Decay, blindness, and active hope

Let us try to simplify the vortex into which our country is being drawn.

I will never forget; a few years ago, a teacher friend of mine, in an effort to express how much they read, explained the number of books they had read with a body language full of pride:

“I counted, I have read exactly 87 books!”

And they continued with a sentence full of astonishment: “Wow, 87 books!”

It was clear that even they could not believe this number. I did not laugh so as not to be rude. It seems my friend's threshold for reading a lot of books was around 50…

Now you might say, "Where is the simplification in this?" You are right!

The simplification lies in the connection of this event to the reality of life. The simplification lies in the fact that every person can only grasp events and phenomena as far as their own perspective allows. Anything beyond that is blindness!

This blindness is measured in 87 books for some, and in millions of dollars for others… In yachts and mansions for some; in positions and status for others; in fame for some… But they are all the best in their own eyes: the one who reads the most books, the one who earns the most money, the one who clears their path by getting closer to networks of interest, the one who does unthinkable things for fame… This cycle has no end.

My view of my teacher friend was, of course, regarding their blindness in terms of measurement. Otherwise, their goal was to improve themselves, albeit slowly. In short, what they wanted to reach was learning. I wish the intention of the majority could be like this under the conditions we are in… Because there is an effort, a positive desire in that intention. For example, if this friend knew that the Great Atatürk, who spent most of his life on battlefields and rushed from one struggle to another, fit thousands of books into his 57-year lifespan, would they still boast about 87 books?

Aside from the distance between the country's founding leader and a teacher trying to learn; the real danger is the lack of morality that considers stealing as profit and lying as intelligence, and the greatest disaster is the blindness that still cannot see this wheel.

Yet reality is what we experience, our breathing, our joys, our hopes, our pains, and our struggle. So, how aware are we of this? Whatever the conditions, reality is shouting at us everywhere, struggling: "I am here; see me, see me!" it says.

Those who see? Very few… But do not look at how few they are; they are the ones who change the world. Do not look at some people still trying to shoot in the dark, firing into the air! Those who see the truth, those who chase it, and those who fight for it still exist.

Even the Salt Has Rotted!

The decay is at such a dimension that its stench has surrounded everything. They cannot even bury it in a grave 1.5-2 meters deep so that the smell is not heard. They cannot bury it, because death has not yet occurred; this is a decay that continues with vitality… So much so that it splashes onto everything and everyone standing nearby.

Let us simplify it a bit more. A public that has been distanced from life for a quarter of a century in the hands of a freak administration, its freak rules, and incompetent cadres, and enchanted by created perceptions… The incompetent, arrogant, unjust, and lawless administration of the rulers of 25 years… An understanding whose goal is to maintain their power at any cost and to do whatever is necessary for this…

For this, they feed the interest groups inside and obey the powers outside.

A society writhing in the grip of poverty, desperation, and bans; a future wasted in the hands of sects and communities; a politics hitched to the tail of imperialism and feudalism, tribal lords, and communities…

The Name of This Is; Learned and Organized Blindness!

What is being experienced is not an individual loss of emotion; it is a blindness constructed and maintained by social structures.

Just like in José Saramago’s novel “Blindness”… In the novel, everyone goes blind, only one woman can see. Then comes quarantine, isolation, moral decay, and the collapse of order. The city overflows with trash and the dead. It is precisely at the peak point of that decay that healing begins; the blindness ends suddenly and the ability to see returns.

There are many who do not believe in this end, I know. But what did Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha say:

"There are no hopeless situations, there are only hopeless people."

Of course, what he was talking about was not a dry hope; it was an active, combative hope.

As Saramago said: "We did not actually go blind, we were already blind. We were blind people who see but do not see..."

Now; it is time to leave behind this structure that is constructed by social structures over time and pushes society into a 'blindness of seeing but not seeing'. No matter how deep the decay is, active hope is strong enough to defeat that decay. As long as we do not give up on walking the path opened by those who see, defending our right to live humanely, and fighting.