Ben Saunders: To the South Pole and back — the hardest 105 days of my life

Prevodilac: Mile Živković Lektor: Anja Saric

So in the oasis of intelligentsia that is TED,

Dakle u TED-u, koji je jezgro inteligencije,

I stand here before you this evening

stojim večeras pred vama

as an expert in dragging heavy stuff around cold places.

u ulozi stručnjaka za tegljenje teških stvari po hladnim mestima.

I've been leading polar expeditions for most of my adult life,

Veći deo svojih zrelih godina predvodio sam polarne ekspedicije

and last month, my teammate Tarka L'Herpiniere and I

i prošlog meseca, moj kolega Tarka Lerpinijer i ja

finished the most ambitious expedition I've ever attempted.

završili smo najambiciozniju ekspediciju koju sam ikada pokušao.

In fact, it feels like I've been transported straight here

Zapravo, imam osećaj da sam pravo ovde bio transportovan

from four months in the middle of nowhere,

iz četiri meseca provedenih u nedođiji,

mostly grunting and swearing, straight to the TED stage.

mahom uz gunđanje i psovke, pravo na TED binu.

So you can imagine that's a transition that hasn't been entirely seamless.

Možete pretpostaviti da to nije bila baš glatka promena.

One of the interesting side effects

Jedna od zanimljivih nuspojava je

seems to be that my short-term memory is entirely shot.

da mi je kratkotrajno pamćenje izgleda potpuno otišlo.

So I've had to write some notes

Pa sam morao da nažvrljam neke tezice

to avoid too much grunting and swearing in the next 17 minutes.

da izbegnem mnogo gunđanja i psovanja u narednih 17 minuta.

This is the first talk I've given about this expedition,

Ovo je prvi govor koji držim o ovoj ekspediciji,

and while we weren't sequencing genomes or building space telescopes,

i iako nismo ispisivali genome ili pravili svemirske teleskope,

this is a story about giving everything we had to achieve something

ovo je priča o tome kako smo dali sve što imamo da postignemo

that hadn't been done before.

nešto što do sada niko nije uradio.

So I hope in that you might find some food for thought.

Pa se nadam da ćete možda pronaći materijal za razmišljanje.

It was a journey, an expedition in Antarctica,

Bio je to put, ekspedicija, na Antarktik,

the coldest, windiest, driest and highest altitude continent on Earth.

najhladniji, najvetrovitiji, najsuvlji i najviši kontinent u Evropi.

It's a fascinating place. It's a huge place.

To je fascinantno mesto. Ogromno mesto.

It's twice the size of Australia,

Duplo je veći od Australije,

a continent that is the same size as China and India put together.

kontinent koji je veličine Kine i Indije zajedno.

As an aside, I have experienced

Da dodam, iskusio sam

an interesting phenomenon in the last few days,

zanimljivu pojavu u poslednjih nekoliko dana,

something that I expect Chris Hadfield may get at TED in a few years' time,

nešto što očekujem da se desi Krisu Hedfildu na TED-u za koju godinu,

conversations that go something like this:

razgovori koji teku otprilike ovako:

"Oh, Antarctica. Awesome.

"O, Antarktik. Strava.

My husband and I did Antarctica with Lindblad for our anniversary."

Suprug i ja smo odradili Antarktik i Lindblad za godišnjicu braka."

Or, "Oh cool, did you go there for the marathon?"

Ili: "O, kul, bio si tamo na maratonu?"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Our journey was, in fact, 69 marathons back to back

Naš put je, zapravo, bio kao 69 spojenih maratona

in 105 days, an 1,800-mile round trip on foot from the coast of Antarctica

u 105 dana, povratni put dug 1800 milja, pešaka, od obale Antarktika

to the South Pole and back again.

do Južnog pola i nazad.

In the process, we broke the record

Usput smo oborili rekord

for the longest human-powered polar journey in history by more than 400 miles.

najdužeg ljudskog polarnog putovanja u istoriji, za više od 400 milja.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

For those of you from the Bay Area,

Za vas iz Zaliva,

it was the same as walking from here to San Francisco,

to je kao da hodate odavde do San Franciska,

then turning around and walking back again.

a onda se okrenete i vratite se.

So as camping trips go, it was a long one,

Ako pričamo o kampovanju, bilo je baš dugačko,

and one I've seen summarized most succinctly here

i sumirao sam ga veoma koncizno

on the hallowed pages of Business Insider Malaysia.

na svetim stranama malezijskog "Biznis insajdera".

["Two Explorers Just Completed A Polar Expedition That Killed Everyone The Last Time It Was Attempted"]

["Dva polarna istraživača završila put na kome su poslednjeg puta svi stradali"]

Chris Hadfield talked so eloquently

Kris Hedfild je tako rečito govorio

about fear and about the odds of success, and indeed the odds of survival.

o strahu i o šansama za uspeh, i zaista, o šansama da preživite.

Of the nine people in history that had attempted this journey before us,

Od devet ljudi koji su pokušali ovo putovanje pre nas,

none had made it to the pole and back,

niko nije stigao do pola i nazad,

and five had died in the process.

a petoro ih je umrlo dok su pokušavali.

This is Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Ovo je kapetan Robert Falkon Skot.

He led the last team to attempt this expedition.

Vodio je poslednji tim koji je pokušao ovu ekspediciju.

Scott and his rival Sir Ernest Shackleton,

Skot i njegov protivnik, ser Ernest Šeklton,

over the space of a decade,

u rasponu od decenije,

both led expeditions battling to become the first to reach the South Pole,

vodili su ekspedicije koje su se borile da budu prve na Južnom polu,

to chart and map the interior of Antarctica,

da iscrtaju i stave na mapu unutrašnjost Antarktika,

a place we knew less about, at the time,

mesto o kojem smo tada znali manje

than the surface of the moon,

nego o površini meseca,

because we could see the moon through telescopes.

jer smo mesec mogli da vidimo kroz teleskope.

Antarctica was, for the most part, a century ago, uncharted.

Veći deo Antarktika je pre jednog veka bio neistražen.

Some of you may know the story.

Neki od vas možda znaju priču.

Scott's last expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition in 1910,

Skotova poslednja ekspedicija, Tera nova iz 1910. godine,

started as a giant siege-style approach.

počela je kao veliki poduhvat nalik opsadi.

He had a big team using ponies,

Imao je veliki tim koji je koristio ponije,

using dogs, using petrol-driven tractors,

pse, traktore na benzin,

dropping multiple, pre-positioned depots of food and fuel

ispuštao višestruke isplanirane depoe hrane i goriva

through which Scott's final team of five would travel to the Pole,

kroz koje bi Skotov konačni petočlani tim prošao na putu do pola,

where they would turn around and ski back to the coast again on foot.

gde bi se okrenuli i na skijama se, peške, vratili do obale.

Scott and his final team of five

Skot i preostala petorica

arrived at the South Pole in January 1912

stigli su na Južni pol januara 1912. godine

to find they had been beaten to it by a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen,

da bi saznali da ih je pretekao norveški tim Roalda Amundsena;

who rode on dogsled.

koji je vozio saonice sa psima.

Scott's team ended up on foot.

Skotov tim završio je peške.

And for more than a century this journey has remained unfinished.

I više od veka, ovaj put je ostao nezavršen.

Scott's team of five died on the return journey.

Skotov petočlani tim je umro u povratku.

And for the last decade,

I protekle decenije,

I've been asking myself why that is.

pitao sam se zašto.

How come this has remained the high-water mark?

Kako da je to ostao vrhunac?

Scott's team covered 1,600 miles on foot.

Skotov tim je prepešačio 2570 kilometara.

No one's come close to that ever since.

Niko od tada nije došao ni blizu.

So this is the high-water mark of human endurance,

Znači, ovo je vrhunac ljudske izdržljivosti,

human endeavor, human athletic achievement

ljudskih napora, ljudskog atletskog dostignuća

in arguably the harshest climate on Earth.

u verovatno najokrutnijoj klimi na Zemlji.

It was as if the marathon record

Kao da je rekord za maraton

has remained unbroken since 1912.

neoboren od 1912.

And of course some strange and predictable combination of curiosity,

I naravno, neka čudna i predvidiva kombinacija znatiželje,

stubbornness, and probably hubris

tvrdoglavosti i verovatno arogancije,

led me to thinking I might be the man to try to finish the job.

naterala me je da mislim da mogu biti taj koji će završiti posao.

Unlike Scott's expedition, there were just two of us,

Za razliku od Skotove ekspedicije, bili smo samo nas dvojica,

and we set off from the coast of Antarctica in October last year,

i krenuli smo sa obale Antarktika u oktobru prošle godine,

dragging everything ourselves,

tegleći sve sami,

a process Scott called "man-hauling."

proces koji je Skot nazivao "ljudska vuča".

When I say it was like walking from here to San Francisco and back,

Kada kažem da je to kao pešačiti do San Franciska i nazad,

I actually mean it was like dragging something that weighs a shade more

zapravo mislim - kao vući nešto za dlaku teže

than the heaviest ever NFL player.

od najtežeg igrača američkog fudbala.

Our sledges weighed 200 kilos,

Naše saonice su težile 200 kilograma,

or 440 pounds each at the start,

odnosno, na početku, 440 funti svaka,

the same weights that the weakest of Scott's ponies pulled.

iste težine koje je vukao najslabiji Skotov poni.

Early on, we averaged 0.5 miles per hour.

Na početku, u proseku smo prelazili 0,8 kilometara na sat.

Perhaps the reason no one had attempted this journey until now,

Možda se niko do sada nije odvažio na ovaj put,

in more than a century,

već duže od veka,

was that no one had been quite stupid enough to try.

zato što niko nije bio dovoljno lud da pokuša.

And while I can't claim we were exploring

Iako ne mogu da tvrdim da smo istraživali

in the genuine Edwardian sense of the word —

u pravom edvardijanskom smislu te reči -

we weren't naming any mountains or mapping any uncharted valleys —

nismo krstili planine ni ucrtavali neistražene doline na mape -

I think we were stepping into uncharted territory in a human sense.

mislim da smo zagazili u neistražene predele u ljudskom smislu.

Certainly, if in the future we learn there is an area of the human brain

Svakako, ako u budućnosti saznamo da postoji deo ljudskog mozga

that lights up when one curses oneself,

koji se pali kada psuješ sam sebe,

I won't be at all surprised.

neću se uopšte iznenaditi.

You've heard that the average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors.

Čuli ste da prosečan Amerikanac provodi 90 odsto vremena u zatvorenom prostoru.

We didn't go indoors for nearly four months.

Mi smo bili napolju skoro četiri meseca.

We didn't see a sunset either.

Nismo videli ni zalazak sunca.

It was 24-hour daylight.

24 sata je bio dan.

Living conditions were quite spartan.

Životni uslovi su bili prilično spartanski.

I changed my underwear three times in 105 days

U 105 dana, gaće sam presvukao tri puta

and Tarka and I shared 30 square feet on the canvas.

a Tarka i ja smo delili 2,7 kvadratnih metara platna.

Though we did have some technology that Scott could never have imagined.

Mada, imali smo tehnologiju koju Skot ne bi nikada ni zamislio.

And we blogged live every evening from the tent via a laptop

Svako veče smo uživo blogovali iz šatora, preko laptopa

and a custom-made satellite transmitter,

i posebno urađenog satelitskog odašiljača,

all of which were solar-powered:

a sve to na solarni pogon:

we had a flexible photovoltaic panel over the tent.

prilagodljiv fotonaponski panel bio je nad šatorom.

And the writing was important to me.

I pisanje mi je bilo važno.

As a kid, I was inspired by the literature of adventure and exploration,

Kao malog, inspirisala me je avanturistička i istraživačka književnost,

and I think we've all seen here this week

i mislim da smo svi ove nedelje ovde videli

the importance and the power of storytelling.

važnost i moć priče.

So we had some 21st-century gear,

Dakle, imali smo opremu 21. veka,

but the reality is that the challenges that Scott faced

ali u stvarnosti, izazovi sa kojima se Skot suočavao

were the same that we faced:

bili su i naši:

those of the weather and of what Scott called glide,

vremenski uslovi i ono što je Skot nazivao klizanje,

the amount of friction between the sledges and the snow.

količina trenja između saonica i snega.

The lowest wind chill we experienced was in the -70s,

Najhladniji vetar koji smo iskusili bio je od oko minus 70-ak stepeni,

and we had zero visibility, what's called white-out,

a vidljivost je bila na nuli, ono što se zove belinom,

for much of our journey.

većinu putovanja.

We traveled up and down one of the largest

Putovali smo uzduž i popreko jednim od najvećih

and most dangerous glaciers in the world, the Beardmore glacier.

i najopasnijih glečera na svetu, glečerom Birdmor.

It's 110 miles long; most of its surface is what's called blue ice.

Dug je 177 kilometara; na većini površine je takozvani plavi led.

You can see it's a beautiful, shimmering steel-hard blue surface

Možete videti da je to prelepa, blistava plava površina, tvrda kao čelik

covered with thousands and thousands of crevasses,

prekrivena hiljadama i hiljadama pukotina,

these deep cracks in the glacial ice up to 200 feet deep.

te duboke naprsline u glečeru sežu i do 60 metara.

Planes can't land here,

Tu ne mogu da sleću avioni,

so we were at the most risk,

pa smo najviše bili izloženi riziku,

technically, when we had the slimmest chance of being rescued.

praktično, kada smo imali najmanje šanse da nas spasu.

We got to the South Pole after 61 days on foot,

Stigli smo do Južnog pola nakon 61 dana pešačenja,

with one day off for bad weather,

sa danom zakašnjenja zbog lošeg vremena,

and I'm sad to say, it was something of an anticlimax.

i žao mi je da kažem, bilo je antiklimaktično.

There's a permanent American base,

Postoji stalna američka baza,

the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at the South Pole.

stanica Amundsen-Skot na Južnom polu.

They have an airstrip, they have a canteen,

Imaju avionsku pistu, imaju kantinu,

they have hot showers,

imaju tuševe sa toplom vodom,

they have a post office, a tourist shop,

imaju poštu, suvenirnicu,

a basketball court that doubles as a movie theater.

teren za košarku koji je ujedno i bioskopska sala.

So it's a bit different these days,

Dakle, ovih dana je malo drugačije,

and there are also acres of junk.

a ima i gomila đubreta.

I think it's a marvelous thing

Mislim da je čudesna stvar

that humans can exist 365 days of the year

to što ljudi mogu da postoje 365 dana u godini

with hamburgers and hot showers and movie theaters,

uz hamburgere i vruć tuš i bioskope,

but it does seem to produce a lot of empty cardboard boxes.

ali izgleda da posle imamo mnogo praznih kartonskih kutija.

You can see on the left of this photograph,

Na levoj strani ove slike možete videti

several square acres of junk

više jutara smeća

waiting to be flown out from the South Pole.

koju će avionom odneti sa Južnog Pola.

But there is also a pole at the South Pole,

Ali i na Južnom polu postoji pol,

and we got there on foot, unassisted,

i tamo smo stigli peške, bez podrške,

unsupported, by the hardest route,

bez pomoći, najtežom putanjom,

900 miles in record time,

1450 kilometara za rekordno vreme,

dragging more weight than anyone in history.

vukući više tereta od bilo koga u istoriji.

And if we'd stopped there and flown home,

I da smo se tu zaustavili i odleteli kući,

which would have been the eminently sensible thing to do,

što bi bilo prilično razumno,

then my talk would end here

moj govor bi se ovde završio

and it would end something like this.

i to ovako nekako.

If you have the right team around you, the right tools, the right technology,

Ako oko sebe imaš pravi tim, pravi alat, pravu tehnologiju,

and if you have enough self-belief and enough determination,

i ako imaš dovoljno vere u sebe i dovoljno odlučnosti,

then anything is possible.

onda je sve moguće.

But then we turned around,

Ali onda smo se okrenuli,

and this is where things get interesting.

i tu stvari počinju da budu zanimljive.

High on the Antarctic plateau,

Visoko na visoravni Antarktika,

over 10,000 feet, it's very windy, very cold, very dry, we were exhausted.

preko 3000 metara, jako je vetrovito, hladno i suvo, bili smo iscrpljeni.

We'd covered 35 marathons,

Prešli smo 35 maratona,

we were only halfway,

prešli samo pola puta,

and we had a safety net, of course,

i, naravno, imali smo sigurnosnu mrežu

of ski planes and satellite phones

skijaških aviona i satelitskih telefona

and live, 24-hour tracking beacons that didn't exist for Scott,

i svetionika koji vas uživo prate 24 sata koje Skot nije imao,

but in hindsight,

ali kada razmislim unazad,

rather than making our lives easier,

više nego da nam olakša život,

the safety net actually allowed us

sigurnosna mreža nam je zapravo dozvolila

to cut things very fine indeed,

da budemo na ivici noža,

to sail very close to our absolute limits as human beings.

da jedrimo veoma blizu apsolutnih granica čoveka.

And it is an exquisite form of torture

I to je izuzetan oblik mučenja,

to exhaust yourself to the point of starvation day after day

iscrpeti sebe do tačke umiranja od gladi dan za danom

while dragging a sledge full of food.

dok za sobom vučete saonice pune hrane.

For years, I'd been writing glib lines in sponsorship proposals

Godinama sam pisao izlizane fraze potencijalnim sponzorima

about pushing the limits of human endurance,

o pomeranju granica ljudske izdržljivosti,

but in reality, that was a very frightening place to be indeed.

ali u stvarnosti, veoma je strašno biti u toj poziciji.

We had, before we'd got to the Pole,

Pre dolaska na Pol, imali smo

two weeks of almost permanent headwind, which slowed us down.

dve nedelje skoro neprekidnog direktnog vetra, što nas je usporavalo.

As a result, we'd had several days of eating half rations.

Kao rezultat, nekoliko dana jeli smo pola porcija.

We had a finite amount of food in the sledges to make this journey,

Imali smo ograničenu količinu hrane u sankama za ovaj put,

so we were trying to string that out

pa smo pokušali da je razvučemo

by reducing our intake to half the calories we should have been eating.

smanjujući unos na polovinu kalorija koje treba da pojedemo.

As a result, we both became increasingly hypoglycemic —

Kao posledica toga, obojica smo imali hipoglikemiju -

we had low blood sugar levels day after day —

danima smo imali nizak nivo šećera u krvi -

and increasingly susceptible to the extreme cold.

i neverovatno smo bili podložni ekstremnoj hladnoći.

Tarka took this photo of me one evening

Tarka me je jedne večeri slikao ovde

nakon što sam se skoro onesvestio od hipotermije.

after I'd nearly passed out with hypothermia.

We both had repeated bouts of hypothermia, something I hadn't experienced before,

Obojica smo imali nalete hipotermije, nečega što do tad nismo iskusili

and it was very humbling indeed.

i bilo je veoma ponižavajuće.

As much as you might like to think, as I do,

Koliko god vi mislili, kao ja,

that you're the kind of person who doesn't quit,

da niste takva osoba koja odustaje,

that you'll go down swinging,

da ćete otići boreći se,

hypothermia doesn't leave you much choice.

hipotermija vam ne ostavlja puno izbora.

You become utterly incapacitated.

Postajete potpuno ošamućeni.

It's like being a drunk toddler.

To je kao da ste pijano nedonošče.

You become pathetic.

Postajete patetični.

I remember just wanting to lie down and quit.

Sećam se da sam samo hteo da legnem i odustanem.

It was a peculiar, peculiar feeling,

Bio je to jedinstven osećaj,

and a real surprise to me to be debilitated to that degree.

i pravo iznenađenje za mene da budem toliko devastiran.

And then we ran out of food completely,

Onda nam je potpuno nestalo hrane,

46 miles short of the first of the depots

75 kilometara od prve stanice

that we'd laid on our outward journey.

koju smo postavili na svom putu do tamo.

We'd laid 10 depots of food,

Postavili smo 10 stanica sa hranom,

literally burying food and fuel, for our return journey —

bukvalno smo zakopavali hranu i gorivo za povratak -

the fuel was for a cooker so you could melt snow to get water —

gorivo je bilo za rešo da bismo topili sneg i dobili vodu -

and I was forced to make the decision to call for a resupply flight,

i bio sam primoran da donesem odluku i zatražim avion sa zalihama,

a ski plane carrying eight days of food to tide us over that gap.

skijaški avion sa hranom za osam dana kako bismo prebrodili tu rupu.

They took 12 hours to reach us from the other side of Antarctica.

Trebalo im je 12 sati da dođu do nas sa druge strane Antarktika.

Calling for that plane was one of the toughest decisions of my life.

Kada sam pozvao taj avion, bila je to jedna od najtežih odluka u mom životu.

And I sound like a bit of a fraud standing here now with a sort of belly.

Pomalo zvučim kao prevarant, stojeći ovde sa stomačićem.

I've put on 30 pounds in the last three weeks.

Ugojio sam se 13 kilograma u poslednje tri nedelje.

Being that hungry has left an interesting mental scar,

Tolika glad je na mene ostavila zanimljiv mentalni ožiljak,

which is that I've been hoovering up every hotel buffet that I can find.

a to je da sam kao usisivač unosio hranu u svakom hotelu gde sam bio.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But we were genuinely quite hungry, and in quite a bad way.

Ali uopšte smo bili veoma gladni, i to prilično.

I don't regret calling for that plane for a second,

Ne žalim ni sekunde što sam zvao taj avion,

because I'm still standing here alive,

jer sam još uvek živ i netaknut

with all digits intact, telling this story.

i pričam ovu priču.

But getting external assistance like that was never part of the plan,

Ali takva pomoć sa strane nikada nije bila deo plana

and it's something my ego is still struggling with.

i moj ego se još uvek bori s time.

This was the biggest dream I've ever had,

Ovo je najveći san koji sam ikad imao

and it was so nearly perfect.

i bio je skoro savršen.

On the way back down to the coast,

U povratku do obale,

our crampons — they're the spikes on our boots

naši kramponi - šiljci na čizmama

that we have for traveling over this blue ice on the glacier —

za putovanje preko plavog leda na glečeru -

broke on the top of the Beardmore.

polomili su se na vrhu Birdmora.

We still had 100 miles to go downhill

Još uvek smo ima 160 kilometara nizbrdo

on very slippery rock-hard blue ice.

na veoma čvrstom i klizavom plavom ledu.

They needed repairing almost every hour.

Skoro svakog sata smo morali da ih popravljamo.

To give you an idea of scale,

Čisto razmere radi,

this is looking down towards the mouth of the Beardmore Glacier.

ovo je pogled ka grotlu glečera Birdmor.

You could fit the entirety of Manhattan in the gap on the horizon.

U šupljinu na horizontu mogli ste smestiti ceo Menhetn.

That's 20 miles between Mount Hope and Mount Kiffin.

To je 32 kilometra između planina Houp i Kifin.

I've never felt as small as I did in Antarctica.

Nikada se nisam osećao tako malo kao na Antarktiku.

When we got down to the mouth of the glacier,

Kada smo se spustili do grotla glečera,

we found fresh snow had obscured the dozens of deep crevasses.

otkrili smo da je svež sneg prikrio desetine dubokih šupljina.

One of Shackleton's men described crossing this sort of terrain

Jedan od Šekltonovih ljudi opisao je prelazak ovakvog terena

as like walking over the glass roof of a railway station.

kao hodanje preko staklenog krova na železničkoj stanici.

We fell through more times than I can remember,

Propali smo toliko puta da ne mogu ni da se setim,

usually just putting a ski or a boot through the snow.

obično samo stavljanjem skije ili čizme kroz sneg.

Occasionally we went in all the way up to our armpits,

Povremeno bismo upali sve do pazuha,

but thankfully never deeper than that.

ali srećom, nikada više od toga.

And less than five weeks ago, after 105 days,

I pre manje od pet nedelja, nakon 105 dana,

we crossed this oddly inauspicious finish line,

prešli smo neverovatno zlokobni cilj,

the coast of Ross Island on the New Zealand side of Antarctica.

obalu ostrva Ros sa strane Antarktika ka Novom Zelandu.

You can see the ice in the foreground

U prvom planu možete videti sneg

and the sort of rubbly rock behind that.

i stene iza.

Behind us lay an unbroken ski trail of nearly 1,800 miles.

Iza nas je neisprekidana skijaška staza od skoro 2900 kilometara.

We'd made the longest ever polar journey on foot,

Prošli smo najduže polarno putovanje peške,

something I'd been dreaming of doing for a decade.

o čemu sam sanjao deceniju.

And looking back,

Gledajući unazad,

I still stand by all the things

još uvek stojim iza stvari

I've been saying for years

koje sam godinama govorio

about the importance of goals

o važnosti ciljeva

and determination and self-belief,

i odlučnosti i veri u sebe

but I'll also admit that I hadn't given much thought to what happens

ali priznajem da nisam puno razmišljao o tome šta se dešava

when you reach the all-consuming goal

kada dođete do cilja koji vas obuzima

that you've dedicated most of your adult life to,

i kome ste posvetili većinu odraslog života

and the reality is that I'm still figuring that bit out.

i zapravo još uvek razabiram taj deo.

As I said, there are very few superficial signs that I've been away.

Kao što sam rekao, postoji mali broj površnih znakova da sam otišao.

I've put on 30 pounds.

Ugojio sam se 14 kilograma.

I've got some very faint, probably covered in makeup now, frostbite scars.

Imam veoma blage ožiljke od promrzlina, koji su sada verovatno prekriveni šminkom.

I've got one on my nose, one on each cheek, from where the goggles are,

Jedan na nosu, po jedan na obrazima, od naočari,

but inside I am a very different person indeed.

ali iznutra sam veoma drugačija osoba.

If I'm honest,

Da budem iskren,

Antarctica challenged me and humbled me so deeply

Antarktik me je izazvao i učinio tako skromnim

that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put it into words.

da nisam siguran da ću ikada moći to da predstavim rečima.

I'm still struggling to piece together my thoughts.

Još uvek se borim da saberem misli.

That I'm standing here telling this story

To što stojim ovde i iznosim ovu priču

is proof that we all can accomplish great things,

dokaz je da svi možemo da postignemo velike stvari,

through ambition, through passion,

kroz ambiciju, strast,

through sheer stubbornness,

puku tvrdoglavost,

by refusing to quit,

odbijajući da odustanemo,

that if you dream something hard enough, as Sting said,

da ako nešto sanjate dovoljno jako, kao što je rekao Sting,

it does indeed come to pass.

to se zaista i ostvari.

But I'm also standing here saying, you know what,

Ali ovde stojim i govorim, znate šta,

that cliche about the journey being more important than the destination?

taj kliše da je putovanje bitnije od odredišta?

There's something in that.

Ima nečega u tome.

The closer I got to my finish line,

Što sam bliži bio svom cilju,

that rubbly, rocky coast of Ross Island,

krševitoj, stenovitoj obali ostrva Ros,

the more I started to realize that the biggest lesson

sve sam više shvatao da je najveća lekcija

that this very long, very hard walk might be teaching me

kojoj me je naučila ova veoma duga i teška šetnja

is that happiness is not a finish line,

je da sreća nije u odredištu,

that for us humans,

da je za nas ljude

the perfection that so many of us seem to dream of

to savršenstvo o kojima mnogi sanjamo

might not ever be truly attainable,

možda zapravo nedostižno,

and that if we can't feel content here, today, now, on our journeys

i da ako ne možemo biti zadovoljni ovde, danas, sada, na svojim putovanjima,

amidst the mess and the striving that we all inhabit,

u neredu i težnji koja nas sve prožima,

the open loops, the half-finished to-do lists,

sa otvorenim petljama, poluzavršenim spiskovima,

the could-do-better-next-times,

osećanjem da će drugi put biti bolje,

then we might never feel it.

onda to nikad nećemo osetiti.

A lot of people have asked me, what next?

Mnogi su me pitali, a šta sada?

Right now, I am very happy just recovering and in front of hotel buffets.

Sada sam veoma srećan da se oporavljam u hotelskim restoranima.

But as Bob Hope put it,

Ali kao što reče Bob Houp,

I feel very humble,

osećam se veoma skromno,

but I think I have the strength of character to fight it. (Laughter)

ali mislim da imam snage i karaktera da se borim protiv toga. (Smeh)

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)