Jok Church: A circle of caring

Prevodilac: Sandra Gojic Lektor: Ivana Korom

You know, what I do is write for children,

Znate da ja pišem za decu

and I'm probably America's

i da sam verovatno autor

most widely read children's author, in fact.

koji se najviše čita u Americi.

And I always tell people

I uvek kažem ljudima

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

da ne želim da se pojavim i da izgledam kao naučnik.

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

Mogu se pojaviti kao farmer ili u koži,

and no one has ever chose farmer.

i niko nikada nije izabrao farmera.

I'm here today to talk to you

Ovde sam danas da vam govorim

about circles and epiphanies.

o krugovima i proviđenjima.

And you know, an epiphany

I znate, proviđenje je

is usually something you find that you dropped someplace.

obično pronalaženje nečega što ste usput izgubili.

You've just got to go around the block

Samo morate da napravite krug

to see it as an epiphany.

da shvatite da je to proviđenje.

That's a painting of a circle.

To je slikanje kruga.

A friend of mine did that -- Richard Bollingbroke.

Moj prijatelj je to uradio - Ričard Bolingbrouk.

It's the kind of complicated circle

To je neka vrsta složenog kruga,

that I'm going to tell you about.

taj o kojem ću vam pričati.

My circle began back in the '60s

Moj krug je začet tokom 60-ih

in high school in Stow, Ohio

u srednjoj školi u Stou, Ohajo

where I was the class queer.

gde sam bio "peder" u razredu.

I was the guy beaten up bloody

Bio sam momak kojeg su tukli do krvi

every week in the boys' room,

svake nedelje u muškom toaletu,

until one teacher saved my life.

dok mi jedan profesor nije spasio život.

She saved my life by letting me go to the bathroom

Ona mi je spasila život tako što me pustila u toalet

in the teachers' lounge.

u delu za profesore.

She did it in secret.

Radila je to tajno,

She did it for three years.

radila je to tri godine,

And I had to get out of town.

i morao sam da napustim grad.

I had a thumb, I had 85 dollars,

Izbacio sam prst, imao sam 85$,

and I ended up in San Francisco, California --

i završio sam u San Francisku, Kalifornija -

met a lover --

upoznao ljubavnika -

and back in the '80s, found it necessary

i tokom 80-ih, smatrao sam da je neophodno

to begin work on AIDS organizations.

da počnem da radim za AIDS organizacije.

About three or four years ago,

Pre oko tri ili četiri godine,

I got a phone call in the middle of the night

primio sam telefonski poziv usred noći,

from that teacher, Mrs. Posten,

od moje učiteljice, gospođe Posten

who said, "I need to see you.

koje je rekla: "Moram da te vidim.

I'm disappointed

Razočarana sam

that we never got to know each other as adults.

činjenicom da se nikada nismo upoznali kao odrasli.

Could you please come to Ohio,

Možeš li molim te doći u Ohajo,

and please bring that man

i molim te dovedi čoveka

that I know you have found by now.

kojeg znam da si do sada pronašao.

And I should mention

Treba da pomenem

that I have pancreatic cancer,

da imam rak pankreasa

and I'd like you to please

i molim te da budeš vrlo

be quick about this."

brz povodom ovoga."

Well, the next day we were in Cleveland.

Pa, sledećeg dana smo bili u Klivlendu.

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

Pogledali smo je, smejali se, plakali

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

i znali smo da treba da bude u domu.

We found her one, we got her there,

Našli smo jedan za nju, smestili je tamo,

and we took care of her

i brinuli se o njoj

and watched over her family,

i o njenoj porodici,

because it was necessary.

jer je to bilo neophodno,

It's something we knew how to do.

znali smo kako to treba raditi.

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

I taman kada me je žena koja je htela da me upozna kao odraslog

got to know me,

upoznala,

she turned into a box of ashes

pretvorila se u prah

and was placed in my hands.

i smeštena je u moje ruke.

And what had happened

A dogodilo se to da

was the circle had closed,

se krug zatvorio,

it had become a circle --

postao je krug -

and that epiphany I talked about

i to proviđenje o kojem sam govorio

presented itself.

se samo pojavilo.

The epiphany is

Proviđenje je sledeće,

that death is a part of life.

smrt je deo života.

She saved my life;

Ona je spasila moj život,

I and my partner saved hers.

ja i moj partner smo spasili njen.

And you know, that part of life needs everything

I znate, taj deo života zahteva sve što

that the rest of life does.

i ostatak života.

It needs truth and beauty,

Zahteva istinu i lepotu,

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

i vrlo sam srećan što se o tome mnogo govorilo danas.

It also needs --

Takođe zahteva -

it needs dignity,

zahteva dostojanstvo,

love and pleasure,

ljubav i zadovoljstvo.

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

I naš posao je da obezbedimo te stvari.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(aplauz)