A holiday is not just for relaxing, but also for thinking
I was watching the news on the television before the long vacation started.
They were discussing the murders of women and the figures on violence against women.
The figures are frightening. In addition, it has continued to increase over the last 10 years.
Then I began to think. My friends write articles about book recommendations, informing readers with the weekend editions and the list of books that can be read during summer vacation. I also do the same thing myself many times. But this is not because of a certain literature taste or knowledge; it is to know people from those books.
When you read about female writers—here, I ask for forgiveness from Tomris Uyar’s soul for making this distinction—you can learn about women’s cultural and existential identity. There are many qualified works of art written about this issue by our contemporary writers. If we read them, we can realize many things.
There are many campaigns being done one after the other, for many years now.
We are always talking about women’s education and female empowerment. But are we really showing enough effort for this?
I am afraid that first “men” must be educated. If they would conduct research concerning the most frequently used words by people who hold a “press conference” or a statement anywhere, I believe that “man” and “manhood” will be among the most frequently used words!
I wish we could first succeed in becoming “human.”
We hear about the concept of a “role model.” Are we portraying the people who are successful in literature and the sports world as exemplary personalities on television? Not really. We keep seeing the same popular names over and over.
Yet, the role of the media is for the ones who really deserve it to gain popularity. But there is an easier way to this. It is much easier to make headlines for a football player who is already popular. This is because they are “men!”
We are talking about the education of women and do not mention that of men.
First of all, the education of being an individual must be given to women and men. We must even teach them that the world does not exist of only men and women. Especially to the men!
I have witnessed families showing a personality model to boys from a young age. I consider myself lucky for not being educated in this way.
Out of the phrases I have heard most often, “A man does not laugh like a woman” and “men do not cry” are at the top. How horrible. Because men make one cry!
Do we need to hire life coaches to raise our men as a civilized partner and lover?
Death at the skyscrapers
The second news story I came across in the news bulletins was worker deaths.
The most deaths were in the construction industry. The numbers rise but don’t fall!
While looking at the back-to-back construction of skyscrapers, I see the ghosts of the workers that died behind them.
One of the books I share with sadness every year is “The Almanac of Work-Related Deaths.” It puts forward the importance of such a portrait. Read them, stress over it a bit. Think of why we “lessen” the value of these people whose names we do not even know!
Compare your standard of living with theirs. Then you will see the things you need to see.
Let’s engrave the material and spiritual conditions of those we left behind in our memories.
I am waiting for you to remember that the other half of the excitement on your holidays is sadness.
Being human requires some things, and this is one of them.
Some readers may say, is it time for this before a “holiday?” It is the time indeed! Because it is always the time for everything related to being human.
When you are alone with yourself on your holiday, hold the light inside of you a bit. A holiday is not just for relaxing, but for thinking and growing….
