Those who dream beautiful dreams and those who do not

Let us begin with a short poem. Their poem.

THEY,

WAKE UP TO MORNINGS

WITH PAIN.

FEAR OF UNEMPLOYMENT,

FEAR OF HUNGER…

THEY NEVER DREAM BEAUTIFUL DREAMS.

JUST AS THEY DO NOT KNOW HAPPINESS,

THEY DO NOT KNOW BEAUTIFUL DREAMS EITHER.

Dreams are also class-based. The poor and the working class do not dream beautiful dreams. Even if they do, it is one in a thousand… Our intellectuals, our politicians, our wealthy—those whom God is said to have told "walk, my servant"—and those who are well-off, they always dream beautiful dreams. Once, a minister of ours had a very beautiful dream. There is no poverty. What is the hunger threshold anyway? Our retirees' pensions were very good, very beautiful. Then, various politicians from various parties began to have beautiful dreams. Soon after, many of our columnists had dreams. They were all beautiful dreams.

Turkey is a bed of roses, everyone is having a good time, Turkey is a paradise. The public is living happily. Everyone is dreaming beautiful dreams.

Then there were those who had visions. Their visions were also very beautiful, but those who have these beautiful dreams and visions are the well-off segment. They are eating the cream of society and are having a good time.

But seventy percent of society cannot seem to dream at all. Because the media is in the hands of 20% of the population, their voices are heard well, and they are shouting everywhere. The public, looking at the noise of the media's dreams, thinks the following:

"Look, everyone is having beautiful dreams, why can't I?" Those who could not dream beautiful dreams began to consult one another. They organized a meeting called the "Meeting of Those Who Do Not Dream Beautiful Dreams." Everyone spoke at the meeting, but they could not reach a conclusion.

They realized that only the happy minority—the rich, those who are well-off, the screen beauties, and the screen heartthrobs—can have these beautiful dreams.

The dangerous part is that the working and poor segments have also started to have beautiful dreams and build beautiful fantasies. Dream-making and fantasy-making are spreading through TV series. They are also spreading through the media. They are drugging the working people. This media, these series, these dreams are spreading. Society has been divided into two deep-rooted classes. One class is the marketeers, the owners of money, the rich, and the well-off. The other class is the laborers and the poor.

The laborers, the unemployed, the poor, and those living below the hunger threshold later realized that this ruling class had always existed. The dictatorship of money and power had always existed. Society, in complete bewilderment and total confusion, cannot seem to emerge from decay into resurrection.

Anyway, those among the laborers who began to realize the situation held another meeting. Those who were aware and those who were thinking stood up one by one and spoke. Finally, an old man stood up and spoke as follows:

"I will suffice with telling you a joke. You think about the rest," he said. He told the following joke:

"Once upon a time, a Bektashi dervish, a priest, and an imam became friends. They were traveling from district to district, village to village, chatting with the public.

When evening came, they were given food. According to the tradition of that time, they were given a small tray of baklava to eat before going to sleep.

The priest and the imam made a deal. They said, 'Let us trick this Bektashi. Let us say that in the places we go, they give us a small tray of baklava. If we all eat this baklava together, no one gets full. If one person eats it, it is unfair. Let us make a decision. Let us go to sleep. Let us not eat the baklava in the evening. Whoever has the most beautiful dream at night shall eat the baklava in the morning.' The Bektashi said, 'Fine, if that is what you see fit, so be it. Whoever has a beautiful dream, let them eat the baklava.'

Five days passed. They were wandering from this village to that village. They were staying in mosques at night. In every village they went to, they were given a small tray of baklava. They would not eat the baklava in the evening; whoever had the best dream at night would eat the baklava in the morning. Because the priest and the imam had a deal, they were always the ones having beautiful dreams. They were supporting each other. One day the priest would eat the baklava, the next day the imam would eat it. They had a deal, after all.

One day, they went to another village. In this village, they were given a small tray of baklava. They came and slept in the mosque. Whoever had the most beautiful dream would eat the baklava in the morning. Morning came. The imam said to the priest, 'You tell your dream.' The priest began to tell his dream: 'In my dream, I saw Jesus. Together, we ascended to the sky, to the presence of God. We met the angels.'

The imam said, 'By God, your dream is beautiful.' The Bektashi joined the imam, saying, 'By God, your dream is beautiful, there is nothing to say, you saw Jesus, what more could there be?' This time, the imam told his dream. He said, 'In my dream, I saw Muhammad. Together, we ascended to the heavens. We reached the presence of God, we met the angels.' The priest and the Bektashi said, 'By God, your dream is also very beautiful.' This time, they asked the Bektashi, 'How was your dream? You tell us too.'

The Bektashi said,

"By God, I was sleeping at night. It was long past midnight. Ali came with his Zulfiqar (the forked sword) and poked me. He woke me up. 'Get up,' he said. 'They are having beautiful dreams. They are going to eat your share of the baklava too. Get up and eat the baklava now,' he said. So I got up and ate the baklava."

The priest and the imam looked at each other's faces. 'Aha,' they said, 'this Bektashi has woken up. Ali has woken him up. We cannot trick him anymore.'

The old man finished his words as follows:

"Since Ali is not going to come and wake us up, let each of us be Ali. Let us wake each other up. Otherwise, capitalism and imperialism—that is, the ruling classes who own the power of money—will continue to eat our share."