The First Step in Individual and Social Development: Confrontation

When we look at the meanings of the word confrontation, we see that it has multiple meanings:

• Those who assert a claim and those who deny it coming face to face and repeating their words,
• Coming face to face,
• Becoming aware, understanding thoroughly.

This article is a call/invitation to you, dear readers, emphasising the necessity of confronting oneself, one's past, and society.

Individual Confrontation

Every living being in the world has a life process, to a greater or lesser extent. They are born, they grow up, they struggle to survive, and ultimately, they leave this world, from which they came with nothing, with nothing again.

In this struggle for life, they witness the passing of many loved ones, knowing that they too will reach this final end, that they are mortal. Yet, unfortunately, they never accept this inevitable farewell to this world, nor can they imagine the thought of passing into eternity in their imagination. Perhaps this is why they cannot truly face what they have experienced in this life, cannot muster the courage to confront it, and in fact do not want to. Such is human nature.

In the normal flow of life, the most important characteristic that distinguishes humans from other living beings is that they struggle with all living and non-living things around them in order to improve their quality of life and maintain their comfort for a lifetime.

It is precisely in sustaining this struggle that, at times, most of us do not struggle with ourselves or question ourselves in the flow of life. Because this struggle is also with our own selves.

Just as the smallest structural unit that constitutes living beings and carries the characteristics of life is the cell, the smallest structural unit that constitutes societies is human beings.

Just as cells become diseased and slowly render a living being ineffective and powerless, the chain of mistakes made by people also causes a society to slowly drift away from its values and rot from within.

Our task is actually very simple, but as simple as it is, it is difficult to adopt and act upon: to question ourselves and face ourselves.

At the end of the day, we need to review all our past, positive and negative, and what we have done, and engage in self-criticism, with both our sins and our merits, in a way facing up to what we have experienced.

According to one account, when Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ruled the vast Ottoman Empire, he always had his decisions approved by Ebussuud Efendi before implementing them. When Sultan Suleiman passed away, he requested that a chest be buried alongside his body, as stipulated in his will. When the chest was opened before the burial, hundreds of fatwas were found inside, along with a piece of paper bearing Sultan Suleiman's handwriting, which read: ‘Throughout my reign, I never made a single decision based on my own desires; I sought fatwas from scholars.’ The moral of the story Even the Emperor of the World, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, ensured that scholars were with him behind every decision he made, choosing to avoid facing the consequences alone.

Social Confrontation

Human life is not long enough to experience everything and learn from it. Those who guide us by learning from life, who shed light on our path and pass this on to future generations verbally or in writing, are role model heroes who save us time and aim to help the societies they live in move forward with more confidence and steadier steps.

Atatürk expressed the importance of the accuracy of these narratives that guide us with the following words: ‘Writing history is as important as making history. If the writer is not faithful to the maker, the unchanging truth takes on a nature that will surprise humanity.’

This statement should not be understood solely in terms of history. Within society, statements that do not reflect the truth can lead to the disruption of the peace of individuals and communities, if not immediately, then over time. We have all witnessed how this behaviour, known among the people as backbiting and gossip and prohibited by relevant laws, can lead to tragic events if the necessary precautions are not taken.

Just as we pay attention to our physical health to avoid illness, should we not also pay attention to our individual education and behaviour for the health of society, and engage in self-criticism regarding the flow and direction of our own lives, with all their sins and virtues?

Russian author Tolstoy said 100 years ago, ‘Everyone admits that humanity is going bad, but no one admits that they themselves are going bad. Everyone thinks about changing humanity, but no one thinks about changing themselves first.’ This statement summarises human moral blindness in the simplest way.

The Fundamental Requirement: Education

The root cause of all problems encountered in the world is the individual and the individual's education. We always see the problem in others and try to correct their mistakes, but we never want to face ourselves.

The real reason for this is human education. Almost all societies recognise the value of the Chinese proverb: ‘If you are thinking about the next year, sow seeds; if you are thinking about the next ten years, plant trees; but if you are thinking about the next hundred years, educate people.’ That is why education for humans begins at a very young age, around 5-6 years old, like bending a tree while it is young, and the goal is to continuously improve the education provided to raise it to a higher level.

The main purpose of education is to be a tool that increases individual well-being in the long term and, indirectly, social well-being. However, as you will appreciate, although education initially appears to target individuals directly, its indirect aim is the advancement of societies. However, this challenging process can sometimes lead to the stagnation, decline and disintegration of societies.

Values and Generations

As members of society, I feel that we all lament the values we are losing day by day and wonder what can be done about it. Years ago, the Ministry of National Education's curriculum included a course on etiquette. I realised that the content of this course was designed by our elders to instil in us the values that our society is now sadly losing. I honestly cannot understand why this course has now been removed from the school curriculum. Surely, no one wants society to decay and degenerate?

I see that the concept of freedom that today's youth talk about is not actually a demand for real freedom, but rather something that is slowly distancing us from our values. I think we are all aware of this.

Do we give the same importance and sensitivity to our children's academic education as we do to their responsibilities to society? How much importance do we attach to education and upbringing?

We have witnessed how our young people, in the virtual world, one of the products of rapidly developing technology, have become confused about right and wrong and often accept wrong as right. Convincing a person to abandon their beliefs and adopt other values is one of the most difficult endeavours in life. In today's world, where the virtual world has replaced reality, young people are also living a virtual life. They ignore the values of the real world.

Undoubtedly, every society wants its young generation to be well educated, strives for this, and is expected to do so. Because the future of societies, the education of generations, the equipping of children with national and spiritual values, the moulding of new generations by the culture in which they grow and develop, and the society's preservation of its history and common values as a single body are all possible.

When it comes to education and the transmission of values to young people, if these values cannot be transmitted, we cannot blame the young people. Because young people are not the root cause of the problems experienced today! The real problem is that adults do not pass on all the sensitivities I have tried to highlight above to young people, or even consider how to pass them on, leaving this responsibility or obligation up in the air.

This is precisely the point that Prof. Dr. Nevzat TARHAN draws attention to: ‘If we do not teach them to be good people, that intelligence will one day harm society.’

In our children's pre-school education, we must teach them from the very beginning, at home, at school, in playgrounds, in course environments, etc., to be good people first, the importance of keeping one's word, sharing what one has, picking up what one drops, keeping one's surroundings clean, in short, that keeping society afloat is possible with oneself. We are obliged to do this.

Atatürk said: "Young ladies, young gentlemen! You are all the flowers, stars and rays of hope for the future. You are the ones who will truly illuminate the country. Consider how important and valuable you are, and work accordingly. We expect a great deal from you.‘ With these words, he emphasised the importance of education and, with the statement, ’The Turkish child will find the strength within himself to accomplish greater things as he comes to know his ancestors," he expressed that confronting our own history and our own essence will enable us to move forward into the future with firm and confident steps.

Every positive and negative action we take, every decision we make, shapes the generations that will come after us. It will cause them to be either happy or unhappy. Let's summarise the topic with a joke:

A citizen with no money and an empty stomach is walking down the street when he notices a sign. The sign of a restaurant reads: ‘All You can eat, your grandchild will pay.’ As soon as he reads the sign, the citizen enters the restaurant with joy, eats his fill in amazement, drinks his tea, and as he leaves the restaurant, he asks the waiter to write down his grandchild's address and telephone number. After writing down the information, the waiter hands the man a bill. The man asks in surprise, ‘What's this for?’ The waiter replies without hesitation, ‘The bill for your meal, uncle...’ The bill handed to him suddenly spoils our uncle's mood. After all, it wasn't him who was supposed to pay the bill, but his grandchild. He protests to the waiter, saying he gave his grandson's address and that his grandson would pay for the meal. The waiter then smiles cheekily at our uncle and says, "Uncle, you're right, this isn't the bill for your meal. Your grandson will pay for the meal you just had. But the bill I'm asking you to pay isn't yours. The bill you need to pay is the unpaid bill your late grandfather left you years ago. Your grandfather also ate here once and said you would pay the bill. Naturally, your grandson will pay your bill, and you will pay the bill for what your grandfather ate!"

This story, which the ancients called spiritual representation, tells us many things. The end of the hunger described in the story and the bill may not be very important, but who will pay the bills for the mistakes made as a result of spiritual hunger, greed, injustice, and excess, and how?

The Almighty Allah states in Surah Isra, verse 13, ‘We have made every person's destiny dependent on their own efforts...’ thus indicating that we will live according to our choices. As I tried to convey at the beginning of this article, facing ourselves is actually part of our destiny.

Our lives are determined by our choices, and our choices are determined by our priorities, which differ for each individual. The choices we make based on these priorities guide our lives in both material and spiritual terms.

The real reason for facing up to our choices is the fact that the impact of our choices affects not only us but also our loved ones and the destiny of the society we live in. If we want to walk towards the future with more secure and confident steps, if we do not want to leave our grandchildren with a bill they should not be responsible for paying, we must inevitably face our choices, with their ups and downs, and be accountable while we are still alive. Only in this way can a society and its individuals develop and be confident about their future.

Confronting History

In fact, all the troubled days or wars experienced by humanity did not begin with decisions made the day before or the night before. When we look at the past pages of history, we see that the events that caused these troubled situations have a long history. Looking at historical events, we see that the decisions and choices made by the people who led and guided societies, and the results of their efforts and endeavours, affected not only the fate of a nation but also the fate of the world.

That is why, as human beings, we must question and confront all our decisions and behaviours, whether positive or negative, in our individual lives. In a sense, this is our reason for existence, our debt to humanity.

A brief confrontation with our recent history

When we evaluate the decisions made during the First World War and our National Struggle in light of the conditions of the time and the impossibilities we faced, we can clearly and distinctly see where we came from as a country and a nation.

However, these decisions are still constantly questioned by certain groups, both in the past and today, provoking society in a negative way.

The great struggle we waged as a nation during the First World War and the War of Independence was successfully carried out through the use of technological weapons purchased from abroad as much as possible, with rational choices when necessary, and with the support of the Russians and Indian Muslims, among others. After this war process, which lasted more than ten years, when our Economic Independence was achieved, we were left with no engineering infrastructure or developed industrial structure. In fact, the educated population had been lost in the long wars. What remained was a broken, shattered country, its people weary but hopeful for the future, with debts to pay and only a handful of homeland soil. It took us years just to establish the industrial infrastructure of our beloved country.

I would like to share with you a paragraph from Ernest Hemingway's 1928 book ‘A Farewell to Arms’, set during the First World War, and leave it to your interpretation to compare the economic situation in Europe with that of our country during those years: "... But we didn't care about the ice on the road because the soles and heels of our boots were studded. The nails dug into the ice, turning walking on the road into an easy and invigorating experience... Catherine wore boots with large nails, wrapped herself in her cloak, and carried a cane with a sharp steel tip in her hand..."

I am giving this as an example. The foundations of our national aircraft industry were laid in the 1920s, but despite having to pause for a while due to economic and political reasons, the F-16 fighter jet, which still stands among the top designs of today's aircraft industry, entered the inventory of the Air Force Command in the 1980s, becoming the voice of freedom in our country's skies. The F-16 fighter jet infrastructure, produced at the TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries) facilities, which certain segments belittle as mere assembly, forms the basis of our current aircraft industry, namely KAAN. Could it have been any other way?

The defence industry products and works that we are all proud of today did not come about overnight. As a result of confronting the decisions made and events experienced in our past, the ‘Build your own aircraft’ project was launched in the early 1970s. It gained momentum as a project and a vision for the future following the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, when the United States sought to react to the decision to cultivate poppies, resulting in a comprehensive embargo imposed on us.

The Person in the Mirror

Please, let us pause for a moment, put our heads in our hands and think: where am I and how did I get to this point, am I satisfied with my situation? Confronting our positive and negative behaviours and choices will enable us to be more at peace.

In fact, engaging in this questioning frequently will both relax us and, by filtering our current lives through this questioning, reduce the potential mistakes we might make regarding our future.

In order to hold on to life with confidence; a person's life is not long enough to make all the wrongs and learn from them.

If we are to be self-critical, we are a society with very little reading habit, and the spread of social media has made access to information even easier, putting reading on the back burner.

Let us learn from what we experience through reading, embrace life and our loved ones with confidence and more tightly, and avoid having to face our mistakes. However, for those immersed in the virtual world, this may hold no meaning. Then let us say this: whether in the virtual or real world, let us read without fail, and learn from the writings of those who lived before us or today's enlightened individuals. Let us put our lives in order. Let us strive to be good examples to those around us, to serve as role models. Let us at least do that.

I would like to share with you the value of reading and the impact of decisions made in this regard on human life and state interests, with an excerpt from my professional life.

One summer day in 1994, while I was serving at the 5th Main Jet Base Command in the Merzifon district of Amasya province, the pilot of an F-5 aircraft whose landing gear would not deploy began circling the main runway in accordance with instructions given by the Flight Control Officer (FCO) in the control tower. Every option listed on the aircraft checklist had been tried, but the landing gear of the aircraft in the air could not be deployed. As a last resort, the pilot was instructed to eject over the firing range adjacent to the base, with the aim of safely landing the aircraft on the firing range without causing damage to the surroundings.

However, at that very moment, our Base Operations Commander arrived at the Control Tower and instructed the pilot to apply procedures he had once read about in There I Was magazine, thereby ensuring the landing gear deployed. When the F-5 touched down on the runway and the pilot exited the aircraft, all personnel breathed a deep sigh of relief. As we can see, useful, meaningful reading inevitably pays off one day.

When we examine past events, it reminds us of another beautiful saying: ‘There are no different accidents, only different people who cause the same accidents.’ This statement actually tells us that we need to understand ourselves and our surroundings and face the events that occur frequently.

This saying reminds us of the importance of Mustafa Kemal's successful decisions during the Battle of Gallipoli, which were based on his reading about past battles in the Gallipoli region and applying new tactics to the war accordingly.

Atatürk, "I was poor as a child. When I got two pennies, I would spend one on a book. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been able to do any of these things.", he once again emphasised the importance of reading.

To make the moment we live in more valuable and secure, and to ensure a safer future for our loved ones, we should face ourselves, devote more time to reading, and take care to share what we read with those around us.

For a more liveable world, let's read two pages of a book every day, which amounts to ……. pages a year.

Let's start by facing ourselves in the mirror, shall we?

Note: I would like to thank Mr Selahattin ÇEVRİM for his valuable contributions to this article.