If trees could speak | Elif Shafak

Transcriber: TED Translators Admin Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Ivana Krivokuca

Humans do not see trees.

Ljudi ne vide drveće.

They walk by us every day.

Prolaze pored nas svakodnevno.

They sit and sleep, smoke and picnic

Sede i spavaju, puše, prave piknike

and secretly kiss in our shade.

i u tajnosti se ljube u našem hladu.

They pluck our leaves and gorge on our fruits.

Otkidaju naše lišće i goste se našim voćem.

They break our branches

Lome naše grane

or carve their lover's name on our trunks with their blades

ili rezbare svojim sečivima imena ljubavnika u našim stablima

and vow eternal love.

i zaklinju se na večnu ljubav.

They weave necklaces out of our needles

Pletu ogrlice od naših iglica

and paint our flowers into art.

i slikanjem naše cveće u umetnost pretvaraju.

They split us into logs to heat their homes,

Cepaju nas u panjeve da zagreju svoje domove,

and sometimes they chop us down

a ponekad nas saseku

just because they think we obstruct their view.

samo zato što veruju da im zaklanjamo vidik.

They make cradles, wine corks, chewing gum, rustic furniture

Prave kolevke, čepove od plute, žvakaće gume, staromodni nameštaj

and produce the most beautiful music out of us.

i proizvode najlepšu muziku od nas.

And they turn us into books

I pretvaraju nas u knjige

in which they bury themselves on cold winter nights.

u koje se zakopavaju tokom hladnih zimskih noći.

They use our wood to manufacture coffins in which they end their lives.

Koriste naše drvo da naprave sanduke u kojima okončavaju svoje živote.

And they even compose the most romantic poems for us,

Pa čak i sastavljaju najromantičnije pesme za nas,

claiming we're the link between earth and sky.

tvrdeći da smo veza između zemlje i nebesa.

And yet, they do not see us.

Pa, ipak, ne vide nas.

So one of the many beauties of the art of storytelling

Dakle, jedna od mnogih lepota umetnosti pripovedanja

is to imagine yourself inside someone else's voice.

je zamišljanje sebe kroz glas nekog drugog.

But as writers, as much as we love stories and words,

Međutim, kao pisci, koliko god da volimo priče i reči,

I believe we must also be interested in silences:

verujem da moraju da nas interesuju i tišine:

the things we cannot talk about easily in our societies,

stvari o kojima ne možemo s lakoćom da govorimo u našim društvima,

the marginalized, the disempowered.

o marginalizovanim, potlačenim.

In that sense, literature can, and hopefully does,

U tom smislu, književnost može, a nadam se i da uspeva,

bring the periphery to the center,

da donese periferiju u centar,

make the invisible a bit more visible,

da nevidljive pretvori u malo vidljivije,

make the unheard a bit more heard,

nesaslušane u malo saslušanije,

and empathy and understanding speak louder than demagoguery and apathy.

i da empatija i razumevanje budu glasniji od demagogije i apatije.

Stories bring us together.

Priče nas zbližavaju.

Untold stories and entrenched silences keep us apart.

Neispričane priče i ukorenjene tišine nas razdvajaju.

But how to tell the stories of humanity and nature

Međutim, kako da pripovedamo priče o čovečanstvu i prirodi

at a time when our planet is burning

u vremenu u kom naša planeta gori

and there is no precedent

i bez presedana

for what we're about to experience collectively

je ono što ćemo kolektivno da doživimo,

whether it's political, social or ecological?

bilo da se radi o politici, društvu ili ekologiji?

But tell we must

Međutim, pričati moramo

because if there's one thing

jer, ako postoji nešto

that is destroying our world more than anything,

što uništava svet više od svega drugog,

it is numbness.

to je paralisanost.

When people become disconnected, desensitized, indifferent,

Kada ljudi postanu nepovezani, neosetljivi, ravnodušni,

when they stop listening, when they stop learning

kada prestanu da slušaju, kada prestanu da uče

and when they stop caring

i kada prestanu da brinu

about what's happening here, there and everywhere.

o onome što se dešava ovde, tamo i svuda.

We measure time differently, trees and humans.

Drugačije merimo vreme, drveće i ljudi.

Human time is linear --

Ljudsko vreme je linearno -

a neat continuum

uredan kontinuum

stretching from a past that is deemed to be over and done with

koji se proteže od prošlosti, koja se smatra gotovom i okončanom,

towards the future that is supposed to be pristine, untouched.

ka budućnosti za koju pretpostavljamo da je iskonska, netaknuta.

Tree time is circular.

Vreme za drveće je kružno.

Both the past and the future breathe within the present moment.

I prošlost i budućnost dišu u sadašnjem trenutku.

And the present does not move in one direction.

A sadašnjost se ne kreće u jednom smeru.

Instead it draws circles within circles,

Naprotiv, pravi krugove unutar krugova,

like the rings you would find when you cut us down.

poput prstenova koje otkrijete kada nas posečete.

Next time you walk by a tree, try to slow down and listen

Sledeći put kada prođete pored drveta, pokušajte da usporite i oslušnete

because each of us whispers in the wind.

jer svi mi šapućemo u vetar.

Look at us.

Pogledajte nas.

We're older than you and your kind.

Stariji smo od vas i vaše vrste.

Listen to what we have to tell,

Oslušnite šta imamo da kažemo,

because hidden inside our story is the past and the future of humanity.

jer skrivena u našoj priči je prošlost i budućnost čovečanstva.