Hope is the Key to Life

Our economy is not good, our politicians are disastrous, our society is selfish and most of them are insensitive until the disasters come. Our intellectuals are disconnected from society, our academics are mired in the dirty swamp of politics rather than producing science and knowledge. While our families worry about how to get by with the least, some of them worry about how to add more to their money. Our justice system seems to directly favor the powerful. I could write about these negativities for pages. But if we can live long enough to take a breath, it means we still have hope. I don't know about you, but I believe this to be the case and I try to live like that.

If life is a struggle, hope is its engine. It is very normal for people to lose hope in the process we are going through, which left many of us frustrated after the earthquake. In recent days, I see that the majority of the people around me are unhappy and pessimistic. The "moment" they live in with constant worry and dark discourses poisoning themselves and poisoning others. They act like energy suckers and treat those who have a shred of hope for life as if they came from another planet. Not only normal people, but also those who speak on television, in newspapers and other means of communication and communication, and the publications in the media are constantly pumping anxiety and pessimism into our people. It has become almost impossible to find anything positive, beautiful and good in these channels. 

And don't they call it "the reality of life", this is more than enough to make people nervous. Dear friends, life is not a difficult or easy phenomenon. Hard and easy are actually relative concepts and can vary from situation to situation, from person to person. While life is a game for some, for others it may turn into a war, a struggle, or they may see it that way. Man is not a helpless being, but when he lacks reason and wisdom, he can be both dangerous and a monster. In nature, everything is in its place and continues in its own flow and natural rhythm. It is the human being who disrupts the order, challenges the system and fails to comprehend the event and the phenomenon. The recent earthquake disaster has once again demonstrated this reality. 

Despair is a virus of thought and is very dangerous. The virus of despair leads to a feeling of helplessness and the feeling of helplessness leads to a feeling of worthlessness. The remedy for despair is hope, the idea that things will be better in the future and that things can change. Everything starts with a thought. If the individual or society follows this thought and continues to work correctly and consistently to realize it, everything can happen as expected. Even if it doesn't happen, making an effort in line with that expectation makes people happy and connects them to life.

The late writer, Çetin Altan, used to say, "One should not be gloomy". Yes, we really shouldn't lose heart! We know that nothing is permanent; everything is temporary. Because life is built on this cycle. Isn't this a real sociology of life? A thinker says, "One should not take a world with death too seriously". The world is not a place to take too seriously. Although this statement is true, it should not lead us to complacency.

Atatürk, who founded our country out of poverty, seems to have wanted to prepare us for today when he said, "There are no hopeless situations, there are hopeless people, I have never lost hope." He has always shown an exemplary attitude with these words and in fact with his solution-oriented stance throughout his life about what we should do when we are faced with bad situations. 

Nazım Hikmet, on the other hand, tried to show us that we have different options when he said, "There is no such thing as losing hope and drifting into darkness, living under the same sky is a resistance". 

Life is a balance, there may be darkness and despair from time to time, but to recover quickly, to resist, to know how to win, to have hope, to carry ourselves further is what we need to do both as individuals and as a nation. 

The words of the thinker who said, "Man is not exhausted when he is defeated, but when he gives up" should give us hope. In short, we need to make the most of life and not lose our determination to fight.

As a nation, we have experienced a great earthquake disaster with great pain and many losses. This is not a time for despair. On the contrary, it is a time to be united and together to heal the wounds. None of us can bring back the lives lost, but together we can rebuild the destroyed infrastructures, hospitals, schools, roads and houses better than before. We will make our homeland more beautiful. Like our ancestors 100 years ago who cleared this country from the enemy, we will remove all the earthquake debris and rebuild our 11 provinces from scratch. 100 years ago the whole country was in ruins. Anatolian people, who were only 13 million at that time, rebuilt this country from scratch. Now, can't we rebuild one tenth of our country with a population of 85 million? Of course we will... No one should have any doubts, every Turkish citizen should always look forward with their heads held high. 

This country is ours. This future is ours. Our tombs, the deeds of this country, are ours. The new generation coming after us is ours. Let's do it again, all together...

I say stay with respectful love.