

zato što nije odgovarao na komande koje su njene noge davale

because her legs were blown off.

jer su joj noge bile raznete.

She barely survives.

Jedva je preživela.

Medics come and they save her life,

Doktori su došli i spasli su joj život,

but then as she's doing her recuperation back at home,

ali dok se oporavljala kod kuće

she realizes that, "My job's still not done."

shvatila je: "Moj posao i dalje nije završen."

And now she uses her voice

Sad ona koristi svoj glas

as a Congresswoman from Illinois

kao žena u kongresu iz Ilinoisa

to fight and advocate for a collection of issues

kako bi se borila i iznosila brojne probleme

to include veterans issues.

koji uključuju probleme veterana.

We signed up because

Prijavili smo se

we love this country we represent.

jer volimo ovu zemlju koju predstavljamo.

We signed up because

Prijavili smo se

we believe in the idea and we believe in the people

jer verujemo u ideju i verujemo u ljude

to our left and to our right.

sa naše leve i desne strane.

And the only thing we then ask is that

Jedina stvar koju pitamo je da

"thank you for your service"

"hvala ti za službi"

needs to be more than just a quote break,

treba da bude više nego samo fraza,

that "thank you for your service" means

da "hvala ti za službu" znači

honestly digging in

iskreno poštovanje

to the people who have stepped up

ljudi koji su stupili

simply because they were asked to,

jer su bili pitani

and what that means for us not just now,

i šta to žnači za nas trenutno

not just during combat operations,

ne samo tokom borbenih operacija

but long after the last vehicle has left

već dugo nakon što je poslednje vozilo napustilo

and after the last shot has been taken.

i nakon poslednjeg pucnja koji je ispaljen.

These are the people who I served with,

To su ljudi sa kojima sam služio

and these are the people who I honor.

i to su ljudi kojima odajem počast.

So thank you for your service.

Stoga hvala vam na službi.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)