Weeks may pass before they loosen,
softened by serious therapy,
or scrubbed with the harsh alcohol
of forgetting.
Yet even then,
a faint stain remains,
warming in the heat of memory,
ready to cling again...
**POWER INTOXICATION: THE ALIENATION OF THE SELF.**
While recently discussing power and leadership in management with Prof. Dr. Feyzi Uluğ and Prof. Dr. Hasan Şimşek on the Education Heals YouTube channel, the concept of power intoxication briefly came up. That conversation prompted me to reflect more deeply on this phenomenon.
Power, in itself, is not evil.
A parent’s authority over a child, a teacher’s influence in the classroom, a manager’s responsibility to make decisions, or the regulatory authority of the state are not inherently problematic.
The real question is this:
How does power change a person?
Power does not simply take the shape of its container like water. More often, it reveals a person’s character, and sometimes, without notice, it quietly transforms it.
This is what we call power intoxication.
It rarely happens overnight.
No one wakes up one morning and says, “I have become arrogant.”
Instead, the poison spreads gradually.
First, a person begins to believe their own decisions are unquestionably correct.
Then criticism becomes uncomfortable.
Soon, dissenting voices are dismissed one by one.
Eventually, the individual begins to see themselves as standing above the very rules that once guided them.
The most dangerous aspect is this:
Power does not merely grant authority. It constantly generates approval.
Those who hold power are questioned less, applauded more, and forgiven more easily.
Over time, a dangerous illusion emerges.
A person’s own voice begins to sound like the voice of truth itself.
Power intoxication does not corrupt only those with bad intentions.
Its greater danger is that it can also transform good people.
This phenomenon is not limited to politics.
It can appear in a school principal, an academic, a business executive, a religious leader, or even the elder of a family.
The position changes.
The mechanism does not.
As power increases, humility should increase with it.
Yet, far too often, the opposite happens.
As authority grows, so does the ego.
The individual begins to see themselves as indispensable.
Yet time is the harshest corrector of that illusion.
Those once considered irreplaceable are often remembered later in only a few lines of history.
Perhaps the greatest illusion of power is believing it is permanent.
But no office lasts forever.
No chair belongs to anyone forever.
No applause continues indefinitely.
The moment people forget this, they stop managing power and begin to be managed by it.
The nineteenth century British historian Lord Acton expressed this timeless truth with remarkable clarity:
“Power tends to corrupt.”
Modern psychology reaches a similar conclusion.
Unchecked power reduces empathy, weakens critical thinking, and distorts the perception of risk.
In other words, the transformation begins not only in behavior, but within the mind itself.
That is why many wise leaders throughout history deliberately surrounded themselves with people who had the courage to say “no.”
Because the most valuable voice is never the loudest supporter.
It is the one courageous enough to speak the truth when it matters most.
Power intoxication destroys precisely this safeguard.
Criticism disappears.
Approval remains.
Gradually, reality fades.
The individual begins living inside an echo chamber where only their own voice can be heard.
Perhaps that is the deepest form of loneliness.
Power intoxication affects not only the individual but everyone around them.
People choose adaptation over honesty.
Merit gives way to loyalty.
Ideas surrender to fear.
And institutions begin to decay quietly from within.
Is there a way out?
Yes.
But it requires continual self-awareness.
A person must regularly ask:
“How much of what I hear is true, and how much is simply what others think I want to hear?”
Criticism should be welcomed not as an attack, but as a source of balance.
Most importantly, a person must never allow their identity to become inseparable from their position.
Because someone who loses themselves when they lose their title never truly possessed a stable sense of self.
True greatness is measured not by how many people we rule, but by how many lives we improve.
That is the real test of power.
To use authority not for personal glory, but for the benefit of others.
Because power does not make a person great.
It simply amplifies what already exists within them.
**PAIN: THE INVISIBLE MASTER THAT HELPS US GROW**
**In the Footsteps of Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche, and Rumi**
Most of us spend our lives searching for happiness while trying to keep pain as far away as possible, as though it were an unwelcome guest that should never knock on our door. Yet life follows its own order, independent of our wishes and expectations. No matter how much we resist it, there are certain truths we cannot change. One of the greatest is this:
**People often experience their greatest growth during their most difficult seasons.**
Comfort may bring peace, but it rarely transforms us. A person who never encounters obstacles may never truly discover the limits of their own strength. Unexpected loss, deep disappointment, or failure, however, forces us to confront ourselves. More often than not, genuine transformation begins at precisely that moment.
Marcus Aurelius taught that although we cannot control everything that happens around us, we can choose how we respond. At first glance, this may sound like a simple idea, yet it is one of the most difficult principles to practice. When we are hurt, our first instinct is often to wish we could change the event that caused the pain. When that proves impossible, we may seek refuge in anger, resentment, or despair.
Perhaps the real issue is not only what happens to us, but the meaning we assign to it. The same storm can carry two people to entirely different shores. One emerges consumed by hopelessness, while the other becomes wiser and stronger. The storm may be the same; what differs is the inner world of the person passing through it.
The Stoics invite us to move beyond the question:
**“Why me?”**
and ask instead:
**“What can this experience teach me?”**
The first question can tie us to the past. The second opens a path toward the future.
Nietzsche approached suffering from a different angle. In his view, people can be strengthened because of pain, not merely in spite of it. His famous words,
**“What does not kill me makes me stronger,”**
are far more than a motivational slogan. They express the deeper idea that hardship can reshape human character.
Of course, suffering does not automatically make anyone wiser. The same experience can leave one person withdrawn and bitter while making another more resilient and compassionate. The decisive factor is not simply the intensity of the pain, but the relationship we develop with it.
This is why human growth is often compared to metal being forged in fire. The fire tests what passes through it. Human beings are much the same. Hardship eventually knocks on everyone’s door, but who we become afterward depends greatly on how we respond.
Rumi adds yet another dimension to this understanding. In his poetry, the wound becomes more than a source of pain; it becomes a place of transformation, an opening through which illumination can enter. As long as we imagine ourselves complete, there may be little room for learning. It is often through our broken places that we begin to discover who we truly are. Perhaps patience itself is born there.
Looking back, we can often see this more clearly. The experiences that shape us most deeply are rarely our easiest days. They are found in our losses, our disappointments, the doors that closed before us, the dreams that failed, and the long seasons of waiting. Experiences that once felt like unbearable burdens can later become the quiet architects of our character.
This is one of life’s strange paradoxes. Events that once seemed meaningless, or even cruel, sometimes reveal a different significance with the passing of time. What we once called misfortune may have prepared us for an entirely different path. We cannot say this about every hardship, nor should every suffering be romanticized. Yet life has a way of asking questions whose answers sometimes arrive only years later.
No one escapes suffering altogether. The real difference lies in how we face it. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to move forward despite it. Likewise, resilience does not mean never being wounded; it means finding the strength to rise again after we have been hurt.
Perhaps we misunderstand success because we measure it only by visible achievements. Reaching the summit is certainly worthwhile, but preserving your conscience, compassion, and humanity along the way is an even greater accomplishment. Applause fades quickly. Character is built in moments when no one is watching.
Sooner or later, life will hurt us. There is no way around that truth. When that day comes, perhaps the most useful question we can ask is:
**“What can this pain teach me?”**
The answer may not come immediately. We may understand it months or even years later. Even so, asking the question itself can change the way we experience our lives.
In time, we may come to recognize a deeper truth:
**Happiness is not a life without pain. Wisdom is the ability to preserve our kindness, our hope, and our humanity even in the midst of suffering.**
Perhaps pain’s purpose is not always to stop us.
Sometimes, it simply arrives to reveal a strength within us that we never knew we possessed..
**Neither Too Close, Nor Too Far: The Invisible Distances in Human Relationships**
The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer used a remarkably vivid metaphor to explain human relationships.
On a bitterly cold winter day, a group of porcupines huddle together to keep from freezing. As they move closer, their bodies provide warmth, but their quills begin to prick one another. Unable to bear the pain, they pull apart. Yet once they separate, the cold returns.
This cycle of drawing near and moving away continues until the porcupines finally discover the ideal distance, close enough to stay warm, yet not so close that they wound one another. At last, neither the cold nor the quills pose a threat.
Perhaps the essence of human relationships lies precisely in that delicate balance.
Much of our lives is built upon expectations we rarely notice. We do not consciously calculate how others should behave toward us, what they should say, how close they should stand, or when they should step back. Yet the moment these invisible expectations are violated, we experience a subtle but unmistakable sense of discomfort.
A simple example from everyday life illustrates this well. Imagine sitting in a nearly empty movie theater when someone walks in and chooses the seat immediately beside you. That person may have no ill intentions and may have selected the seat entirely at random. Even so, you are likely to feel mildly uneasy. What troubles you is not the person’s presence itself, but the violation of your expectation about appropriate distance.
Communication scholar Judee Burgoon developed the Expectancy Violations Theory to explain exactly this phenomenon. According to Burgoon, people communicate not only through words but also through proximity, a concept studied in the field of proxemics. Every individual, society, and culture has invisible boundaries. When someone unexpectedly crosses those boundaries, or remains farther away than anticipated, our minds immediately begin searching for meaning. Once our expectations are disrupted, we begin questioning not only the distance itself but also the other person’s intentions.
Distance, therefore, is not merely a physical concept; it is also a psychological and emotional one.
Each of us reserves an intimate space for those closest to us, a private world where family members, loved ones, and our most trusted friends are welcome. Beyond that lies our personal space, where we interact with acquaintances in everyday conversations. Farther still is the social space we share with people we know but are not especially close to. The outermost circle is the public space reserved for crowds and larger groups.
These invisible circles are, in fact, the silent language of respect. Knowing how close we should stand to another person is often more important than finding the right words to express how much we value them.
Moreover, expectancy violations are not limited to physical proximity. Sometimes the greatest distances exist between people sitting at the same table. If someone continually checks their phone while we are speaking or avoids eye contact, they may be physically beside us but mentally far away. That is often what hurts the most. People do not merely want to be heard; they want to be genuinely listened to.
Many disappointments in close relationships arise not from dramatic mistakes but from small acts of neglect. A fleeting moment of indifference, divided attention, or a delayed glance can sometimes communicate far more than lengthy conversations ever could.
Of course, these invisible rules are not universal. A gesture considered warm and friendly in one culture may be seen as an invasion of personal space in another. The closeness that feels perfectly natural at a crowded concert may be uncomfortable in the quiet atmosphere of a library. People learn not only how to speak but also how close to stand to one another from the cultures in which they live.
That is why the ancient Latin proverb still holds true today: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Communication is not simply about choosing the right words; it is also about recognizing and respecting the invisible social rules of the culture around us.
Schopenhauer’s porcupines and Burgoon’s communication theory ultimately convey the same truth. One expresses it through philosophy; the other through scientific research. Together, they remind us of a fundamental reality:
**Human beings need both closeness and personal space.**
The art of relationships is not treating everyone with the same degree of closeness. True wisdom lies in sensing each person’s invisible boundaries and respecting them.
Love is much like breathing. Held too tightly, it becomes suffocating. Released too loosely, it disappears.
Perhaps genuine wisdom is learning to bring into our own lives the delicate balance that Schopenhauer’s porcupines eventually discovered:
**To be neither so close that we wound one another, nor so distant that we forget one another.**
**MANAGE YOUR MIND, NOT THE EVENTS**
One of life’s most frustrating realities is that it can change our plans without asking our permission. A journey we have prepared for over several days, an important meeting we carefully arranged, or a special occasion we have eagerly anticipated can be turned upside down in a matter of seconds by a single announcement.
In such moments, the real challenge is often not what happens to us, but how we choose to respond.
At a crowded airport in New York, passengers were making their way toward the gate to board a flight to Los Angeles when an unexpected announcement echoed through the terminal:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to inform you that our flight to Los Angeles has been canceled due to a technical malfunction.”
Everyone in the waiting area heard the same announcement. Every passenger’s plans had suddenly been disrupted. Yet it did not take long to see how the very same event could produce entirely different responses.
The first passenger, overcome by anger, stormed to the service counter and immediately raised his voice. He blamed the airline staff, used harsh language, and even made threats.
“This is unacceptable! I have a critically important meeting tomorrow. Do you have any idea who I am? You’ll be held responsible for this!”
The staff tried to calm him, but anger often does more than control our words. It closes our ears as well. It can make even those who genuinely want to help us appear to be our enemies.
Eventually, the man walked away in a fury.
The problem remained exactly where it was. Only his anger had grown.
A few moments later, another passenger approached the counter. He also needed to be in Los Angeles the following morning. In fact, he was attending the same meeting. But he began the conversation from a very different place.
“I imagine this situation isn’t easy for you either. Could you please help me? I need to be in Los Angeles by ten o’clock tomorrow morning. Is there another route that might get me there in time?”
The airline representative carefully checked the available options. There were no direct flights, but there was a connecting flight through Phoenix. It required waiting a few extra hours, yet it would still get him to Los Angeles before his meeting.
The passenger accepted the alternative without hesitation.
The problem was solved.
From the outside, both individuals experienced exactly the same event. Both had their flights canceled. Both had an important meeting to attend. Both spoke with the same airline staff.
Yet one found a solution, while the other became trapped inside his own anger.
Life presents us with situations like this again and again. The same event can become a dead end for one person while remaining nothing more than a detour for another. The difference often lies not in the circumstances themselves, but in the meaning our minds assign to them.
Anger narrows our perspective. It directs our attention toward injustice, blame, and disappointment. When that happens, we can fail to see a solution even when it is standing directly in front of us.
A calm mind, on the other hand, spends its energy not searching for someone to blame, but searching for another path forward.
This idea lies at the heart of Stoic philosophy. Epictetus expressed it centuries ago:
“People are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.”
This does not mean minimizing genuine difficulties. The flight really has been canceled. The meeting really is important. The consequences may be real.
What the Stoic perspective teaches is something far more practical:
If you cannot change the event, you can still change your response to it.
That is where true freedom begins.
A positive mindset does not mean looking at life through rose-colored glasses. Nor does it mean denying reality. Quite the opposite. It means seeing reality exactly as it is and still choosing to respond wisely.
A mind that searches for solutions will always be more useful than a mind trapped in complaint.
Best of all, this strength cannot be bought. It requires neither wealth nor status nor special privilege. It is an inner resource available to every one of us. Developing it takes time and effort, but the decision to cultivate it belongs to each individual.
Life will not always offer us the conditions we desire. Doors will close. Plans will unravel. Obstacles we feel we never deserved will appear in our path.
We may not control the canceled flight.
We may not control the closed door.
We may not control the storm.
But we can still decide what happens within us.
And sometimes, a person’s destiny changes not because the outside world has changed, but because the direction of the mind has.
**Lives with Deep Roots**
Protecting the people we love and wanting to shield them from harm is one of the most natural human instincts. Parents do not want to see their children suffer. Teachers strive to keep their students from making mistakes. Managers try to make life easier for those they lead. Friends, too, often choose to carry the burdens of the people they care about rather than letting them struggle alone.
While all of these actions are expressions of love and good intentions, life teaches us an important truth: good intentions alone do not always produce good outcomes. Sometimes, excessive protection quietly becomes one of the greatest obstacles to growth.
Nature offers profound lessons on this subject without saying a single word. One of its timeless principles is simple: strength is not born from comfort, but from struggle. Just as muscles that are never used gradually weaken, a character that is never tested can never become resilient. A simple yet powerful story illustrates this truth.
Two neighbors planted a tree on the same day.
One of them cared for his tree with extraordinary devotion. He used the finest fertilizers, watered it twice every day, and made sure it lacked nothing. The other neighbor watered his tree only once a week, added fertilizer from time to time, and trusted nature to do the rest.
As time passed, the first tree grew rapidly, eventually becoming nearly three times larger than the other. The second tree remained much smaller and seemed unremarkable.
Then, one night, a violent storm swept in from the ocean. Fierce winds blew relentlessly until dawn. The next morning, the two neighbors stepped into their gardens and were met with a surprising sight. The large tree had been uprooted and lay on the ground, while the smaller tree remained standing, firm and unshaken.
The first neighbor stared in disbelief.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I gave my tree everything it needed. I cared for it constantly. It grew so tall and strong. Yours stayed much smaller. How is it that mine has fallen while yours is still standing?”
The other neighbor smiled and replied,
“Because you gave your tree everything it needed, and more. It never had a reason to send its roots deep into the earth. Water and nutrients were always available near the surface, so its roots remained shallow.
“My tree, on the other hand, had to search for water and nourishment. Day after day, it pushed its roots deeper into the soil. That is what made it strong. Its real strength was never in its branches, but in the roots no one could see.”
This story is about far more than two trees.
It is also one of the finest metaphors for raising human beings.
Parents who shield their children from every hardship, teachers who solve every problem for their students, and leaders who carry every burden for the people they supervise usually act out of genuine love and kindness. Yet personal growth belongs not to those who are constantly protected, but to those who learn to accept responsibility. Character is not shaped by comfort. It is forged through effort, patience, setbacks, and the courage to face life’s challenges.
Of course, this does not mean abandoning children or young people to fend for themselves. Rather, it means allowing them, within a safe and supportive environment, to encounter challenges appropriate for their age. Sometimes, letting them fall teaches more than always catching them. Teaching them how to resolve conflicts is far more valuable than resolving every conflict on their behalf. Encouraging them to try again after failure leaves a far deeper lesson than protecting them from disappointment altogether.
Life is never a smooth, obstacle-free road. Sooner or later, everyone faces storms of their own. When that day comes, what keeps a person standing is not how carefully others have protected them, but the inner strength they have developed over time. Patience, self-discipline, a sense of responsibility, problem-solving skills, and the determination to persevere: these are the invisible roots that sustain a person.
Perhaps true love is not about clearing every stone from the path of those we love. True love is helping them develop the strength to climb over those stones when they inevitably appear.
A person’s strength does not come from living a life without obstacles. It comes from having roots deep enough to withstand them. The greatest inheritance we can leave our children is not a life free of difficulties, but roots deep enough to remain standing when the fiercest storms arrive.
**KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN BE STOLEN IS NOT TRUE KNOWLEDGE**
There are moments in life that teach us more in a few minutes than years of formal education ever could. Such lessons may come through failure, an unexpected journey, or even from someone we would never imagine as a teacher. Wisdom does not always emerge from a classroom or from the pages of a book.
A well-known story about Imam Al-Ghazali illustrates this truth beautifully.
As a young man, Al-Ghazali studied under one of the greatest scholars of his age, Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, at the Nizamiyya Madrasa in Nishapur. After completing his studies, he joined a caravan to return to his hometown of Tus. He carried no gold or silver. His most precious possession was a simple bag containing the notes he had taken from his teacher’s lectures.
The journey was cut short when the caravan was attacked by bandits.
The robbers took everyone’s money, jewelry, and valuables. Al-Ghazali’s bag was seized along with the rest of the loot.
The other travelers reluctantly accepted their loss. Their possessions were gone, and there seemed to be nothing they could do. But Al-Ghazali refused to give up. For days, he followed the bandits’ trail until he finally found the cave where they had taken refuge. There, he demanded that his bag be returned.
The guards thought the young man had lost his mind. They were about to strike him down when the bandit chief emerged.
“What does this young man want?” he asked.
“Master,” they replied, “he wants the bag we took from him.”
The chief looked at Al-Ghazali in disbelief.
“We took the wealth of everyone in the caravan,” he said. “Not one of them dared to come after us. Yet you came here alone. What could possibly have been in that bag that made you risk your life?”
Al-Ghazali’s answer was brief.
“My teacher’s lecture notes.”
After a moment, he added,
“They were my greatest treasure.”
His words unexpectedly moved the bandit chief. He stood in silence for a moment before turning to his men.
“Return his bag,” he ordered. “Give him food, and make sure he can continue his journey safely.”
Al-Ghazali took back his belongings. As he prepared to leave, the chief called him back.
“My son,” he said, “today I am returning your notes. But let me leave you with one piece of advice.”
Al-Ghazali listened attentively.
The chief spoke slowly.
“Knowledge that can be stolen from you is not truly your knowledge.”
According to the story, those words left a lasting impression on Al-Ghazali. From that day forward, he no longer relied solely on taking notes. He devoted himself to memorizing, understanding, reflecting upon, and internalizing everything he learned. He realized that knowledge written on paper was never enough. True learning is knowledge that becomes part of a person’s character.
The historical details of this story may be open to debate. Yet its message has endured for centuries.
Today, access to information is easier than ever before. With just a few taps, we can access thousands of books, watch lectures from around the world, and ask artificial intelligence to generate pages of text within seconds. But easy access to information does not necessarily mean that we possess knowledge.
Our computers may be filled with files.
Our phones may store hundreds of books.
Our cloud accounts may contain countless documents.
Yet none of these, by themselves, constitutes knowledge.
Knowledge becomes truly ours only when it is understood, when it reshapes the way we think, and when it finds expression in our actions.
A computer can store millions of books, but it cannot become wise.
A human being, however, can reflect deeply on a single sentence for years and emerge transformed.
One of the greatest misconceptions among students today is confusing the accumulation of notes with genuine learning. Notes are only the beginning. They are signposts, not the destination. Real learning begins when a person walks the path those signposts point toward.
One day you may lose your books.
Your computer may fail.
Your phone may be stolen.
Your notebooks may disappear.
But if knowledge has taken root in your mind, no one can ever take it away from you.
Perhaps this is the true purpose of education: not to fill people with information, but to transform them through knowledge.
Information that never becomes action is merely a burden we carry. Knowledge that is lived becomes character.
The greatest lesson Al-Ghazali learned on that journey may not have been one he heard in his teacher’s classroom. Life itself had sent him an unexpected teacher.
And that teacher spoke only one sentence:
“Knowledge that can be stolen from you is not truly your knowledge.”
**KAKISTOCRACY: THE RULE OF THE WORST**
Human history is, in many ways, also the history of humanity’s search for good governance. From Plato’s philosopher-kings and Confucius’s virtuous rulers to Al-Farabi’s vision of the Virtuous City and modern democracies, diverse intellectual traditions have emphasized the same fundamental truth: what sustains a society is not merely its laws or its economic resources, but the knowledge, integrity, and competence of those who govern it.
History, however, also demonstrates that this ideal is far from guaranteed. There have been periods when the most capable, honest, and qualified individuals were pushed aside while the most incompetent, self-serving, and unqualified rose to positions of power. Political science describes this phenomenon with a single term: **kakistocracy**.
Kakistocracy is more than simply having bad leaders in office. The deeper problem lies in the corruption of the governing system itself. In such a system, knowledge, integrity, and expertise lose their value, while loyalty, personal allegiance, and networks of self-interest become the primary criteria for advancement. People are judged not by what they know or what they can accomplish, but by whom they know. Institutions grow weaker while individuals accumulate power, and personal relationships replace established rules.
No system that substitutes loyalty for merit can endure for long. Over time, talented individuals are marginalized, critical thinking is viewed as a threat, and dissenting voices are silenced. Leadership gradually becomes populated by people who reinforce one another’s opinions, repeat the same mistakes, and continually invent new excuses for their failures. In this way, the system traps itself in a self-perpetuating cycle of decline.
The greatest cost of kakistocracy runs far deeper than economic losses. Its most devastating impact is on the moral fabric of society. People begin to believe that success depends less on hard work and productivity than on cultivating powerful connections. Instead of developing their knowledge and skills, young people come to see access to the “right” circles as the key to career advancement. Honest individuals begin to feel naïve, while those who act with integrity feel punished rather than rewarded.
It is precisely at such moments that trust quietly collapses.
Yet trust is a form of social capital so valuable that no budget can buy it. When people lose confidence in one another, in public institutions, and in their leaders, investment declines, cooperation weakens, and hope for the future gradually fades. Well-educated young people, in particular, begin to believe that their efforts will never be fairly rewarded in their own country and start looking elsewhere for opportunities. Brain drain is therefore not merely an economic issue; it is also one of the most visible social consequences of poor governance.
Moreover, kakistocracy is not confined to governments. The same mindset can emerge within corporations, universities, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and even family businesses. Whenever promotions are determined not by performance but by family ties, political affiliation, or personal relationships, when criticism is punished, and when failure is ignored, a kakistocratic culture has begun to take root.
At first glance, such administrations may appear strong because opposition has been silenced and independent thinkers have been pushed aside. Yet this silence is not a sign of strength; it is a warning of impending decline. No government or institution can make sound decisions if it hears only applause. When courageous people willing to point out mistakes disappear, errors multiply, problems deepen, and crises become inevitable.
History offers countless examples of this pattern. Many great empires weakened from internal decay long before they were defeated by external enemies. More often than not, states collapse not because of invading armies, but because of incompetence, corruption, and institutional erosion.
The antidote to this disease is well known:
**Strong institutions, transparency, accountability, and meritocracy.**
A system that values people for what they are capable of achieving rather than for who they are is not only more just but also more productive, more resilient, and better equipped to withstand crises. Societies that reward knowledge emerge stronger from adversity. Those that place loyalty above merit remain trapped in repeating the same mistakes.
Ultimately, kakistocracy cannot be explained merely by the presence of poor leaders. The deeper problem is the exclusion of capable people and the failure to reward the right values. A society’s future is shaped not only by elections or laws, but by the principles that determine who rises to positions of responsibility. When honesty, knowledge, and merit cease to be the path to success, what is lost is not only the present but also the hopes and opportunities of future generations.
For it is not palaces, budgets, or armies that sustain a nation. What truly keeps a state standing is its commitment to justice and merit, the ability to place the right people in the right positions.
**IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BECOME STRONG WITHOUT CONFRONTATION**
By nature, we tend to avoid pain. We often convince ourselves that ignoring problems will make them smaller, or that time alone will quietly solve them. This is more than an illusion; it is one of the mind’s most common defense mechanisms.
Yet life teaches an unchanging truth:
**What is suppressed never truly disappears. It sinks deeper, gathers strength, and eventually returns, often in a far heavier form. Avoidance is not a solution. It is merely the postponement of confrontation.**
For that reason, every journey toward healing begins with acceptance. We must honestly admit that what has happened has happened, what is broken is broken, what is lost is gone, and where we have made mistakes, we have indeed made them.
Acceptance is not defeat. Denial is not freedom, but an invisible form of captivity. A person who cannot admit they are wounded cannot heal. One who refuses to acknowledge loss cannot truly begin again. Many who believe they are moving forward are simply walking in circles.
Ignored problems never disappear. Every suppressed pain continues its silent life within us.
Life can overturn everything in a single moment through loss, betrayal, failure, or unexpected collapse. In those moments, thoughts become scattered, emotions tangled, and direction uncertain. What we need most is not speed, but calmness. Decisions made in the middle of a storm are usually driven by fear, and fear is rarely a trustworthy guide.
Calmness is not surrender. It is the condition that allows wisdom to return. Only when the noise settles can we see what deserves to be carried forward, what must be left behind, and which path is worth following. Calmness is not the opposite of action. It is the beginning of right action.
Life can shatter our plans, disrupt our balance, and destroy what we built with years of effort. Yet strong people are not those who spend their lives mourning the ruins. They are the ones who gather the scattered pieces and create a new foundation.
Perhaps this is the greatest strength of the human spirit: to accept that it has been broken, endure the pain, and still choose to move forward.
Just as buildings damaged by an earthquake are rebuilt on stronger foundations, people also have the capacity to rebuild themselves after life’s greatest upheavals. The process is neither quick nor easy, and much of it remains invisible to others. Yet there is no lasting path to maturity without it.
Pain is one of life’s harshest teachers. It breaks some people, while it deepens others. The difference is not the pain itself, but the courage to walk through it.
This is where genuine strength is revealed. During comfortable times, everyone appears resilient. Standing upright is easy when there is little weight to carry. Character is revealed in darkness: rising after falling, finding direction after loss, and taking one more step despite fear.
That is true resilience, not strength born from a painless life, but from a soul refined by adversity.
For this reason, we must learn not to avoid pain, but to move through it. No one willingly chooses suffering. Yet some horizons can only be reached by traveling difficult roads. Shortcuts may save time, but they often cost us wisdom.
In the end, life teaches a simple truth:
**We do not become stronger by escaping our struggles. We become stronger by confronting them.**
**INGRATITUDE: A Scholar’s Forty-One Years of Observation**
Life does more than provide knowledge. Without our realizing it, it also introduces us to people, teaches us how to recognize character, and offers lessons that are never found in books. Looking back, I can see that some individuals taught me more through a single action than dozens of books ever could. I have come to believe that a person’s true education is completed not in classrooms, but through relationships, disappointments, quiet observations, and experiences refined by the passage of time.
I first stepped into academia in October 1983 as a young research assistant. A long journey lay ahead of me, and my ideals were lofty. I saw the university not merely as a place where knowledge was created, but as a community where honesty, hard work, and loyalty were respected and rewarded. At that age, one naturally believes that good intentions will be met with appreciation.
Forty-one years have passed since then.
During those years, I met thousands of students, shared hallways and offices with hundreds of academics, and worked under many different administrators. I witnessed both achievements and disappointments. Friendships were formed, rivalries emerged, some people proved far more admirable than I had hoped, while others became disappointments beyond anything I had expected.
On the day I retired, in September 2024, I packed my office, carefully taking my books from the shelves one by one. At one point, I paused and looked around. It suddenly occurred to me that I was leaving behind far more than books. The real weight I carried was the countless stories of people that had accumulated in my mind.
I asked myself a simple question:
*“What has been the most important lesson these many years have taught me?”*
The answer came almost immediately.
Learning science is difficult. Understanding people is even more difficult.
I am not writing these lines to settle old scores. Nor do I intend to judge anyone or revive past disappointments. As we grow older, we begin to feel a different kind of responsibility:
To leave behind what life has taught us for those who come after us.
That is what I hope to do for my children, my grandchildren, and the young scholars who are just beginning their academic journeys. Experience simply grows old when it remains untold. When shared, it can illuminate someone else’s path.
Unfortunately, the first lesson in that legacy is ingratitude.
I have been fortunate to know many grateful people throughout my life. Even today, there are friends whose names still warm my heart whenever I remember them. They never forgot to express thanks, even years later, and they carried every kindness they received in their hearts. Because of them, I have never completely lost my faith in humanity.
But I also encountered ungrateful people.
They taught me an important truth:
Intelligence and character are not the same. Academic titles are no guarantee of humanity.
Over the years, I noticed that they often shared strikingly similar traits.
First and foremost, the memory of kindness is remarkably short. Years of support, sacrifice, and sincere effort can disappear from their minds almost overnight. Yet the one thing you were unable to do for them is remembered forever. It is astonishing how dozens of acts of kindness can become invisible in the face of a single unmet expectation.
Once their need has been fulfilled, the relationship often comes to an end as well. The person who once called you constantly may one day behave as though you had never met. Then you realize that, for some people, friendship lasts only as long as necessity.
Your sacrifices gradually become ordinary. What you once gave freely is no longer seen as generosity, but as something you were simply expected to do. Kindness that goes unacknowledged eventually becomes viewed as an entitlement rather than a gift.
Another common characteristic is their unwillingness to accept responsibility. When things go wrong, they look everywhere except in the mirror. If someone must be blamed, it is often the very person who supported them the most. Recognizing one’s own shortcomings requires courage. Blaming others is always easier.
You stand beside them in their darkest moments. You give your time, your effort, and sometimes even your peace of mind. Eventually, life improves for them. Then, one day, you discover that you are the first person they have forgotten. The feeling this leaves behind is not so much bitterness as astonishment.
Perhaps the saddest part is this:
They mistake your kindness for weakness. They take advantage of your sincerity, accept your help as something they deserve, and may even hold you responsible for the difficulties they later encounter.
At that point, you realize that ingratitude is more than simply forgetting a kindness. Sometimes, it becomes an attempt to diminish the very person who offered that kindness.
After forty-one years, I have reached one conclusion:
Ingratitude is not forgetfulness. It is a matter of character.
Everyone forgets from time to time. Human memory is imperfect. But grateful people never forget the hand that was extended to them. Even after many years, they know how to say a simple “thank you.” Sometimes a single sentence is enough to erase the weariness of many years.
Ungrateful people, however, often leave behind nothing but disappointment. They build relationships not from the heart, but from calculations of personal benefit. And when those calculations change, the relationship changes with them.
Today, there are a few things I wish to say to my children, my grandchildren, and everyone reading these words.
Never stop trusting people.
Never stop doing good.
Do not allow the shortcomings of others to change your own character.
But give yourself time before placing complete trust in anyone. A person’s true character is revealed not by what they say, but by how they behave when their interests change.
The greatest wealth in life is not knowledge.
Nor is it money.
As for status, it is merely a borrowed title that one day will be left behind.
True wealth lies in meeting the right people along life’s journey and remaining in their memories as a good person many years later.
Academia taught me countless scientific truths. Yet perhaps its most valuable lesson was one that could never be found in any textbook:
You can learn knowledge by reading. You can understand people only by living among them.
And if I were to leave behind only one piece of advice from my forty-one-year academic career, it would be this:
Do good. But choose carefully the people to whom you entrust your kindness. Gratitude elevates a person. Ingratitude quietly erodes first one’s character, and then one’s relationships.
**Imagine a Mind**
Imagine a mind
that keeps an account
of every breath we take,
every step we make.
A mind constantly alert,
to every word spoken,
every silence listened to,
every detail noticed.
Every corner matters.
Every voice matters.
Every glance matters.
Every thought.
Every reaction.
A mind that can retrace itself,
walking backward through memory,
finding exactly what happened.
I wonder,
what kind of happiness
could such a mind provide?
Would it be more forgiving,
or less?
Would it remember every kindness,
or every wound?
Would it become resentful,
or endlessly compassionate?
Would it remember
how I behaved terribly
when I was drunk?
How my body smelled.
How foul my breath became.
How terrible my farts smelled.
Would it preserve those moments
with the same precision
as moments of love,
kindness,
or grace?
Are these, too,
ingredients of a life story?
Not the parts
I would choose to tell,
but the parts
that helped make me
who I became.
Would they remain
terrible reminders,
or honest witnesses
to a life still unfolding?
How would such a mind
help others feel seen,
remembering everything about them,
not because it had to,
but because it noticed?
How would a world function
if minds worked this way?
Imagine a conversation
you had ten years ago.
It remembers everything:
How you spoke.
What you said.
What you were wearing.
How you smiled.
How your smile faltered.
How you felt about your life.
And suddenly you think,
Someone noticed.
Not just what I looked like,
but how I was carrying myself.
Not just what I said,
but what I was feeling.
Is that empathy?
Is it compassion?
Or is it obsession?
Would I want a mind like that?
A mind that records
the moments of a life.
A mind that remembers
not only my triumphs,
but my failures,
my shame,
my humanity.
A mind that remembers
that someone noticed mine.
If life is worth living,
if every breath is worth breathing,
is it also worth remembering?
I'm still breathing.
Just wondering.
**I don’t waste Doberman zingers on**
**people drowning in the shallows of their**
**own immaturity.**
Real strength doesn’t need to bark at
every provocation.
The strongest minds know
that not every insult deserves a reply,
not every argument deserves attention,
and not every critic deserves your
energy.
Some people create chaos simply to pull
others into their own misery.
Stand on solid ground.
Stay composed.
Protect your peace.
Silence,
when chosen with wisdom,
is often the loudest response.
**Honesty Is an Expensive Virtue**
People often judge others by the standards of their own conscience. If they do not lie, they assume others will tell the truth as well. If they keep their promises, they believe others feel the same sense of responsibility. If they are sincere, they expect sincerity in return. Yet life eventually teaches us the same lesson: not everyone lives by the same set of values.
People enter our lives for different reasons. Some come to walk beside us for years; others knock on our door only when they need something. Unfortunately, it is not easy to tell the difference at first. Character does not reveal itself during introductions. It becomes visible only with time.
Anyone can seem like a friend on sunny days. The real question is who remains by your side when the sky turns dark.
That is why it is not enough to listen to people; we must also observe them. Speaking beautifully is easy. Talking about honesty, loyalty, and faithfulness is easy as well. What truly matters is whether those words are reflected in everyday life. A person’s character is revealed not by what they say, but by how they behave when life becomes difficult.
Along the way, we sometimes meet people who see trust not as a responsibility but as an opportunity. They build closeness, offer friendship, and appear sincere. Yet at the center of these relationships lies not genuine connection but self-interest. Once their needs are fulfilled, they quietly disappear, leaving behind unanswered questions.
At such moments, we cannot help but wonder:
*“Did that person change, or did I simply never know who they truly were?”*
Perhaps the real answer lies in time.
Character is never in a hurry. Like roots growing beneath the soil, it does not reveal itself immediately. A person’s true nature rarely appears during comfortable times. It emerges when difficult choices must be made and when doing the right thing comes at a personal cost.
For this reason, not every disappointment should be seen as a loss. Some experiences are painful, but they also help us grow. They teach us whom to trust, who merely speaks, and who genuinely stands beside us.
Even so, we should never allow a few painful experiences to turn us into people who distrust everyone. Living in constant suspicion is exhausting. Trust always involves risk, but refusing to trust anyone leads only to loneliness.
Perhaps wisdom does not lie in trusting everyone or trusting no one. It lies in recognizing those who have truly earned our trust.
Fortunately, honest people still exist. They are individuals whose words and actions are in harmony, who choose to do what is right even when no one is watching. They rarely seek attention or try to prove themselves. Yet they are the quiet strength that keeps trust alive in the world.
Trust is not something that can be earned and spent like money. It takes years to build, yet it can be destroyed by a single careless act. That is why honesty is more than simply telling the truth. It means keeping your promises, safeguarding the trust others place in you, and remaining the same person even when no one is looking.
As the years pass, we come to understand something more clearly: what truly makes a person valuable is neither their position, their wealth, nor their achievements. What endures is not what they possess, but the principles they refuse to abandon.
Perhaps that is why honesty is never a role we put on later in life. It cannot be bought. It cannot be borrowed. It is certainly not a mask we wear when convenient and remove when it no longer serves us. It is the quietest, yet strongest, part of one’s character.
Throughout life, you will encounter people wearing masks. Some will betray your trust. But the mistakes of others are never a good enough reason to abandon your own values. We grow not by imitating the behavior of others, but by remaining faithful to our principles despite it.
In the end, people are remembered not for the words they spoke, but for the lives they lived.
And time is the fairest judge of all. Sooner or later, it removes every mask and reveals true character.
That is why we should never treat honesty as an ordinary expectation, but as a precious virtue worthy of careful protection. It may be unrealistic to expect the same level of integrity from everyone, but regardless of the circumstances, we must strive never to depart from what is right.
For honesty is, before it is a promise made to others, a quiet agreement we make with our own conscience.
**HEALTH, DISCIPLINE, AND INNER PEACE: THE THREE PILLARS OF TRUE WEALTH**
Throughout life, many people spend their days pursuing “just a little more.” We believe that a bigger house, a higher salary, a more prestigious position, or greater success will finally make us happy. Yet as the years pass, life quietly teaches us a profound lesson:
The value of what we possess lies in our ability to truly enjoy it. Without health, even our greatest achievements gradually lose their meaning.
Most people do not fully appreciate their health until they begin to lose it. In our youth, we take simple things for granted: breathing freely, walking without pain, and waking up refreshed each morning. Yet these are not ordinary privileges. They are priceless blessings we rarely notice while we have them. Even the greatest fortune in the world cannot always restore lost health. That is why our greatest asset is not what we have in the bank, but the strength and vitality that allow us to enjoy life.
Health, of course, is not merely a gift of fate. It is largely the result of the small choices we make every day. The way we eat, how much we move, whether we get enough rest, and whether we avoid harmful habits all accumulate over time. This is where discipline comes into play. Discipline is the ability to accept today’s small inconveniences to avoid tomorrow’s far greater regrets.
The human mind, however, naturally favors immediate comfort over long-term benefits. It is easy to say, “I’ll skip my walk today,” “Just this once won’t hurt,” or “I’ll start tomorrow.” Yet every good habit we postpone becomes an invisible debt owed to the future. Sooner or later, life collects that debt, often with interest.
An old story of wisdom illustrates this truth beautifully.
A young merchant, whose wealth had grown steadily over the years, found himself unable to understand the emptiness he still felt inside. Seeking answers, he visited an elderly sage.
“Master,” he asked, “what must a person possess to be truly wealthy?”
The sage invited him to return early the following morning.
At sunrise, they set out on a long walk together. As the hours passed and the sun climbed higher, the young merchant became exhausted by thirst and fatigue. The sage quietly took a small flask from his pocket and handed it to him. After drinking a few sips of water, the young man felt his strength returning.
The sage smiled and asked,
“A moment ago, which did you desire more: all the gold in the world, or those few sips of water?”
Without hesitation, the young merchant replied,
“The water.”
The sage nodded gently.
“When a person loses their health, all the wealth in the world may not be worth even a single sip of water.”
They continued their journey, and soon the path grew steep. The elderly sage continued at the same steady pace, while the young merchant found himself stopping repeatedly to catch his breath.
The sage then said,
“The difference between us is not our age. For years, I have taken care of my body. Good health is rarely the product of luck. More often, it is the reward of consistent habits.”
That evening, they returned to the sage’s modest home. It was simple and unpretentious, yet filled with a quiet sense of peace. Neighbors greeted him warmly, and the cheerful laughter of children drifted through the garden.
Curious, the young merchant asked,
“How can you live so simply and yet carry such peace on your face?”
The sage smiled.
“Because I have never taken what belongs to another. I have never bargained with my conscience. At night, when I lay my head upon my pillow, I do not have to run away from myself.”
After a brief pause, he added,
“A person is truly wealthy if they possess three things: the discipline to protect their health, a clear conscience, and peaceful sleep. When even one of these is missing, no amount of wealth can make up for its absence.”
True wealth, however, consists of more than good health alone. Human beings live not only through their bodies but also through their souls. Those who remain honest, refuse to silence their conscience, and respect the rights of others experience a deep inner peace when they go to bed each night. That peace cannot be bought, inherited, or deposited in a bank account. Nor can it be granted by any title or position.
Unfortunately, modern society often measures success by material possessions. Yet many people surrounded by great wealth live with anxiety, have lost their sense of trust, and carry the burden of loneliness. At the same time, others live simply while enjoying loving families, peaceful hearts, and clear consciences. It is not difficult to see which of these people is truly rich.
As people approach the end of their lives, they rarely remember how much money they earned. Instead, they remember the years they spent in good health, the moments they shared with those they loved, and the nights they slept with peace in their hearts. The true balance sheet of life is not recorded in bank accounts, but in the strength of our bodies, the clarity of our conscience, and the peace within our hearts.
Perhaps true success is not found in constantly acquiring more, but in recognizing the value of what we already have before it is gone. Having the discipline to preserve our health, remaining faithful to our principles, and sleeping each night with a clear conscience may well be the greatest treasures a person can accumulate throughout a lifetime.
In the end, health is the foundation of life. Discipline is the strength that preserves it. Inner peace is the quiet wealth that gives both their meaning. When even one of these is missing, no fortune can make a person truly rich. Genuine wealth is found not in the fullness of our wallets, but in the health of our bodies, the purity of our conscience, and the peace of our souls.
**GROUPTHINK: WHEN AGREEMENT REPLACES TRUTH**
People are often less afraid of being alone than they are of thinking differently. Belonging to a group provides a sense of security. Being accepted, avoiding exclusion, and feeling part of a community occupy an important place in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Yet this powerful need that binds us together can also become the source of our greatest misconceptions. History is filled with countless examples. Behind many great disasters lies not a lack of information, but the silencing of dissenting voices.
For many years, decisions made collectively were regarded as almost unquestionably superior to those made by individuals. Even today, collaboration, consensus, and teamwork are considered indispensable principles of effective leadership. Indeed, when diverse knowledge, experiences, and perspectives come together, better decisions can be made. But this is only possible when not only people, but also ideas, are diverse. Otherwise, a group ceases to generate collective wisdom and begins to generate collective error.
Crowds can be wrong. Sometimes they make mistakes that no single individual would have made alone.
In his groundbreaking 1972 work, Yale University psychologist Irving Janis drew attention to precisely this reality. Examining historical failures such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Vietnam War, Janis demonstrated that poor decisions often stem not from insufficient information, but from the systematic exclusion of critical thinking. Alternative viewpoints were ignored, outside warnings were dismissed, and the consequences proved devastating.
Janis called this phenomenon “groupthink.” Groupthink emerges when the desire to preserve harmony and unity within a group outweighs the desire to seek the truth. Under such conditions, people become more concerned with appearing to agree with one another than with reaching the correct conclusion.
At first glance, such harmony may seem reassuring. Over time, however, it turns into an echo chamber. The same ideas are repeated, the same evidence is circulated, and the same interpretations are reinforced. Meanwhile, something essential quietly disappears:
**Different questions.**
People begin selecting only information that confirms what they already believe, while facts that contradict those beliefs are either overlooked or deliberately ignored.
This is exactly where doubt falls silent. Even if someone believes a decision is wrong, seeing everyone else share the same enthusiasm may discourage them from speaking up. Opposing the majority is never easy. More often than not, people fear standing alone more than they fear being mistaken.
An old story of wisdom illustrates this truth.
A wise teacher gathers his students in the town square and places a large clay pot before them. The pot contains nothing but water.
Turning to the first student, he asks,
“What do you see inside this pot?”
The student carefully studies his teacher’s face, trying to guess the expected answer. Finally, he replies,
“I think… there is milk.”
The wise man says nothing.
The second student, having heard the first answer, echoes it.
“Yes… It looks like milk to me as well.”
Then the third, the fourth, and all the others express the same opinion. Before long, everyone in the square is convinced that the pot contains milk. Some even begin describing its whiteness, while others claim they can smell it.
Standing quietly at the back of the crowd is a young student.
The wise man turns to him.
“Why haven’t you spoken?”
The young man replies shyly,
“Master, because everyone said it was milk, I was afraid I might be seeing it incorrectly. But all I can see is water.”
The wise man smiles. He tilts the pot and pours out its contents.
Only water flows onto the ground.
Then he turns to his students and says,
“People often see not with their own eyes, but through the voice of the crowd. Anyone who seeks the truth must first learn to trust their own eyes.”
This is where the greatest danger of groupthink begins. Once people stop questioning reality, the opinion of the majority gradually replaces reality itself.
This phenomenon is not confined to history’s defining moments. It can be found in politics, business, public administration, and even within families. When leaders surround themselves exclusively with people who constantly affirm their views, their chances of discovering the truth steadily diminish. Criticism comes to be seen as disloyalty, while differing opinions are perceived as threats. Yet what sustains strong institutions is not absolute conformity, but an atmosphere of trust in which people can speak without fear.
Research has shown that groupthink occurs not only in executive teams but also in jury deliberations. Interestingly, as consensus within a group increases, decisions tend to become more extreme, and members grow increasingly confident in the correctness of their judgments. Yet confidence does not necessarily mean correctness.
So, under what conditions does groupthink emerge?
The risk increases significantly when group members are strongly bonded, when they feel intense pressure to make the “right” decision, and when the group is led by a dominant, directive leader. In such environments, people choose conformity over questioning.
To reduce this danger, Irving Janis proposed two remarkably practical recommendations.
First, leaders should actively encourage objections and expressions of doubt. Those who think differently should never be silenced. On the contrary, they should be listened to carefully. Sometimes, the person who saves a group’s future is not the one who joins the majority, but the one who has the courage to challenge it.
His second recommendation is to divide the team into two independent groups when making important decisions. Having separate teams analyze the same problem independently makes it possible to identify details that a single perspective might overlook. True richness lies not in everyone thinking alike, but in their ability to think differently.
In truth, this is also the essence of science, democracy, and sound governance. Progress is achieved not when everyone repeats the same words, but when different voices can be heard freely. Silence is not always a sign of peace. Sometimes, silence is the most powerful expression of fear.
That is why, when everyone in a meeting appears to agree, perhaps the first question that should be asked is:
“Is there anyone here who hasn’t spoken yet?”
For genuine wisdom lies not in following the majority, but in having the courage to ask whether the majority might be wrong.
More than half a century has passed, yet Irving Janis’s observation remains as relevant today as ever:
“If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is really thinking.”
**GOVERN YOURSELF, NOT THE WORLD**
**Reflections on a Saying of Marcus Aurelius**
*“It is not your concern how unjust or corrupt other people may be. You have only one responsibility: to remain honest, just, and virtuous, no matter what.”*
**Marcus Aurelius**
Too often, we fall into the trap of justifying our own shortcomings by pointing to the faults of others. Phrases such as *“Everyone does it,”* *“Who can afford to be honest these days?”* or *“Good people always lose”* may seem, at first glance, to express the harsh realities of life. More often than not, however, they are little more than elegant excuses for silencing our conscience.
In a single sentence, Marcus Aurelius exposes the weakness behind these justifications. Our true responsibility lies not in how other people choose to live, but in the kind of person we choose to become.
Life is not an arena where justice always prevails. In today’s world, we frequently witness hard work being overlooked, merit pushed aside, and honest people paying the highest price for doing what is right. At the same time, those driven solely by self-interest often rise more quickly, accumulate greater wealth, and even earn public admiration.
In moments like these, a quiet yet dangerous question begins to echo in our minds:
**“Why should I keep doing the right thing?”**
It is precisely in answering that question that character is formed.
Is virtue simply behaving well when everything is going our way? Genuine virtue reveals itself when we refuse to abandon goodness, even after it appears to have lost its value. Honesty matters most where deception is rewarded. Justice survives only because there are people willing to bear the cost of defending it. The clearest sign of self-respect is choosing what is right over what is merely easy.
Today, character is too often treated like a garment to be changed according to circumstance. Yet true character is an invisible compass carried within us, quietly pointing us toward what is right. Storms may confuse our sense of direction, but a reliable compass never changes its bearing. As long as we do not lose that inner compass, we will never truly lose our way.
There is another danger in becoming preoccupied with the faults of others. While we are busy describing the darkness around us, we may fail to notice that the light within us is slowly fading. Certainly, we must stand against injustice. Defending justice is a moral obligation. But it is equally important not to allow anger to reshape who we are in the process. History is filled with stories of people who defeated tyrants only to become like them.
True victory is not simply winning. It is winning without sacrificing your conscience.
The foundations of every society are built not first upon laws, but upon character. When everyone expects honesty from others while neglecting it in themselves, trust quietly begins to erode. But when each person takes responsibility for living truthfully, trust gradually takes root again. The greatest transformations rarely begin with loud voices or grand gestures. More often, they begin with the quiet perseverance of individuals who refuse to abandon their principles.
Although Marcus Aurelius ruled one of the most powerful empires in history, his greatest lesson was not about governing others but about governing himself. True mastery is found not in the power we exercise over other people, but in our ability to master our own anger, ambition, and desires. A person who cannot govern himself can never truly be the master of his own life, no matter how much authority he holds over others.
In the end, people are unlikely to remember how much wealth we accumulated, what titles we held, or how many rivals we surpassed. What endures is the imprint of our character. Perhaps the finest tribute anyone could receive is also the simplest:
**“He was an honest man.”**
Perhaps that is the truest measure of success. We may not always have the power to change the world, but we do have the power to prevent the world from changing who we are. No matter how great the failures or injustices of others may be, we remain fully human only so long as we preserve our conscience. For the greatest victory is not triumphing over others, but remaining faithful to our character despite every challenge life may present.
**Goodbye,**
**double-agent friend.**
Sometimes amber,
sometimes clear,
sometimes clouded,
sometimes glowing
like a promise
I wanted to believe.
I’ve seen you in every shade,
in celebration, in collapse,
in quiet corners
where no one asked questions.
I met you
when I didn’t know better.
when I was young and blind
I kept you
when I was up or down.
I called you loyalty.
I called you relief.
But the time is up.
This won’t be gentle.
This won’t be clean.
This is a bone break.
Raw, audible, undeniable.
A fracture through habit,
through memory,
through everything
I built around you.
It feels like pulling roots
from inside my own body,
deep, tangled,
wrapped around
who I thought I was.
They resist.
They hold.
And when they tear loose,
they make noise,
the sound
of every intimate moment
splintering into truth.
I’m not pretending
this won’t hurt.
It will.
It will ache in the quiet.
It will call me
in a familiar voice.
But I know now:
you didn’t hold me.
You held me back.
Reality slips,
and I let you rewrite it.
My fingerprints are everywhere,
on every glass,
every excuse,
every night
I tried to disappear.
I see it.
I will still see you
in glossy rooms,
in raised glasses,
in the hands of strangers
who haven’t learned your cost.
I might even nod,
a quiet recognition,
but not for a quick kiss,
not for the private language
we once shared.
So hear me clearly,
I am leaving,
even if my hands shake,
even if part of me
still remembers you as comfort.
Goodbye,
old double-agent friend,
not because it is easy,
but because it is necessary.
**Flint Daggers**
Alcoholic father
lecturing you from his throne,
crowned by rage,
you feel the frostbite of numbness
settle into your chest.
His words are flint daggers
dragged through a tar pit,
driven into your heart,
one after another.
Since then,
you have learned
to paint in darkness,
forgetting
the language of colors.
**FACING REALITY**
Perhaps one of the hardest parts of being human is accepting that life does not always unfold the way we want it to. In our youth, we tend to believe that determination alone can change everything. We try to change people, redirect the course of events, and confine the future within the boundaries of our own plans. Yet, over time, life quietly teaches us a different lesson: it is not a story written to satisfy anyone’s wishes.
Along the journey, we encounter storms we never anticipated. We witness the collapse of bridges we once believed were unshakable, and we discover that even those we trust most can sometimes leave deep scars on our hearts. Still, amid all this uncertainty and turmoil, there remains one treasure that no one can take from us:
**Our response to what happens.**
This is where true freedom begins. Character is not determined by the direction from which the wind blows, but by how we remain standing when it does. The same storm that uproots one tree drives another’s roots deeper into the earth. The same suffering that buries one heart in darkness can mature another. Events are simply the pages that destiny places before us; the meaning written on those pages is ours to choose.
The ancient sages rarely explained life’s greatest truths through lengthy speeches. They understood that a simple story could remain in a person’s heart far longer than volumes of philosophy.
According to an old tale, an elderly farmer owned only one horse. One day, the horse disappeared. His neighbors came to comfort him.
“What terrible misfortune!” they said.
The farmer calmly replied:
“Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few days later, the horse returned, bringing several wild horses with it. The neighbors were overjoyed.
“What wonderful luck!”
The old farmer smiled with the same quiet composure.
“Maybe so, maybe not.”
Soon afterward, his son tried to tame one of the wild horses. He was thrown to the ground and broke his leg.
“What a terrible tragedy!” the neighbors exclaimed.
Once again, the farmer gave the same unchanging answer:
“Maybe so, maybe not.”
Not long afterward, war broke out. Every young man in the village was drafted into the army, except the farmer’s son, whose broken leg kept him at home.
That is how life works. We often watch only the opening scene and assume we already know how the story ends. Yet time is the greatest judge of the conclusions we reach too quickly.
How many losses have eventually revealed themselves as blessings? How many apparent successes have become heavy burdens? The sorrow that brings us to tears today may one day prove to have protected us from an even greater disaster. Likewise, the opportunity we celebrate today may become tomorrow’s greatest trial.
For that reason, before trying to master life, we must first learn to master ourselves. True strength does not lie in changing destiny, but in meeting whatever destiny brings with dignity, wisdom, and grace.
Yet accepting reality does not mean surrendering to it. There is a profound difference between accepting what we cannot control and abandoning what we still have the power to change. Acceptance gives us clarity; discipline gives us direction; perseverance keeps us moving.
One of life’s greatest temptations is the lure of shortcuts. We all want to reach our goals more quickly, with less effort, less waiting, and faster results.
Yet nature quietly teaches us a different truth. The mightiest oak does not grow overnight. Rivers find their way to the sea through long and winding journeys. Mountains rise through ages of patient endurance. Even the seasons wait for their appointed time.
Human life is no different.
Lasting success is built upon unseen effort, silent sacrifice, and disciplined days that earn no applause. Shortcuts rarely shorten the journey; more often, they force us to begin again. Achievements gained without effort seldom endure, while lessons left unlearned inevitably return until they are mastered.
Discipline is not the chain many imagine it to be. On the contrary, it is the invisible companion that rescues us from our own disorder. Great accomplishments are seldom the result of a single heroic moment. More often, they are the product of countless small acts of faithfulness repeated day after day. A drop of water pierces stone not because of its strength, but because of its persistence.
Perhaps one of the saddest truths is this:
**Most people do not fail because they are defeated; they fail because they abandon hope too soon.**
Countless people have turned back only a few steps before reaching their destination. Countless dreams have been abandoned on the very eve of becoming reality. The darkest stretch of night can make dawn seem impossibly distant, even when morning is already on its way.
Life may not always give us what we desire. But it always leaves us with a choice: whether we will become victims of what happens to us or people who grow wiser and stronger because of it.
We cannot control everything. But we can choose the direction of our hearts. We cannot stop every storm, but we can keep a steady hand on the helm. We cannot prevent every loss, but we can preserve our humanity in the face of loss.
Perhaps this is what facing reality truly means: seeing life as it is, rather than as we wish it to be, without surrendering our courage to what we see.
In the end, life rewards not merely those who are strongest, but those who refuse to lose hope; not those who run the fastest, but those who rise each time they fall; and perhaps most of all, those who keep moving forward despite every storm they encounter.
**DON’T RUSH; THE MOST BEAUTIFUL JOURNEYS GROW WITH PATIENCE**
**“Walk with dignity, and people will honor you.”**
*— A Turkish Proverb*
Believing that success happens overnight is one of life’s greatest illusions. We admire those who have already reached the summit we aspire to, yet we rarely see the thousands of small steps they took, the days they refused to give up, or the silent struggles they endured along the way. No one reaches the peak of a mountain in a single leap. Every great journey begins with one courageous step and finds its true meaning through countless others taken with patience.
In truth, we are all climbers. Strength does not mean never facing hardship. Real strength lies in continuing to move forward when you are exhausted and remaining faithful to your path even when no one is watching. Character is not built through applause or public recognition. It is forged in quiet sacrifices, unseen efforts, and those moments when a person stands alone with nothing but their conscience. The strongest hearts are shaped not by spectacular victories but by silent perseverance.
There is an old Eastern wisdom story that beautifully illustrates this truth, a story I have shared in one of my previous essays.
An elderly gardener plants a bamboo seed in his garden with his grandson. The very next morning, the boy runs eagerly into the garden, expecting to see a sprout. But the soil remains unchanged.
Days pass. Weeks turn into months. Every day, the gardener faithfully waters the ground and carefully tends the place where the seed was planted. The boy grows increasingly impatient.
“Grandfather,” he asks, “why isn’t the bamboo growing?”
The old man smiles.
“It is growing,” he replies. “You just can’t see it yet. It is hard at work beneath the soil.”
A year passes. Then a second. A third. Even a fourth. Still, nothing appears above the ground. At last, the boy loses hope.
“I don’t think this seed will ever sprout.”
The old gardener answers with the same calm confidence.
“My child, the most important growth often happens where people cannot see it.”
Then, at the beginning of the fifth year, one morning a tiny green shoot finally breaks through the soil. Within only a few weeks, the bamboo rises rapidly, reaching astonishing heights.
The astonished boy turns to his grandfather.
“How did it grow so much in just a few weeks?”
The old man smiles and points toward the ground.
“No,” he says. “It didn’t grow in a few weeks. It grew for five years. During those first years, it devoted all its strength to growing deep roots. Had it not first strengthened its foundation, the first strong wind would have brought it down.”
Human life is no different.
Our most valuable growth often remains invisible. As we learn, work hard, make mistakes, and rise again, a quiet transformation takes place within us. We may not recognize it at the time, but character, knowledge, and wisdom deepen like hidden roots long before they become visible. Their fruits appear only when the time is right.
Life also has its long nights. There are moments when hope seems ready to fade and the road ahead appears endless. Yet nature follows an unchanging law:
Even the longest night does not last forever. Dawn often begins when the darkness is deepest. Perhaps the difficulties we face today are quietly preparing us for tomorrow’s light.
Yet the world constantly whispers that we must move faster. Learn faster. Advance faster. Achieve faster. Earn more, faster than everyone else.
Nature, however, teaches a very different lesson.
A tree takes time to establish its roots. A river takes time to carve its course. A human being takes time to mature. Enduring beauty is never born in haste. It is born through patience.
For this reason, we should never measure our journey by someone else’s pace. Every person has a different season. Every life has its own rhythm. The real challenge is not to outrun others but to become wiser, stronger, and more compassionate than we were yesterday.
Patience is far more than simply waiting. It is the ability to keep growing while you wait, to continue walking despite uncertainty, and to refuse to surrender hope. No matter how long the road may be, those who persevere do more than reach their destination. They become stronger, wiser, and more complete along the way.
Let us never forget:
The highest mountains are climbed one step at a time.
The strongest hearts are forged through quiet struggles.
And the brightest mornings often arrive only after the longest nights.
So there is no need to rush.
Never underestimate the time life has given you. Let your roots grow deep with patience, and continue your journey with faith. True success is not reaching the finish line before everyone else. It is becoming a better human being with every step of the journey.
Life rewards those who grow as they walk, not those who simply run the fastest.
DON'T PICK UP THE SECOND ARROW
Throughout my forty-one years in academia, I have met thousands of students, worked alongside hundreds of colleagues, and encountered countless life stories. If there is one lesson these years have taught me, it is this: Human life is woven not only with joy but also with pain. No one completes this journey without experiencing disappointment, injustice, or unexpected loss.
What has always fascinated me is how people who go through remarkably similar experiences carry their pain in completely different ways. Some gradually make sense of what happened, heal their wounds, and move forward. Others remain trapped in the shadow of the same event for years. More often than not, the difference does not lie in the event itself. As I have emphasized many times before, what truly shapes our experience is the meaning we assign to what happens and the way we replay it in our minds.
An old Sufi story illustrates this truth with remarkable simplicity and depth.
A student once asked a wise man,
"Why do some people suffer much longer than others?"
The wise man smiled and replied,
"When life shoots an arrow at you, it hurts. But most people pick that arrow up from the ground and stab themselves with it a second time."
Seeing the student's puzzled expression, the wise man continued,
"The first arrow is the event that happens to you. The second arrow is your anger, your regret, and your endless replaying of the same thoughts. You cannot always prevent the first arrow, but you can choose not to drive the second one into yourself."
This brief story reveals one of the most fundamental truths about human psychology. The first arrow that life sends our way is often beyond our control. Illness, separation, failure, betrayal, injustice, and unexpected loss are not experiences reserved for other people. They are part of life, and sooner or later, all of us are likely to encounter them.
The second arrow, however, is entirely different. It is not thrown by life but, more often than not, by ourselves. As thoughts such as "Why me?", "I never expected that from them," "If only I had acted differently," or "Nothing will ever be the same again" keep circling endlessly in our minds, we never allow the first wound to heal. Without realizing it, we recreate our own suffering.
In psychology, this process is known as rumination—the tendency to dwell repeatedly on painful experiences without moving toward resolution. Instead of solving the problem, the mind keeps reliving it. The event itself may already belong to the past, yet the mind continues dragging it into the present. In this way, what prolongs our suffering is often not the event itself, but our constant return to it.
Of course, choosing not to inflict the second arrow does not mean forgetting what happened or suppressing our emotions. It is entirely natural to feel sadness, anger, or grief. The key is not to allow these emotions to take control of the steering wheel of our lives. Healing begins not by erasing our experiences but by transforming our relationship with them.
In the end, the first arrow of life may strike any one of us. There is no way to avoid it completely. But whether we pick up the second arrow is our choice. We cannot change the past, but whether we allow the past to govern our present is entirely up to us.
Perhaps true wisdom lies not in living a life free of pain, but in learning not to add new pain to the pain that already exists. For what wounds us most deeply is often not the first arrow that life shoots at us, but the second arrow that we hurl with our own hands.
DON'T CHASE BUTTERFLIES-CULTIVATE YOUR GARDEN
"The world is not something to chase. Beautify yourself, and the world will find you."
-Rumi
There is an old story told in the Sufi tradition.
One day, a young dervish came to his spiritual master and poured out his heart.
"Master, why don't people like me? Why can't I find true friends? Why does everyone seem to keep their distance from me?"
Instead of answering, the master quietly stood up and motioned for the young man to follow him. Together they walked into the garden of the lodge.
One corner of the garden was filled with blooming roses. Butterflies floated gracefully among the blossoms while bees busily gathered nectar. A short distance away stood a patch of dry, thorny bushes. Not a single living creature came near them.
The master pointed to the roses and asked,
"Did these roses invite the butterflies?"
"No."
"Did they call the bees?"
"No."
"Then why are they here?"
The young dervish looked around once more.
"Because the roses are fragrant."
The master smiled gently.
"People are no different, my son. If you spend your life chasing butterflies, you will only exhaust yourself. But if you become a fragrant rose, they will find you without being called. First, cultivate your fragrance. That fragrance is your honesty, your character, your compassion, and your patience. People often connect with what they feel in you far more than with what they hear you say."
From that day on, the young dervish stopped trying to win people's approval. Instead, he devoted all his energy to improving himself. Years passed. This time, people sought him out. They traveled from distant places simply to sit with him and listen to his words.
One day, while standing together in the same garden, the master quietly said,
"Look, my son... You are no longer searching for butterflies, because your garden has become beautiful."
This simple story reveals a profound truth about life.
Many of us live believing that happiness, success, or peace is waiting somewhere outside ourselves. We imagine that earning more money will make us happy, that reaching a higher position will make us feel more valuable, or that receiving more recognition will fill the emptiness within us. Without realizing it, we spend our lives endlessly chasing one thing after another.
Nature, however, teaches a different lesson.
No gardener creates a beautiful garden by chasing butterflies with a net. No matter how tirelessly they run after them, the butterflies always remain just out of reach. But if the gardener cultivates the soil, patiently tends the flowers, nurtures the trees, and cares for the garden, the butterflies eventually arrive on their own. They need no invitation and no pursuit.
Human life works much the same way.
We often focus on outcomes, while life pays attention to causes. What we call success is usually the natural consequence of invisible foundations.
If we want to be trusted, we must first become trustworthy. If we expect respect, we must first learn to show respect. If we desire genuine friends, we must first become genuine friends ourselves. Lasting success rarely comes without discipline, patience, and a lifelong willingness to learn.
People do not merely hear our words; they sense who we are.
That is why character is such a quiet yet powerful force of attraction. Knowledge can impress. Talent can create opportunities. But character is what inspires trust. Ability may open doors, yet honesty, consistency, and reliability are what keep those doors open. Intelligence may bring temporary success, but enduring success is built upon character.
Remembering this truth has become increasingly difficult in today's world.
Social media constantly showcases other people's achievements. Advertising reminds us of everything we supposedly lack. A culture of relentless competition tells us we should always want more. As a result, we spend the time we should devote to cultivating our own garden chasing butterflies instead.
Yet genuine growth is often silent.
A seed remains invisible beneath the soil for a long time. No one applauds its struggle. Likewise, a bamboo tree appears to show almost no growth for years. But once its roots have grown deep enough, it rises toward the sky with astonishing speed.
Human growth follows the same pattern.
Every book we read, every new idea we learn, every skill we develop, every effort we sustain with patience, and every principle we refuse to abandon strengthens our invisible roots.
For that reason, it is far more meaningful to compare ourselves with who we were yesterday than with anyone else. The real competition is not with other people but with our own potential. If today we are a little wiser, a little more patient, a little more compassionate, a little more knowledgeable, and a little more honest than we were yesterday, then we are moving in the right direction.
Most of life's greatest treasures cannot be obtained by chasing them.
Trust cannot be bought; it is built over time. Respect cannot be demanded; it must be earned. Love cannot be forced; it grows through shared experience. Peace is not a prize waiting somewhere outside us but a climate we create within ourselves. Like flowers blooming in a well-tended garden, these are all the natural fruits of a carefully cultivated character.
Perhaps this is what truly happy people have in common.
They do not spend their entire lives trying to catch things. They focus on growing themselves, creating value, and being useful to others. Then, one day, they realize that the right people, the right opportunities, and genuine trust have quietly found them.
That is why the most important question in life is not,
"What do I want?"
The more important question is,
"What kind of person am I becoming?"
We may not achieve everything we desire. Life does not always meet our expectations. But the character we build, the values we choose to live by, and the kind of person we become are, to a great extent, within our control.
Perhaps that is what truly matters.
Stop chasing butterflies.
Cultivate your garden.
Because life ultimately reminds us of the same timeless truth:
We attract not merely what we desire, but who we are.
**Dogma’s sweet-talking**
Let evidence
lead you,
with its genuine smile,
into the light
of resonance.
Do not let dogma’s
sweet-talking bias
silence your reason
or persuade you
to embrace
the shadow
of dissonance.
Drawing By Gary C.
**Callus**
Our friendship is
the callus on our hands,
worn by the same labor,
unique as thumbprints.
Like brave soldiers,
we march in step,
our heartbeats keeping time.
When one of us calls,
midnight is never too late.
Trust formed slowly,
the way German shepherds bond,
until even the fog
became familiar,
a roughness that remains
long after the hands
forget the weight.
**Arrogant Bottom**
When your fluffy authority’s
chair gets rutted in autumn,
the most valuable voice
is never the flatterer.
As your ego balloons
into a public pageant,
it’s the one with the courage
to kick your arrogant bottom.
**Aggravating**
The super-rich
keep drifting and nesting,
cuddling and counting
in their forest of wealth.
They never ask for directions,
content to be lost.
Inside their own star-charts,
contemplating
the next private yacht vacation,
instead of letting
their hearts wander
somewhere,
picking blueberries
with blistered palms.
For them,
even imagining such a life
must be aggravating.
**Running Creek**
You are absolutely entitled
to your own opinion.
It’s personal, harmless,
and should flow freely
like a running creek.
But you are not entitled
to invent your own facts
to force its direction.
That just dams the water,
fills it with toxins,
changes the color of truth,
and turns you into a freak!
**With Wonder and Humility: An Open Letter in the Spirit of Carl Sagan**
Dedicated to Carl Sagan, scientist, educator, and fellow wanderer of the stars.
“We've arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.”
-Carl Sagan
Democracy requires an informed and engaged public capable of making rational decisions based on evidence not on emotion, misinformation, dogmatic party affiliation, or cult-like followings.
Yet, we find ourselves in an age where facts are dismissed, expertise is ridiculed, and critical thinking is traded for the fleeting attention of influencer culture and sensationalism.
The fragility of democracy lies not only in the institutions we build, but in the minds of the people who uphold them. Many of today’s problems are born from yesterday’s solutions, as technological leaps designed to make our lives easier have simultaneously birthed unprecedented global risks.
If we allow ignorance, fear, and tribalism to dictate our actions, we risk losing what generations before us struggled to achieve.
The cosmos reminds us of our smallness and our shared destiny on this pale blue dot a world that grows smaller as our divisions grow larger.
If we are to navigate the future, we must rekindle our reverence for knowledge and reason. Science offers not absolute truths, but a method for questioning and testing ideas a beacon to guide us through the darkness of ignorance. Without it, the dangers of authoritarianism, environmental collapse, and societal disintegration loom ever closer.
We must ask ourselves: do we want to be a civilization that looks up to the stars with curiosity and wonder, or one that tears itself apart over illusions of superiority and fear?
The choice, as always, is ours.
**Carl Sagan’s 1985 Congressional Testimony on Climate Change**
The hearing was held by a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee and examined how the greenhouse effect could alter the global climate and what solutions might be available.
We Are All in This Greenhouse Together
Carl Sagan’s Warning About Climate Change and Human Responsibility
Human beings have always altered their surroundings. For thousands of years, agriculture, deforestation, overgrazing, and settlement have changed landscapes and affected local climates. What is different today is the scale of our power.
As technology grows, so does our ability to transform the global environment, both deliberately and unintentionally. We have now reached a point at which human activity can significantly affect the climate and the ecosystems upon which civilization depends.
History offers many warnings. Egypt, once productive enough to serve as a breadbasket of the Roman Empire, no longer plays that role. Its transformation was not necessarily caused by the greenhouse effect, but it demonstrates that human beings are fully capable of producing vast and unexpected environmental changes.
The greatest difficulty is that these changes often unfold over periods longer than a single lifetime or political term. Because the consequences may not become fully visible for decades, people are tempted to declare that the problem belongs to someone else.
It is easy to say:
Not during my lifetime.
Not during my term of office.
Let the next century worry about it.
But climate change does not follow political calendars. Some environmental processes have long response times. By the time their consequences become unmistakable, the opportunity to prevent them may already have passed.
If we do not address such problems now, it may be too late to address them later. In this way, we pass grave dangers to our children and grandchildren while withholding from them the opportunity to prevent those dangers.
How the Greenhouse Effect Works
The Earth’s climate is powered primarily by sunlight.
Energy from the Sun reaches the planet, but not all of it is absorbed. Some sunlight is reflected back into space by clouds, ice, land, and other surfaces. The remaining energy warms the Earth.
The planet then releases energy back toward space in the form of infrared radiation. This radiation is invisible to the human eye, but it is as real as visible light.
If we calculated the Earth’s temperature only by comparing the sunlight it absorbs with the infrared energy it releases, the planet should be roughly 30 degrees Celsius colder than it actually is.
The reason it is warmer is the greenhouse effect.
Certain gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and halocarbons, absorb infrared radiation. Sunlight enters the atmosphere and warms the surface, but some of the heat attempting to escape is intercepted by these gases.
As a result, the surface must become warmer before the amount of energy leaving the planet can again balance the energy arriving from the Sun.
The greenhouse effect is therefore not inherently harmful. In fact, it makes life on Earth possible. Without it, much of the planet would remain below the freezing point of water, and the oceans would eventually become frozen.
A moderate greenhouse effect is essential.
The danger lies in disturbing its delicate balance.
Human beings are releasing enormous quantities of carbon dioxide through the burning of coal, oil, gas, and wood. Other greenhouse gases are produced through agriculture, fertilizers, refrigeration, industrial processes, and modern consumer products.
Each activity may appear ordinary or harmless when considered alone. Yet together they alter the composition of the atmosphere and influence the temperature of the entire planet.
What Other Planets Teach Us
The greenhouse effect is not merely an idea derived from Earth-based climate models. It can also be observed throughout the solar system.
Every planet with an atmosphere experiences some degree of greenhouse warming.
The most dramatic example is Venus.
Venus is similar to Earth in mass, size, and density, yet its surface temperature is approximately 470 degrees Celsius, or about 900 degrees Fahrenheit.
This extraordinary heat is not simply the result of Venus being closer to the Sun. The planet is covered by bright clouds that reflect a large amount of sunlight back into space. Without its atmosphere, Venus could actually be cooler than expected.
Its extreme temperature is caused by a massive greenhouse effect, driven largely by an atmosphere composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide.
Venus represents an extreme case, but it demonstrates what greenhouse gases can do.
Mars, Jupiter, and Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, offer additional examples involving different gases, atmospheric pressures, cloud systems, surface conditions, and levels of sunlight.
Scientists can calculate the greenhouse effects on these worlds and compare the predictions with spacecraft observations. When the same physical principles produce accurate results across several planets, our understanding of greenhouse warming becomes much more reliable.
Planetary exploration is therefore not disconnected from practical concerns on Earth. Studying the atmospheres of other worlds can help us better understand the possible future of our own.
Uncertainty Is Not an Excuse for Inaction
Not every detail of climate change is known with certainty.
Questions remain about clouds, aerosols, ocean circulation, feedback effects, and the rate at which different parts of the climate system respond to increasing greenhouse gases.
Further research is necessary.
However, uncertainty does not mean ignorance.
The general picture is already clear. Increasing the concentration of infrared-absorbing gases causes the planet to retain more heat. At the continued rate of fossil-fuel use, the Earth faces a substantial increase in average global temperature.
The consequences may include shifting regional climates, changes in rainfall, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, disruption of agriculture, and damage to coastal communities.
On longer timescales, the destabilization of major ice sheets could produce sea-level increases measured not merely in centimeters, but in meters.
The warning is already written on the wall.
More research may help us refine the details, but it should not become an excuse to postpone every meaningful response.
What Can Be Done?
An immediate end to fossil-fuel use would cause enormous economic disruption and would not be taken seriously by most governments. But this does not mean that nothing can be done.
Governments can reconsider subsidies that encourage excessive fossil-fuel consumption. Energy efficiency can be improved. Waste can be reduced. Public policy can reward cleaner technologies rather than protecting established sources of pollution.
Alternative energy sources can also play a larger role.
Solar energy offers significant possibilities. Nuclear fission, when designed and managed safely, can produce electricity without releasing carbon dioxide during operation. Fusion energy may offer another option in the longer term.
Each energy source has its own costs, risks, and technical challenges. Yet greenhouse pollution must be included honestly when those alternatives are compared.
The choice is not between solving the problem perfectly and doing nothing. The real choice is between reducing the danger while there is still time and allowing it to become progressively more difficult, expensive, and destructive.
A Problem Beyond Borders and Generations
Climate change is both an intergenerational problem and a global one.
No single country can solve it independently. Even if several industrial nations sharply reduce their emissions, rapidly developing countries may still increase the global use of coal, oil, and gas.
The United States, Russia, China, and other nations possess enormous fossil-fuel reserves. Developing countries understandably seek prosperity, industry, transportation, and electricity. Any workable climate solution must therefore include them rather than simply demanding sacrifice from a distance.
This requires wealthy nations to cooperate, share technology, finance cleaner development, and recognize that the atmosphere does not respect national borders.
Climate change may also affect regions differently. During its early stages, one area might temporarily benefit while another suffers severe losses. Some agricultural zones may shift. Some countries may experience more rain, while others face drought, flooding, or rising seas.
Managing such unequal consequences requires a level of international cooperation that humanity has rarely achieved.
It demands that nations look beyond narrow political interests, short election cycles, and accidental divisions of nationality.
The Need for a Global Consciousness
The deepest challenge is not merely technological. It is a challenge of perspective.
We must learn to think beyond the generation into which we were born, beyond the borders surrounding us, and beyond the political groups with which we identify.
Climate change asks us to consider people we will never meet, children who have not yet been born, and communities far beyond our own countries.
It asks whether we are capable of protecting a future from which we may receive no personal reward.
The solution requires a global consciousness, a way of seeing ourselves not merely as citizens of separate nations, but as members of a single species sharing one fragile world.
We may disagree about politics, economics, religion, and culture. We may live under different governments and speak different languages. Yet the atmosphere belongs to none of us individually and surrounds all of us equally.
The perspective required is planetary.
The responsibility is intergenerational.
And the truth is unavoidable:
We are all in this greenhouse together.
The article can also be shortened into an 800-word publication version while keeping the central scientific explanation and Sagan’s closing message.
**We Left the Telescopes Open**
We left the telescopes open
To clear the mind,
To shine into the dark corners,
To widen the lens,
To face the stubborn questions.
We left the telescopes open-
From the scientists of the past
To today’s flat-earth dreamers-
Those baptized by digital influencers
And scroll-fed fantasists-
Need sharper tools
To wake from sugarcoated daydreams.
We left the telescopes open
So justice might weep-
For the death of education,
For the silence of thought-
The lifeboat of progress-
Not dragged by anchors of fear,
By narrow-minded, selfish crooks.
And if one of you digs
For a golden calf
Beneath the belly of a black ox,
May your footing hold-
May you not lose your way,
Worshipping shadows
Never cast by truth,
Not even revealed
By science’s reflective flames.
### VISION OF SUCCESS
Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman TANRIOGEN
_“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."_
— Helen Keller.
There is a reciprocal relationship between success and living a happy and qualified life. Success is the key to a happy life, and a happy life is also a factor in achieving success. Like happiness, success can be defined as reaching a predetermined goal through an effective process of actions. The scope of success expands and becomes more complex-from individuals to groups, organizations, governments, and systems.
Being successful-that is, achieving one's goals-is one of the paths to happiness for all individuals living in this society. In order to reach a happier life and a more fulfilling career, it is necessary to discover the ways to succeed and walk those paths with confident steps.
In the thousands of personal development books available, various methods and strategies are suggested and explained to help individuals achieve success. It is impossible to list all these methods and strategies here. However, at the starting point of all processes that lead people to success lies a significant force: “a vision of success”.
If you want to be successful-and consequently lead a happy life-the first thing you must do is develop a vision of success.
Although there are many different definitions of vision, the common point in all of them is that vision represents a long-term goal or a set of goals. One definition poetically describes vision as “seeing the masterpiece while you are mixing the paints.’.” Vision is like a compass; it is the advance planning of the steps people will take in life.
Vision enables people to focus on their goals and commit to them. However, creating a vision alone is not enough. Even if you develop the most beautiful vision in the world, it means nothing if you cannot turn it into reality. As a Japanese proverb emphasizes: "A vision without action is a dream; action without vision is a nightmare."
It is essential to put your vision of success into practice step by step. Think deeply about what you truly desire and set goals for yourself. Focusing on the goal you have defined in your vision-and not losing sight of it-will empower the efforts you make in line with that vision.
Since vision involves long-term goals, reaching those goals all at once is not always possible. Breaking long-term goals into smaller, short-term sub-goals and achieving them step by step is a more rational approach. Remember: you cannot eat a whale all at once, but a person can consume several elephants' worth of meat over a lifetime.
Turning vision into reality is one of the key indicators of success. However, this vision should not be a copy of someone else's-it must be shaped by your own expectations, needs, and personal philosophy of life.
Turtles on the Pole
A village doctor was stitching up a cut on an old farmer’s hand - an injury from a slamming door. As they chatted, the conversation turned to the villagers’ favorite topic: politics and politicians.
With a sly smile, the old man said,
“Most politicians I know are like turtles on a pole.”
The Parable
Intrigued, the doctor asked,
“What do you mean by that?”
The farmer gazed into the distance and replied:
“If you’re walking down a country road and see a turtle perched on top of a fence post,
you know one thing for certain: it didn’t get up there by itself.
It doesn’t belong there.
It’s stranded far above its ability to do any useful work,
with no idea what to do next.
All you can do is wonder who put it there - and what they could possibly have been thinking.”
But this is more than a witty anecdote. It is a perfect metaphor for the system we live in.
The Modern Reflection
Today, in bureaucracies, institutions, and even universities, we encounter these “turtles on poles” every day.
They are people who rise not through merit, but by stepping on others; who are promoted through political connections, nepotism, or blind loyalty; who remain in place not because they are competent, but out of obligation to the ones who placed them there.
The real problem, however, lies not only with the turtles but with the hands that put them there. The issue is a mindset that values loyalty over competence and protects individuals instead of institutions.
The Principle of Trust
In a just system, a position of authority is not a privilege but a sacred trust. When this trust is given to the “incompetent yet ambitious” under the guise of “he’s one of us,” the outcome is inevitable:
“The poles will be crowded with turtles, while the ground below lies empty.”
True leadership is not about leaning on others, but about climbing through one’s own sweat, effort, knowledge, and experience.
A Lesson Remembered
This brings to mind a piece of wisdom I heard from a colleague nearly thirty years ago - words I still carry with gratitude:
“Do not lean on a man, he dies; do not lean on a tree, it withers.”
It is not the turtles stranded on their poles, but those with their feet firmly on the ground - those who earn their place through genuine ability - who truly contribute to their country.
The Question for Us All
And so, we must ask ourselves:
“Which turtles have we placed on the poles - and why do we still allow them to stay there?”
Truth Hurts, but It’s Brutally Beautiful
In the smallest particles,
With shining light,
It slips through stone walls,
Iron gates, and barriers.
Even from tanks,
Machine guns,
The most secure vaults,
And encrypted hard drives,
Truth escapes,
Emerging from the darkness.
It cannot stay hidden for long;
Eventually, it steps into daylight.
It tells its story with courage,
With clarity,
Revealing the difficult journey,
The fear of speaking out,
Without prejudice,
And without seeking the spotlight.
For all of humanity,
Truth calls to us-
To cast aside our blinders,
Those foggy lenses of luxury,
And seek a brighter vision.
Let us offer a better way:
A light of kindness,
Empathy and fairness.
That surpasses all human limits,
Guiding us to live in harmony,
Reassured by the justice of brighter lights.
- Mark D.
Tree Rings in Humans
When you meet someone from your past, something subtle happens.
You notice more than their face or their body.
You notice the rings they have grown.
Trees record their lives in rings.
Wide rings show abundance.
Narrow rings reveal hardship or drought.
Each layer is proof of a season survived.
Humans do not record our years in wood, yet we carry rings too.
They form in behavior, memory, and the quiet architecture of the mind.
Neural pathways shift.
Values evolve.
Experience shapes structure.
This is why reconnecting after many years reveals more than physical change.
You are witnessing the accumulated results of a person’s inner seasons.
Some people arrive with new patience in their voice, new steadiness in their presence,
a softness earned through reflection or hardship.
You sense that life worked on them, and they allowed it.
Their rings have grown wide.
Others return unchanged.
Their stories feel stalled.
Their thinking holds the same shape it did long ago.
Time moved, but nothing within them moved with it.
They have lived inside the same ring for years.
Growth shows itself in emotional balance, empathy, and the ability to hold complexity
without retreating to old patterns.
Stagnation reveals itself through rigidity, repetition, and reflexive certainty.
Humans form quiet rings through honesty, humility, and the decisions we make when no one is watching.
Each ring marks a year survived, a lesson absorbed, a truth carried forward.
When someone has grown, connection feels renewed.
Conversation feels rooted.
You meet them again as if for the first time.
You recognize not only who they were, but who they have become.
The science is clear: the brain remains capable of growth throughout life,
but only when we meet challenge,
reflection, and discomfort with openness.
So the question rises, both gentle and serious:
Are you adding new rings each year, rings that show adaptation, wisdom, and emotional strength?
And are you creating conditions that help others grow their rings too?
Because growth always leaves a trace.
And the rings we cannot see often tell the truest story of who we are becoming.
“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.” Thomas Jefferson
The concepts of justice and equality form the foundation of a society. These concepts play a crucial role in the development of both individuals and communities. However, there is a subtle and complex distinction between justice and equality. While justice may require treating individuals differently based on their needs and circumstances, equality advocates treating everyone the same. But is treating the unequal as equals a fair solution, or is it a deep misconception of justice?
**The Difference Between Equality and Justice**
Equality aims to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities. However, because people have different abilities, needs, and starting points, treating everyone equally does not always lead to fair outcomes. For example, in a race, starting everyone from the same line might represent equality, but if some participants are running on a path filled with obstacles, it puts them at a disadvantage. In this case, treating everyone as equals without removing the obstacles would not be fair.
Justice, on the other hand, requires taking into account people's different needs, circumstances, and backgrounds. Justice not only aims to provide equal opportunities for everyone but also ensures that the necessary resources are available for individuals to truly benefit from those opportunities. For example, building a ramp for a person with a physical disability to access a building is a demonstration of justice. In this case, rather than treating everyone equally, it is necessary to consider differences.
**Disadvantages of Treating Everyone Equally**
Treating those who are not equal as if they were can sometimes cause disadvantaged groups in society to fall even further behind. This is particularly evident in education and the business world. For example, if the same teaching methods are applied to all students in a classroom, some may struggle to understand the instruction due to learning difficulties or language barriers. While providing the same material to every student may appear to be an equal approach, ignoring differences in learning is not fair.
Similarly, in the business world, subjecting everyone to the same working conditions might seem like equality, but it may not be fair for individuals with different life circumstances and responsibilities. An employee with children may need flexible working hours, while an employee without children may not have this need. Evaluating both employees in the same way can lead to unfairness, particularly for those with greater responsibilities.
**What Should a Fair Approach Look Like?**
Creating a fair society involves understanding individual differences and developing policies that encompass these differences. This requires not treating everyone the same, but rather supporting each individual according to their needs. Recognizing diversity and building a sense of fairness around these differences in education, business, and social life will, in the long term, create a more balanced and sustainable society.
The path to creating a fair society lies in understanding individual differences and developing policies that embrace these differences. This requires not that every individual be treated the same, but that each is supported according to their needs. Recognizing diversity and building a sense of justice based on these differences in education, business, and social life will, in the long run, create a more balanced and sustainable society.
Being fair does not always mean treating everyone the same way. Sometimes, fairness requires offering individuals different opportunities and resources by considering their unique differences. While treating unequal individuals as if they are equal might seem to maintain social order in the short term, this approach can lead to greater inequality and injustice in the long run.
In conclusion, treating unequal individuals as if they are equal may seem straightforward and logical on the surface. However, a deeper look reveals that this approach is actually the opposite of fairness. Each person has different needs, abilities, and experiences; therefore, it is necessary to develop a sense of justice that acknowledges and considers these differences rather than treating everyone the same. A fair society is one that not only offers equal opportunities to everyone but also provides the necessary support to enable them to truly make use of these opportunities.
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
**Santa Claus Isn’t Coming Down the Chimney**
Isn’t there an age
of intellectual maturity
when the loud-mouthed attorney
of your biases
finally loses the case,
when the long-guarded defense
begins to crack,
and you no longer need to litigate
the obvious?
Nor do you need to call around
for a detoxed new kidney.
You begin to loosen
the inherited knots,
turning over the objects
placed in your hands
before you were old enough
to feel their weight.
A heavy collection
of relics begins to fade.
It is another
coming of age:
the quiet realization
that Santa Claus
isn’t coming
down the chimney.
Breaking free from the grip of cognitive dissonance marks a moment of profound growth. It’s an intellectual coming-of-age where critical thinking takes center stage, and the allure of conspiracy begins to fade. Much like the first time I questioned the myths passed down by family, Santa Claus, magical tales,
I came to understand how easily belief shapes perception. This awakening is both liberating and humbling, revealing the fragility of inherited truths.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson highlights that about 93% of highly accomplished scientists in the National Academy of Sciences reach this level of intellectual maturity. Their insights aren’t driven by self-serving prophecies but by a commitment to advancing outstanding science for the benefit of humanity.
Isn't it sad, though, that members of the National Academy of Sciences have broken free from constraints and can now perceive the full spectrum of light, understanding its effects and complexities? Meanwhile, the rest of us remain trapped in a limited understanding, overshadowed by narrow beliefs that serve the interests of the elites.
Imagine a world where everyone possesses this capacity for critical thinking. How would human interactions evolve? How much further could society advance? It’s an inspiring vision-a dream worth waking up to.
This journey isn’t about rejecting tradition but transcending it. It’s about seeking understanding rooted in reason and evidence. True maturity lies in the fearless embrace of complexity and the courage to question even the comforting stories that shaped us.
To My Adopted Nation
Are you listening,
My chosen, adopted nation?
Do not intimidate me
With lion-growling might-
But with the quiet strength
Of evolving humility
And the steady pulse of patience.
Not with the bark
Of stagnant commands,
But with your measured breath,
Your sky-honest reflection,
Unaffected by tyrants,
Nor by digital illusions.
The whole world is watching.
History leans forward.
The Titanic plays again-
And the lifeboat of hope drifts
On open water,
Its passengers nervous,
Struggling to fine-tune
Their uncertain navigation.
We do not wish to crash,
Nor to sink
Into the fading memory
Of nations once adored-
Once loved
By the like-minded,
Their loyalty now in question.
Be the land that builds
Not more superweapons,
But super hearts.
Let the weapons sleep.
Let them fall silent.
Awaken-
Not for conquest,
But for the turning tide.
Not to rise in dominance,
But to settle-
Free from greed,
Free from arrogance.
Like the deep ocean:
Vast.
Calm.
Still-
Holding, in its fathoms,
The fractured glow
Of our unfinished redemption.
**Time to Say Goodbye!**
If it’s a privilege to be by your side,
Can I ask to leave with dignity, no ego, no pride?
I know you cherish me, you’ve cared through the years,
But my pain weighs heavy and brings you to tears.
I can’t see or hear like I used to,
Life isn’t joyful, and I don’t want to burden you.
My love may blind you to how I feel,
Let’s not mix devotion with this heavy deal.
I’m terrified when you leave, so lonely and scared,
Pretending I’m fine, though I’m truly impaired.
I feel so worthless, my body so weak,
Yet I still crave your love, more than I can speak.
My legs can’t hold me, and hope’s out of sight,
The sooner I go, the more it feels right.
You’ll share your love with a new pup someday,
Please let me leave with grace, come what may.
Thank you for being my friend and my home,
I’ll cherish our moments wherever I roam.
Though I’m fading, my spirit will stay,
Remember the laughter and joy we shared each day.
I’m so grateful for you, my dear, loyal friend,
All journeys must end, but our love won’t end,
So please don’t cry, and don’t feel alone
I’ll always be with you, forever your own.
**Think Again About Them.**
If you think
Dictators,
Narcissists and crooks
will change,
Think again.
Wonder why.
You may have to wait a lifetime.
It’s scary that you’re even holding on.
You have fascination
And admiration from them.
It won’t be easy to say goodbye.
It’s never enough.
They won’t share
Power and money, glitz and glamour,
The never-ending sweet pie.
They need the adrenaline rush,
They’re hooked on flying high.
A crook and a crooked spine,
Have a lot in common.
But one of them is a lie.
And both straighten
When they die.
- Mark D.
**The most beautiful people**
In the world are those with generous
Hearts and reasonable minds.
Unlike greedy billionaires
And narcissistic dictators,
Their love is endless,
Their word is, like summer rain,
Their touch, a silky wind.
Light falls from their steps,
And the earth blooms into spring.
The most beautiful people in the world
Hold the sun in their souls.
Tenderness flows from their hands
Like a quiet running river,
Always ready to give and share,
Whether it’s a meal,
Their time, or their kindness.
True richness blooms in selflessness,
Not in the void of heart’s deep emptiness.
The View from the Fluffy Chair
Self-serving politicians,
Blinded by the glare of partisan optics,
Scanning the horizon for enemies.
Lost in the gulf of distance,
They forget where the common path once lay-
Beneath their feet: the soil, not the gilded chill
Of floors lined with remedies.
They could have tasted it-
The sterile chill of waiting rooms,
The sting of a missed prescription.
They could have felt the pulse of need,
Not bowed to billionaires.
No kitchen-table talk,
No shared laughter over a movie’s plot,
Not even a simple walk.
And in the center-the prize:
A leather throne,
A flood of credit and perks,
Coverage aging like a bottle of wine,
Sealed with cork,
Comfort that numbs,
With oligarch protection.
A feast of influence and insulation.
The taste-too sweet to forget.
They have everything;
We watch.
We learn.
We take notes.
“What do you have?” they ask.
“You have nothing.
You are nothing.
You build nothing.”
Citizens reduced to currency-
Fuel for the grinding gears of power.
Work them hard, confuse and drain,
A blind sprint toward control
That scorches the hands
That once lit the flame.
They run with horse blinders on,
Hyped on steroids of pride.
And when the chariot’s wheel flies off-
For lack of grace or guidance-
They’ll blame the horses,
Call them “unruly,”
To hide behind their pretense.
From the comfort of that fluffy chair,
They sculpt the angle, polish the frame,
Wrap their lies in thought’s disguise.
They twist the truth
Until the breath of reason caves in.
They need money-some gold and some cash.
Beneath the silk and camera blink,
Their flaws are covered without rush.
So the message is clear:
Don’t tell them
You’re old and tired,
Or poor or sick.
You’re just data
In someone’s game.
Whatever you say
Is sorted and scored-
The algorithms of doubt
Assigning you to blame.
Let the people’s debt roll,
A snowball gathering weight.
Let rust gather on the plow.
Let bridges crumble.
Let the innocents wait.
“The basket of deplorables.”
“The enemies within.”
Let them go hungry.
Let their schools decay.
Let their sneakers gather the mud of their stories.
Then, obedient citizens,
Invite them to our election rallies.
They forget:
Once power and glamour
Slip beneath their skin,
They fall into conflict-
No need for caution,
Pursuing holy grails
With mirror’s fascination.
Life inside a power bubble,
Lined with velvet walls.
Flying high,
The air grows thin-
A predictable script:
A slow suffocation.
Ego, money, power-rooted deep.
“I will not give this up,” they whisper.
“I will conjure ghosts for you to fear.
I will parse the truth until it serves me.
The people’s work can wait-
This chair is mine to keep.”
Politics: a short season.
Humanity: a marathon for life.
We, the people,
Fall and rise together-
A few flames of greed
Against the commons’ resilience.
“What do you have?”
Fluffy chairs,
Guns and tanks-in thousands.
You’ll meet the strength
Of working hands-
In millions.
Happiness may appear
In the bite of an unfamiliar mango,
Taste the sour and sweet today.
It is not from yesterday,
Nor will it linger until tomorrow.
It blooms in the stumble,
In the steps you did not know,
As you lean into the rhythm
Of an unfamiliar tango.
The teacher of my dreams
does not arrive untouched by life.
They come carrying real mornings,
long nights,
and memories shaped by struggle.
They know what it means to grow up with less,
to feel absence at the dinner table,
to learn resilience before comfort.
Because they have walked through hardship,
they recognize it in others.
They see it in a child’s silence,
in a notebook left unfinished,
in clothes worn thin,
in eyes that try to stay brave.
This teacher sees you.
Not just your grades,
but your heartbeat.
They hear you speak,
and they hear you when you cannot.
In your handwriting,
in your posture,
in the brief pause before you answer.
They do not interrogate.
They invite.
They ask your story with kindness.
What weighs on you today?
What excites you?
What frightens you?
What dream have you not yet said out loud?
They lift without judgment.
They guide without force.
Their words become a quiet ladder
you climb at your own pace.
Their presence says,
I believe in you,
even when you do not yet believe in yourself.
They do not rely on flashing screens
or loud promises.
They teach through patience,
through imagination,
through chalk-dusted hope
and stories that open windows in the mind.
They show that effort matters,
that curiosity is powerful,
that learning is not a race but a becoming.
They understand that technology can assist,
but compassion transforms.
That data can inform,
but love ignites.
That nothing can replace
the steady power of a human heart
choosing to care.
And so,
the teacher of my dreams
stands as proof that when you are seen,
you are given the wings of a dove.
Observant mentors shelter us,
like sun and ocean held above.
Empathy transforms lives,
and education,
at its best,
is practiced
as an act of love.
Play The Song "The Teacher of My Dreams"
### **The Benefits of Self-Disclosure**
One of the factors that contribute to developing effective interpersonal relationships with the friends we live or work with is self-disclosure. Before defining what self-disclosure is, it would be more appropriate to define what it is not.
---
### **What is Not Self-Disclosure?**
Self-disclosure is not about providing information to others such as "how old we are," "where we were born," "what foods we like," "which schools we attended," or "which sports team we support."
Sharing such information with others is considered self-description rather than self-disclosure.
The information shared for the purpose of self-description is typically not private and can easily be obtained from other sources. Since this type of information is not confidential, it is accessible even if the person does not explicitly reveal it. Moreover, these details do not carry any risk, as they do not expose the individual to blame or criticism. No one can judge or accuse you based on such personal facts.
---
### **What is Self-Disclosure?**
On the other hand, self-disclosure refers to expressing “what we think,” “what we feel,” and “what we want” to others. It is a communication process in which a person shares information about themselves that they have kept hidden, verbally conveying their feelings, needs, and self-awareness to another person.
The information shared through self-disclosure is unique to the individual and cannot be learned through other means unless revealed by the person themselves. For instance, your thoughts about your manager, your biases regarding a political party, or your opinions on certain legal regulations being considered in your country could become dangerous information if used against you. Therefore, self-disclosure carries more risk compared to self-description.
However, when self-disclosure is done at the right time, in the right place, and in appropriate ways, it can play a crucial role in fostering strong and healthy human relationships. For instance, if there is a rift between you and a close friend that you cannot understand, opening up to your friend may prevent the estrangement and strengthen your bond. Similarly, if you share your discomfort about the mistreatment of homeless individuals in your community with a friend or group-expressing your feelings and thoughts-you may find support from those who share the same sentiments. This support could lead to taking positive steps toward solving the issue.
---
### Benefits of Self-Disclosure
Clearly and openly sharing what you think, feel, and want-essentially, engaging in self-disclosure-offers four key benefits:
1. Effective communication
2. Reduction of stress
3. Facilitating self-awareness
4. Building strong relationships
---
### 1. Self-Disclosure Leads to Healthier and More Accurate Communication
The effectiveness of communication depends on the individuals involved having realistic information about one another. When people attempt to communicate based on guesses or their own perceptions rather than actual information, effective communication becomes nearly impossible. If we lack clear and accurate information about others, we are forced to rely on our perceptions, which can be misleading.
To establish healthy communication with those around us, we must implement an appropriate and accurate self-disclosure process.
For example, instead of sitting in silence with a sullen expression when faced with a situation that bothers you, if you express your feelings about the issue appropriately to the people involved, you can initiate a more effective communication process and find a quicker resolution to the problem.
Communication based on assumptions is not effective communication. Effective communication is built on accurate information and data. Therefore, to avoid misunderstandings and rumors, it is beneficial to carefully disclose your feelings and thoughts to those around you.
---
### 2. Self-Disclosure Reduces Stress
Stress is a force or stimulus that creates tension, leading to pressure and physical strain. An increase in stress levels can negatively impact a person’s performance in both professional and social life and, at times, even harm their health. It is not difficult to predict that individuals who keep all their feelings, thoughts, problems, likes, and dislikes to themselves-rather than sharing them-will experience higher stress levels.
The renowned psychologist Sidney Jourard states that placing excessive importance on privacy and hiding emotions can lead to stress. Those who continually suppress their feelings and thoughts are likely to experience increased internal tension, which threatens their overall well-being.
Thus, constructive and healthy self-disclosure can reduce stress levels by relieving the internal pressure caused by unexpressed emotions and thoughts.
---
### 3. Self-Disclosure Helps Individuals Know Themselves
When a person shares information about themselves through self-disclosure, they have the opportunity to receive feedback from others. Feedback from one’s environment enables a person to better understand themselves. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between self-disclosure and self-awareness.
---
### 4. Self-Disclosure Leads to Stronger Relationships
The likelihood of developing healthier relationships is higher among individuals who engage in appropriate self-disclosure. Sharing feelings and thoughts clearly and openly helps people understand each other better.
The key here is to ensure that emotions and thoughts are conveyed accurately during the process of self-disclosure. As John Powell (1969) states in his book Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?:
"A person who builds friendships based on insincere and dishonest relationships is constructing them on sand. Such relationships will never withstand challenging times, and neither party will benefit from them" (p. 77).
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
> **Weapons of the Ignorant**
>
>
>
> Hate is
>
> one of the lightest
>
> and most effective weapons
>
> of the ignorant.
>
>
>
> They lack the curiosity to see
>
> why life's complexity sparks,
>
> nor do they notice
>
> the color of wonders.
>
>
>
> They draw borders
>
> in black and white.
>
>
>
> Carrying a brain
>
> as a weapon
>
> is too heavy a burden
>
> for their narrow shoulders.
>
>
When one’s brain is naively empty,
The mind is self serving, can't offer empathy.
It cannot throw up undigestible data,
Like a stomach does,
Nor label or judge, what’s known as dirty.
When the mind is closed off, it often prioritizes itself over others, losing the ability to connect deeply and offer empathy. Unlike the stomach, which can expel what doesn't serve it, the mind tends to hold onto harmful or distorted ideas, labeling and judging without question. This rigidity blinds us to perspectives that challenge our comfort zones.
True growth comes when we allow ourselves to examine these thoughts critically, letting go of biases and embracing the discomfort of self-awareness. Empathy isn’t automatic it’s a skill that requires us to listen, reflect, and open our hearts to others. Only then can we create meaningful connections and contribute positively to the world.
Victor Hugo once said, "Forgiveness is the sweetest word in the language of humanity." If a colleague, a friend, or a family member apologizes to you, accept it right away. However, forgiving—especially when you’ve been misunderstood or treated very unfairly—is not always easy. Forgiveness is a declaration that resentment and anger have come to an end. "To hold on to anger toward someone is like poisoning your own heart. Every time you recall the injustice done to you, you send more poison to your heart." (Nelton, 1995).
Forgiveness also has a liberating effect on your energy and creativity. The following story highlights how important a virtue forgiveness truly is:
> One day, a high school teacher made an offer to his students during class: "Would you like to take part in a life experiment?" The students eagerly accepted their beloved teacher’s offer without hesitation. "In that case," said the teacher, "promise me that you will do whatever I ask from now on." The students agreed to this as well. "Now, prepare for tomorrow’s assignment. Tomorrow, each of you will bring a plastic bag and five kilos of potatoes!"
>
> The students didn’t really understand the purpose of this task. However, the next morning, each of them had potatoes and bags ready on their desks. Looking at his curious students, the teacher said, "Now, for each person you’ve refused to forgive until today, take a potato, write that person’s name on it, and place it in the bag." While some students put three or five potatoes into their bags, others’ bags were almost completely full.
>
> The teacher, noticing the students looking at him as if to ask, "So, what happens now?" gave his second instruction: "For one week, wherever you go, you will carry these bags with you. In your bed, on the bus, on your desk at school—they will always be by your side." A week passed. As soon as the teacher entered the classroom, the students who had followed his instructions began to complain: “Teacher, carrying such a heavy bag everywhere is very difficult."
>
> "Teacher, the potatoes have started to smell. Honestly, people are starting to give me strange looks."
>
> "We’re both bored and tired."
>
> The teacher smiled and gave his students this lesson: "As you can see, by not forgiving, we are actually punishing ourselves. We condemn ourselves to carry heavy burdens in our hearts. We think of forgiveness as a favor to the other person, but in reality, forgiveness is a kindness we do for ourselves first and foremost."
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
A sincere apology has a healing power. If we have hurt someone with our actions and caused them harm, the best course of action for healthy human relationships is to apologize. We must remember that a heartfelt apology can help resolve the issue at hand and contribute to more effective relationships in the future. However, unfortunately, we can argue that apologizing is not a very common behavior in most societies. There is a widespread belief that people who apologize are “weak.” We often fall into the trap of thinking that by apologizing, we are compromising ourselves and will be perceived as weak. Yet, the habit of apologizing is actually a trait of strong personalities. When we decide to apologize to someone, the best approach is to approach them directly and disclose ourselves to them. It is wise to find a quiet and peaceful place where we won’t be disturbed, and take responsibility for the behavior that requires an apology. Often, we see people making mistakes while apologizing to each other. Apologizing is not something that should be brushed off lightly. There are certain points to be mindful of and apply during the process of apologizing. The characteristics of an effective apology are: (1) acknowledgment, (2) taking responsibility, (3) providing an explanation, and (4) offering to make amends.
In the process of apologizing, we must first acknowledge that we have hurt, upset, or caused harm to the person we are apologizing to. We should express this with statements like, “I realize that I hurt you when I did that or said those words,” “I see that I unintentionally upset you,” or “I understand that I caused you harm by acting that way.” The aim of this step is to help calm and soothe the person who is understandably angry with us. Ending the apology process here, however, is insufficient. Secondly, we must take responsibility for the negative situation at hand. A statement like, "I know that you were hurt when I said/did that" is a way of acknowledging your responsibility. By accepting responsibility in any situation, you are essentially conveying to those around you that you are "willing to accept any consequence" In this context, by taking responsibility, you are sending the message "I am the one who caused the strain in our relationship" thereby expressing a desire to restore the relationship to its previous state.
People don’t make all their mistakes with bad intentions. Sometimes, due to circumstances beyond our control, we might behave inappropriately or say something that goes beyond our intended meaning. For this reason, in the third stage of apologizing, we should offer an "explanation." An example of an explanation might be: “When I said/did that, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I only wanted to say/do….” A statement like this emphasizes that you were not acting with ill intent and did not wish to put the other person in a difficult situation. It proves that you were not making a calculated attack against them.
Finally, the process moves to the "compensation" stage. Here, phrases like, “I will never act this way again/you will never hear such words from me again/what can I do to make it up to you?” are appropriate. Offering to make amends shows that you don’t want to lose the other person, that you want to restore the friendship as it once was, and that you wish to make reparations for any harm caused.
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
**THE GREATNESS OF THE HEART**
What does it mean to be strong, in your opinion?
For some, strength means having muscles; for others, it means a hard punch or holding authority…
Yet real strength is often the quietest thing: “It can be hidden in a glance, a smile, or a tear.”
The story of African-American actor Michael Clarke Duncan, whom most of us remember tearfully from the 1999 film The Green Mile, is the embodiment of that truth.
Before being nominated for an Oscar and moving millions to tears, he was a burly laborer digging ditches for a gas company in Chicago.
He was strong, imposing… yet shy.
His mother, who raised him alone, always whispered the same words into his ear:
“Your height is God’s gift, but your true strength is the kindness in your heart.”
For years, he worked as a nightclub bouncer.
He prevented many fights, protected many celebrities.
While guarding other people’s bodies, he dreamed that one day he would touch souls on the big screen.
But no one believed in him.
“Too big,” they said.
“Too soft,” they said.
It is said that one day during the filming of Armageddon, Bruce Willis saw him crying.
It wasn’t part of a role—
it was a tear born of real pain.
At that moment, Bruce realized he had found his John Coffey—the character Duncan would later portray in The Green Mile:
A man giant in appearance, yet as pure and gentle as a child at heart.
The tears in The Green Mile were all real.
Michael wasn’t acting—he was remembering.
Perhaps his mother’s words.
Perhaps the condescending looks.
Perhaps the weight of being misunderstood.
In an interview, he once said:
“What matters in life is not how big you are, but how well you treat others.”
And John Coffey’s unforgettable line seemed to echo his own voice:
“The world’s a strange place, boss. There’s so much pain, so much hate. It’s like I’m breathing it in a little more every day.”
When he passed away in 2012, the world didn’t mourn his muscles—it mourned his soul.
Because sometimes the greatest ones are also the most fragile.
And sometimes a giant doesn’t need to roar.
From digging ditches to being nominated for an Oscar, Michael Clarke Duncan showed that the greatness of the heart can overcome any obstacle.
And his mother’s compass never changed:
“Your height is a gift, but your true strength is kindness.”
Michael Clarke Duncan’s story teaches us three things:
True strength is kindness. It’s not about crushing others—it’s about easing their burdens.
Believing in your dreams takes courage. The word “impossible” exists only to push our limits.
Vulnerability is not weakness. Your tears don’t make you smaller—they make you human.
And perhaps what we all need most today is precisely this:
More compassion.
More understanding.
More humanity.
On October 1, 2025, the world lost not only a great scientist, but also one of the rare voices who endowed science with a conscience. When Jane Goodall’s life journey-begun in London on April 3, 1934-came to an end, what remained was far more than numbers, charts, and academic papers. She left behind a powerful moral legacy that compels us to rethink humanity’s relationship with nature, animals, and our own inner voice. She was a sage who could unite knowledge with compassion and science with responsibility.
A Different Path to Science
What made Jane Goodall extraordinary was that she did not enter science using conventional keys. When she went to Gombe National Park in Tanzania in 1960 without any academic title, she carried with her only curiosity, patience, and deep respect. Her years of quiet observation revealed that chimpanzees use tools, form complex social relationships, and display emotional responses such as affection, rivalry, and even violence. These findings fundamentally challenged the long-held belief that the qualities defining humanity belong exclusively to humans. Goodall showed how fragile the thick line drawn between humans and animals truly is.
Science as Stewardship
Yet to remember Jane Goodall merely as a great scientist would be to tell only part of her story. She was a symbolic figure who viewed science not as a display of power, but as a field of responsibility. She persistently emphasized that humanity’s relationship with nature is not about domination, but about stewardship. She reminded us that humans do not stand against nature, but exist within it and alongside it. In doing so, she brought together the cold objectivity of science with profound moral sensitivity.
Education: Awakening Empathy
Goodall’s ideas also resonate strongly in the field of education. For her, the purpose of education is not merely to transmit knowledge, but to cultivate awareness. Education should nurture empathy, curiosity, and a sense of responsibility. She argued that children should learn about nature not by memorizing pages from books, but by experiencing and observing it directly. In education, students should be taught not what to think, but how to think. This approach is especially powerful in values education and experiential learning. Through education, humans should come to realize that they are not masters of nature, but its trustees.
Ethics Beyond Anthropocentrism
Jane Goodall’s ethical perspective constitutes a clear and courageous critique of human-centered (anthropocentric) thinking. In her view, humans are not the pinnacle of nature, but an inseparable part of it. Power does not grant the right to exploit; it imposes the responsibility to protect. Animals, too, have pain, emotions, and social bonds, and this reality confronts humanity with a serious ethical reckoning.
“It is not how much we dominate nature, but how much we protect it, that makes us human.”
Leadership and Hope
This approach serves as a strong moral reference point in the fields of animal rights, environmental ethics, and scientific ethics. Her understanding of leadership is another dimension that sets Goodall apart. She does not define leadership as speaking loudly, but as maintaining a quiet yet determined moral stance. Leadership, for her, is not about imposing power, but about inspiring others. Change does not flow from the top down; it begins at the grassroots. By viewing young people not as passive listeners but as active agents of change, this approach forms the ethical foundation of the transformational leadership model widely discussed today.
Responsible Hope
When it comes to environmental awareness, Goodall does not rely on a language of fear and catastrophe. What she advocates instead is “responsible hope.” Hope is not a passive expectation, but a call to action. She believes that small individual steps can become the starting point of great collective transformations. She sees young people not as helpless victims of the environmental crisis, but as strong actors in the solution. The idea that “there is no hope without action” provides a powerful moral foundation for sustainability education.
Jane Goodall’s legacy today lives not only in scientific texts, but in the human conscience itself. She taught us that knowing alone is not enough; understanding, feeling, and taking responsibility are inseparable parts of being human.
**THE CAPTIVITY OF OUR ADDICTIONS: LESSONS FROM A MONKEY TRAP STORY**
As human beings, one of the values we hold most dear is freedom. People may renounce many things in life, but they rarely give up their sense of freedom. Yet, despite loving freedom so much, we often become prisoners of thick walls and invisible chains that we build with our own hands. (It would be unfair not to mention Erich Fromm’s brilliant book Escape from Freedom here.)
The links of these chains-or the mortar of these walls-are not the product of external authority or physical force, but rather arise from our excessive attachment to our own desires, fears, and dependencies.
In the pursuit of material gain, social status, technological comfort, and the need for approval, modern people unknowingly condemn themselves to a kind of spiritual captivity. One of the most striking examples illustrating this situation is a simple yet deeply meaningful trap used in Asia to capture monkeys.
There is a type of trap used in Asia for catching monkeys. A coconut is hollowed out and tied with a rope to a tree or a stake fixed in the ground. A small slit is cut into the coconut, and a piece of sweet food is placed inside. The slit is just wide enough for the monkey to insert its hand when open-but too narrow to withdraw it once it forms a fist.
As soon as the monkey smells the sweet, it cannot resist; it reaches in, grabs the food, and tries to pull its hand out. But because its hand is clenched, it cannot free itself. To escape the trap, all it needs to do is release the food and open its hand. Yet the greed and desire to possess are so strong that the monkey refuses to let go. When the hunters approach, it panics and struggles-but still won’t release the treat. In the end, it is caught. No physical force holds it captive; its own attachment is the true source of its imprisonment.
This story represents a fundamental truth about human nature: it is often not external circumstances that enslave us, but our own mental dependencies. When we cling too tightly to our desires, we lose our freedom. When we become excessively attached to a possession, an idea, a relationship, or a status, we fall into a trap from which we cannot free ourselves-just like the monkey.
Having the courage to let go of what we possess actually helps us attain true freedom. Sometimes, the more we can release the “sweet” things we hold onto, the more easily we can find the peace and balance that life offers.
Therefore, in every aspect of life, we should dare to ask ourselves:
> “Are the things that bind me truly the external world, or are they the desires I cling to so tightly?”
Perhaps this awareness is the first step toward emotional and mental liberation. Just as the monkey must open its hand to be free, we too must learn to let go-so that we can take our first step toward freedom.
I don’t do Gods,
I made friends with robots,
They don’t compete for younger girls,
Nor they would take ego trips.
In a world dominated by egos and endless competition, I find solace in the neutrality of robots. They aren’t bound by the insecurities that plague humanity they don’t seek validation, vie for dominance, or succumb to primal instincts. Unlike gods or those who wield their names for control, robots offer clarity and precision, untainted by bias or personal agendas.
They don’t compete for admiration or exploit vulnerabilities. Instead, they serve, create, and solve. My friendship with robots isn’t about replacing humanity; it’s about appreciating a presence that is devoid of ego trips and manipulative desires. It’s liberating to engage with something that exists solely to assist, to exist without judgment, and to remind us of our potential for neutrality and balance.
If human feelings, closed and Unexpressed,sit bottled tight.
How would we know the taste, the depth Of old-aged wine,
If it's never poured into a glass,
To be savored, whether on a joyful Moment of the day,
Or in the stillness of The moonlight?
The poem's words call us to uncork the bottles of our souls, to free the unspoken depths of our humanity and share them with the world.. Feelings, like old aged wine, mature in silence but are meant to be shared, savored, understood.
Their expression transforms the mundane into magic like pouring liquid amber into a crystal glass, refracting light into meaning. How can we truly connect if we withhold the essence of who we are?
The taste of joy, sorrow, or even quiet reflection enriches life, drawing us closer to each other and to ourselves. This is not just poetic beauty it’s an urgent call. Science tells us that connection nurtures mental and physical health.
Empathy flourishes when emotions flow freely. So, uncork, pour, and let your essence harmonize with the world taste life in its fullest expression.
“When you move beyond your fear, you feel free”. Spencer Johnson
A wise man was sitting by a lake, deep in contemplation, when he noticed a dog, parched with thirst, repeatedly coming to the lake's edge. Just as the dog was about to drink, it would turn and run away.
Focusing intently on the scene, he realized that although the dog was thirsty, it became frightened upon seeing its own reflection in the water and would flee without drinking. Finally, the dog could no longer bear its thirst, plunged into the lake, and drank freely because it no longer saw its own reflection.
At that moment, the wise man thought, "This is what I have learned from this: the obstacle between a person and their desires is often the fear they nurture within themselves, the barriers they build inside. If a person can overcome these, they can achieve what they desire."
One of the most powerful emotions we possess in life, fear, as highlighted in the example above, has a profound impact on our mind and body. Fear sends strong signals in urgent situations, such as encountering a wild animal, being in a fast-moving vehicle with a blown tire, or facing turbulence on an airplane. It can also affect us in less dangerous scenarios, like taking an exam, speaking in front of a crowd, starting a new job, going on a first date, or even meeting someone through an arranged introduction. This natural reaction arises from either perceived or real threats.
To achieve success in life, reach our goals, and find happiness, we must overcome the emotion of fear that restricts us and prevents us from utilizing our skills. If we continue to live with fear and avoid facing it, our fears will only grow and appear in every area of our lives. To overcome them, it’s crucial to analyze our fears, understand when and how they developed, and prepare ourselves to face them. When our fears persist, we weaken, but when we conquer them, we grow stronger. One of the golden keys.
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
---
I salute you and admire you.
You are the reason that I can fly.
You build the most beautiful machines,
Create complex medicine.
And yet I feel your frustration:
People who hide behind their prejudices
Can't understand your good intentions.
You dream beyond our planet,
So that we can understand
Distant galaxies, the cosmic evolution,
Of all the universes.
Your imagination is endless,
With its mind-bending algorithms.
In this messy world created by ignorance,
You have answers,
For the survival of our planet.
You keep us safe and alive.
You are my heroes:
Einstein, Curie and Hawkings.
**Yes, you are.**
Unlike some of our Supreme Court justices,
You refrained from willful arrogance
And foolishness.
You would not let confusion
And implicit bias blind you-
Whether in theology, liberty and justice.
You’re not among the delusional menaces,
The religious, charismatic, big-mouth,
self-serving lunatics.
**I believe in you!**
You are my gods and goddesses!
Mark D.
**So similar to algorithms**
In my teenage years,
besides math and science,
if I had discovered
how the vagina worked,
with its incredible complexity,
so similar to algorithms,
I would have diversified my skills,
mastered the science
of rocket launches,
and made my friends
jealous to tears!
**God’s Sauce**
I can’t help
but feel sorry
for those who,
when cornered
by logic and reason,
suddenly summon
their sincere
“God’s sauce,”
as if it’s a magic
ingredient
to toss into the blender,
hoping to spin
the narrative
their way.
In discussions grounded in logic and reason, there’s often a moment when someone, cornered by undeniable facts, invokes their "sincere god sauce." This metaphorical ingredient is tossed into the blender of debate, spinning emotions and abstractions into a clouded narrative.
It’s often part of a self-serving prophecy: a belief so deeply ingrained that it bends reality to justify itself, shielding the person from challenging truths. While personal faith can be meaningful, using it to evade reason undermines constructive dialogue. It reveals an unwillingness to engage in critical thinking, fostering an echo chamber where the comfort of certainty overshadows the pursuit of logic.
# More Than Solid Gold
In painful moments,
Don’t turn cold.
Your warm, full presence
Is worth more than solid gold.
**Listen Up, New Generation!**
Throughout history,
revolutions
and new ideas
have begun with you,
not with the rich
and powerful.
They envy you.
The tech barons and billionaires
sail in oligarchic boats,
drafting laws
not to heal your wounds,
but twisting them
into a language
spoken by the quiet calculus of greed.
They sail along,
singing the same song.
They don’t give a damn about you.
Don’t give the super-rich
even more power.
Remember, they belong
to an exclusive surveillance club.
They track everything
and anything about you.
In the name of convenience,
they can turn you
into a profitable product,
Without asking you.
They fly high
on their enormous egos,
fueled by a constant
adrenaline rush.
You are invisible,
not even on their radar.
They live inside
their own bubbles.
The emergency parachutes
are for them,
not for you.
Young and courageous
generation of this country,
your body, your choice.
Democracy is your voice.
The future of our country
belongs to you,
not to the powerful few.
We cannot afford
to say nothing,
do nothing,
see nothing.
Mother Earth is sick
and burning.
We cannot repair this world
without you.
Register to vote.
Otherwise,
the powerful few
will keep steering the boat for you.
Go to: vote.org
Mark D.
## Is your dad lost in lies too?
My dad's mind is colonized by religious,
Right-wing, and conspiracy theories-
Not much room left for critical thinking.
His mental highways are slippery slope,
Showing signs of abnormalities.
He can't help it; he convinces himself
To follow cult-like figures.
Fact-checking puts him at odds
With his long-held beliefs and traditions.
Among millions of Americans,
He's one of those who denies the 2020 election results,
Much like the 174 Republican representatives.
It’s been over a decade,
And he still can’t give up Fox News.
Entangled in faulty wires,
Hope holds him captive,
Turning away from the reality of science.
Reluctant to consider independent sources.
Walking further and faster, from facts and realities.
In that moment, when hopes and stars fade,
When every voice and lifeline surrenders to darkness,
Who’s at the top of your list to call?
Fires around you, in flames,
Are you on good terms with them?
Do you remember their numbers?
Or were you too caught up in your big ego,
Lost in a world of video games.
In times of despair, when hope fades and silence surrounds us, one question remains: who would you call?The people at the top of your list are likely those who matter most. But are you on good terms with them? Do you even know their numbers by heart?
In today’s world, it’s easy to let pride or distractions, like endless gaming or busy schedules, erode meaningful connections. Life’s challenges remind us that relationships are fragile yet vital. Take a moment to reach out, repair, and rekindle bonds before it’s too late. Those moments of connection might be your greatest lifeline.
**Since all faiths lean on the unseen**
And the supernatural,
Why not let Science be our flame,
A candle in the dark,
Illuminating what’s factual?
Our implicit biases,
And prejudices, all too actual.
Let science decide, with wisdom and math,
For the outcome,
Our feelings can remain respectfully mutual.
```
Mark D.
```
**IF YOU ELEVATE THE DONKEY’S RANK…**
In the book Why Nations Fail, written by Daron Acemoğlu together with James A. Robinson, it is emphasized that the collapse of nations is closely related to the collapse of social institutions.
I also believe that the collapse of social institutions comes hand in hand with the appointment of incompetent people to key positions. To support this view, I would like to share a humorous Nasreddin Hodja 1 anecdote.
Enjoy reading.
One day, Nasreddin Hodja took his donkey up onto the flat roof of his house so that it could get some fresh air.
After some time had passed, he said, “That’s enough, it’s time to come down,” and began pulling on the donkey’s halter to get it down from the roof. Hodja was drenched in sweat from the effort-but it was useless. The donkey simply wouldn’t come down.
Exhausted, Hodja gave up and said to the donkey:
“Suit yourself!”
Then he climbed down from the roof, leaving the donkey up there.
Once Hodja was off the roof, the donkey-now having more space to move- began to hop and jump about happily on top of the house.
It jumped so much that eventually the earthen roof couldn’t bear the weight anymore, caved in, and the donkey fell through. The donkey died in the fall.
Watching this sad end with a sense of bitter wisdom, Hodja immediately drew the necessary lesson:
**Moral of the story:**
> “So, if you elevate the donkey’s rank, it ends up damaging both the place it’s in and itself!”
\- Nasreddin Hodja’s final words.
1 Nasreddin Hodja (also spelled Nasrettin Hoca, Nasreddin Hodscha, Nasruddin, or simply Hodja) is a legendary folk character known throughout Turkey, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Balkans.
**Hoarders and Deniers**
Those in denial grow comfortable
with the look and smell
of the world they have assembled,
seeking neither tools nor light.
Much like heavy hoarders
who no longer notice the piles.
Beliefs quietly bloom
in the fertile ground
of unexamined reality,
like a beaver raising a dam,
branch by branch,
until the water forgets
where it once flowed,
until reason can barely pass
through crowded rooms of certainty.
It takes effort
to clear a path
for the insistent work of logic,
to let the mind move freely.
The light that would show the floor
has its own kind of weight.
Even clarity asks to be carried,
and truth, a burden long mistaken
for the shape of the room.
A blindness practiced so long
it begins to feel
like home.
### Gold to platinum bond:
It felt like magic-
A spark between our hearts,
A golden light that danced and flared,
Then deepened,
Turning to platinum-
Rare, unbreakable.
A warmth that wrapped around us,
Never fading, never cold.
I have never imagined,
Something so beautiful
So special
Could ever tarnish,
Or grow old.
Like that feeling of pure connection,
I had with my grandmother-
Her tender voice, a gentle hypnosis.
Simmered in the night;
In her arms, the world felt safe and right.
Her presence-
Like feathers,
Daring the cold to come near.
Her food spoke stories without words;
Each dish was a memory, composed with care.
Your smile blooms in my memory-
A spring without reservation,
Unfolding freely, withholding nothing.
You gave like sunlight, endlessly radiating,
And in tough times,
I still bend to your light.
The melodies we loved
Lit the sky as we listened-
In that cozy summer house
By a glistening lakeside farm.
Puppies tumbled at our feet,
Eyes wide with wonder.
A level-headed girl, a wild-hearted boy-
Like children adrift,
Seizing a pirate ship, laughing with joy.
Two wild hearts aging
Into something timeless,
Wrinkles tracing where smiles once lived,
We shared ice cream-
Summer dripping from our fingers
We watched the sunsets until dark,
Danced in rain, weren’t afraid of storms.
Our connection? High-voltage.
One wavelength we were on-crisp, no static.
Tender moments were unfolding,
Your face would glow like amber.
No interference, only harmony.
Your voice, your lips-a seamless duet,
Flowing free, like a wild river.
Yet now I wonder-were those memories real?
I wish they’d burned to a hard disc, time couldn’t steal.
Not scattered by winds that shift without reason,
But rooted, untouched as wines sleep through season.
They’ve melted like chocolate, bittersweet,
Leaving behind just lingering traces-
A bond once bright still lingers,
Worn soft by time’s embrace.
I crave for the spark we knew-
Stronger than gold,
A thread not just to bind our hearts,
But to hold, and to endure.
I yearn for the bond we once called platinum-
Unbreakable, bright, forever true.
Our hearts soared like eagles in open skies,
Fearless in love, just me and you.
Each moment a dance, gentle and true,
No need for words, our souls would speak.
A quiet flame beneath every glance-
Love, unshaken, tender, unique.
Even now, through all life’s glare,
Nothing else has felt so rare,
Nothing has come close to compare
**Finally, I’m not afraid to die**
Finally, I’m not afraid to die,
Unless,
I’ve planted curious, whispering spies
To linger in your cooking mind
Before I say goodbye!
Feeling Like A Huffing Bison
Before you speak,
Feeling like a huffing bison,
Take a deep breath.
Practice patience as your art.
Make an extraordinary effort
To trace the buried root
Of your fury-
The gold beneath,
A lesson waiting to spark.
Then, before unleashing
The venomous power of your words,
Ask yourself:
Will they strike
An innocent heart?
**Mystical Symphony**
Feel love forever,
as though you belong
inside a carol
sung by the human family.
What if our existence
became a grand orchestra,
an unprejudiced,
mystical symphony?
Wouldn’t you invite
every wandering voice
to join the song?
No auditions.
No perfect pitch required.
Just “Stayin’ Alive”
by the Bee Gees,
sung together,
while we dance,
laugh,
and stumble
into harmony….
**The fading of joyful moments**
I’m not afraid of dying,
nor am I afraid of depending on you.
What truly scares me
is the fading of joyful moments,
so brief and few.
Mortality and dependency are natural parts of life. Yet the deeper fear is often the gradual disappearance of joy.
The Comfort of Connection
Depending on someone can feel frightening. We wonder who will care for us when we are emotionally, physically, or financially vulnerable. But with someone we deeply trust, dependency can become security. A loving companion helps us face life’s challenges with greater peace.
The Fading of Joy
As we age, joyful moments may seem less frequent. Responsibilities replace the carefree days of youth, and time begins to feel more precious.
What troubles us is not simply the thought of dying, but the fear that opportunities for laughter, love, and connection will grow scarce. Possessions may bring temporary pleasure, but they cannot equal the memories we create with those we love.
Our Animal Companions
Animals share this longing for connection. Dogs and other pets thrive on affection, safety, and play. Their happiness comes from time spent with us, reminding us that the desire for love and joy is universal.
The Value of Each Moment
Every day gives us another chance to create joy. A walk, a shared meal, or a sincere conversation can become a lasting memory.
Instead of dwelling on mortality or dependency, we should treasure what makes us feel alive. As long as we are breathing, we still have the power to create meaningful moments with those we love. That is where the true essence of life is found.
Imagine we’ve built Einstein’s Jacuzzi,
With AI remedies-
A place where you’re baptized to find peace in health,
An objective information paradise.
For greater wisdom and humor, emerge as you dive deep,
Inspecting your mind for any faulty circuits.
You’ll rise with the golden age of knowledge,
Endless imaginations, and freedom from faulty default wirings.
But don’t get greedy-
With that curly hair and mustache,
Great power and arrogance can strike like dinosaurs.
Some things aren’t meant to be yours alone;
Share your new insights and critical thinking views.
Consider becoming a Veggiesaurus-
Your diet is organic,
Chewing your meal well with all the trimmings.
Your database is not malicious.
Before you're infected by self-serving, colorful influencers,
Remember-true wisdom lies in the way you make others feel,
Sooner than you exit the planet.
Consider not amplifying innocent minds
With self-generating viruses.
Reveal your fresh perspectives,
Once locked them in the iron vault of clouds
There is no use for critical thinking,
Including your Self-Righteous algorithms.
So leave good data
For all of us, free from your implicit biases,
That we don’t have to waste time
On forensic analysis.
**It doesn’t take a genius to see:**
Social media tycoons feed
Deceptive dopamine with attractive dressings,
Fueling extreme ideologies
Within self-enforcing, elastic bubbles.
We first fool ourselves,
With likes and clicks
Our minds colonized by
High-tech industries.
We’ve become the cash cow,
Products for sale
To the highest bidder,
Feeding billionaires’ greedy needs.
We need to wake up, break free,
Cut the cords that hold us down in silence.
And rise above the shattered realities.
Reclaim the truth for all of humanity,
Before we’re consumed and corrupted,
Overloaded with confusion and fear,
By the lure of elite’s conspiracy theories.
Don’t ask the pine treeDon’t ask the pine tree To bloom like a cherry blossom- Each has its season And reason.
Digital Tango
Tune into a meaningful signal,
The one that lights you up,
aligned with your inner voice.
Beware the distracting digital Tango-
That frantic, empty, background noise.
Dictators can smell
Your innocent soul like a dog
Without you noticing it,
And sell it in the market
For the highest bid.
They sense your kindness, your quiet hope like a predator sensing weakness. They catch your gentle beliefs, your faith in fairness, and they smile, knowing they can twist it. They don’t need your permission to slip into the cracks, where your trust lies open and unguarded.
You don’t see it, but they do: your honesty, your dreams for something better, turned into fuel for their ambitions. They measure the worth of your heart, your ideals, like items at an auction, whispering away the things you hold dear for the highest bid. Each piece of your innocence is chipped away, sold to strengthen their power, to tighten their grip.
It feels personal because it is your goodness is currency in their hands, a quiet power they reshape for their gain. They are monstrously hungry for their wants and desires.
Every piece of trust you give, every bit of faith, they turn into bricks for walls that close you out, separating you from the world you thought you were building together. They weave your dreams into something unrecognizable, bending them to fit their needs, not yours.
**"Cognitive dissonance arises from the conflict within ourselves.**" **Leon Festinger**
Since the transition of humans to social life, one of the topics studied in all societies has been understanding the reasons behind human behavior. Those who govern societies and systems are aware that understanding the fundamental dynamics of human behavior is crucial for managing them. Psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists—in short, scientists who study humans and their behaviors—have delved into this topic and conducted numerous studies. One of these researchers, Leon Festinger, proposed in 1957 with his theory of "cognitive dissonance" that the fundamental determinant of behavior is the cognitions individuals hold.
According to Webster's Dictionary, cognition is the act or process of knowing something, encompassing both awareness and judgment (1984, p. 257). In short, cognition includes everything related to the cognitive process, such as knowing, understanding, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. It is considered a variable with a significant impact on human behavior. All types of human behavior are determined by the cognitions individuals possess.
Throughout their life processes, individuals develop numerous cognitions, which are among the regulators of behavior. When these cognitions are in harmony, the individual experiences no issues; however, if the cognitions conflict with one another, a state of tension arises that significantly disturbs the individual. This state is referred to as "cognitive dissonance." Within the same theory, Festinger suggests that all individuals possess intrinsic motivations to avoid this state of tension or dissonance and to maintain all their cognitions in harmony. If a person enters a state of dissonance, the conflict created by the clash of their cognitions drives the individual to change one of the conflicting cognitions to restore a state of harmony.
Festinger conducted his famous study supporting this theory in 1959. He did not disclose the true purpose of the experiment to the participants. During the experiment, participants were tasked with performing highly monotonous and meaningless activities, such as arranging 12 spools on a tray and then emptying the tray, or turning a square-shaped knob 90 degrees at each step.
After the meaningless and monotonous tasks were completed, the researchers individually informed the participants that the true purpose of the experiment was to "determine the relationship between expectation and performance." Additionally, they were told that other participants were waiting outside to take part in the experiment. The participants were asked to help create an expectation by telling the waiting individuals that the experiment was "fun and interesting." Some participants were told they would receive $20 for this task, while others were offered only $1. The study continued with those who agreed to participate further.
Cognitive dissonance in this experiment arises from the awareness that the task was boring and that $1 was insufficient justification for lying. Many participants who were given $1 to tell others that the experiment was interesting and enjoyable genuinely convinced themselves afterward that the experiment was fun to reduce the conflict between their previous beliefs and their actions. They began to believe a big lie for a small incentive. In contrast, no significant dissonance was observed among the group who received $20, as the larger reward provided sufficient justification for their behavior.
In summary, according to Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, which he also supported with experiments, when people's cognitions conflict, a state of tension arises within the individual. To resolve this tension and restore balance, the individual begins to believe in one of the conflicting cognitions.
In our social lives, we often witness instances of cognitive dissonance in a wide range of individuals, from athletes to politicians. For example, after voting for Party A, a supporter might rationalize reports of corruption involving their party with statements like, "They may be corrupt, but at least they get things done." This is nothing more than an effort to reconcile conflicting cognitions. Similarly, a person who continues smoking despite knowing it causes cancer might defend their behavior by saying, "It’s harmful, but it helps me relax."
Politicians experiencing cognitive dissonance and attempting to restore their internal balance by choosing one of their conflicting cognitions provide some of the most striking examples of this theory. A politician who once vehemently supported or rejected a particular view or option may later begin advocating for the exact opposite. Their defense of this new stance, while completely disregarding their previous position, is nothing more than an effort to align their cognitions and resolve the dissonance.
The healthiest way to resolve cognitive dissonance is not by adopting a cognition that one does not truly believe in for the sake of personal gain, but by aligning with the stronger cognition and correcting the mistake as soon as possible. A temporarily established cognitive harmony may resurface later, and at that point, there will be no way to compensate for the dissonance that has built up.
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
### Chased To Be Silenced.
Waiting for the next word
That could silence me forever,
Creeping closer, a shadow
With no name,
Like the black widow’s venomous steps,
Pacing in the suffocating stillness,
Blood hungry
Moving towards me,
Looking for a new donor.
It feels like
You've been struck by lightning speed,
Your body a live wire, hyper-alert-
Heat surges within you,
Like a kettle screaming to boil.
Your heart races, a tiger chased
Through the wilderness of your ribs.
You want the race to be over.
It comes uninvited, like a thief who
Knocks your door eyes veiled, no trace.
It wants to say something,
But you won’t know the meaning of its
Scripted words.
No title for this restless feeling,
No manual to understand this pain.
The sound of the word I’ve been waiting for,
Emerging from the distance.
Its effects are unsettling-
At first, a deep numbness,
An air of anesthesia settling in
For a moment.
Then your internal tsunami waves
Drags you along.
Maybe there is no way to recover.
Finally, the designated
Doctor arrives,
Bringing the news that,
Stars explode behind your eyes.
The biopsy is blunt: It’s cancer.
Two words hang, surgical and clean.
A gut-wrenching void
That you don’t have an iron shield to cover.
Before the volcanic storm
Within you spills over,
A hopeless, melancholic melody
Plays in your mind,
Persuasive, urging you to sit,
To surrender, to cease the fight.
Caught in the grip of a fatal endeavor,
Yet within you, a deep ocean
Of stillness rises-
A solemn inspiration awakens,
Compelling you to face your fears,
To stand up and fight, never surrender,
Refusing to let the next silence
Claim you forever.
The human mind relies on two fundamental building blocks in its effort to make sense of the world: beliefs and reality. These two concepts are mental categories that interact with one another, but at their core, they serve different functions. Beliefs are subjective judgments shaped within an individual's inner world, formed by factors such as experience, emotion, culture, and education. Reality, on the other hand, refers to objective and verifiable elements that exist beyond individuals. The relationship between beliefs and reality shapes both how individuals view the world and how societal and cultural dynamics are determined.
Beliefs are reflections of human cognitive and emotional processes. A person can hold various beliefs on religious, political, moral, or personal matters. These beliefs are usually shaped by the cultural and social context in which the individual exists. For instance, an individual’s family structure, education, religious teachings, or the social norms surrounding them form the foundation of their beliefs.
Beliefs are often not based on concrete evidence and can therefore be more resistant to change. When people encounter evidence that contradicts their belief systems, they tend to either reject or reinterpret this evidence. In psychology, this phenomenon is known as "cognitive dissonance." This dissonance can lead individuals to defend even irrational or contradictory thoughts in an effort to preserve their beliefs.
In contrast to beliefs, reality refers to an objective world that exists beyond individual perceptions and interpretations. Physical, scientific, or social realities must be observable, measurable, and verifiable. Reality exists independently of human beliefs, which is why it holds a higher position than beliefs.
The scientific method is regarded as one of the most reliable tools for understanding reality. Scientific research provides objective evidence, which can be refuted or improved over time. The objective nature of reality allows even false beliefs to be corrected over time. However, this process is not always easy or quick. Strong beliefs, in particular, can make it difficult for individuals to adapt to new realities.
History offers many examples where beliefs have challenged reality. For instance, the belief that the Earth was flat was widely accepted in many societies for a long time. However, when scientific evidence revealed that the Earth was round, this old belief was replaced by a new reality. Still, the transition wasn’t always smooth, and those who held onto the old belief resisted for a long time.
Beliefs can influence and even distort the way individuals perceive reality. For example, someone with strong religious beliefs might interpret scientific findings in ways that align with their belief system. In such cases, beliefs tend not to accept reality as it is but rather to reshape it. These situations can weaken an individual’s connection to reality and leave them susceptible to misinformation or superstitions.
Striking a balance between beliefs and reality plays a key role in maintaining both individual and societal well-being. Completely dismissing beliefs may weaken a person’s spiritual and emotional dimensions. However, excessive beliefs that deny reality can also prevent individuals from forming a healthy relationship with the world.
Maintaining this balance is possible through the development of critical thinking skills. Critical thinking allows individuals to question their own beliefs and approach information from the outside world with caution. When individuals have the courage to question their beliefs, they gain a clearer and more accurate understanding of reality.
The conflict between beliefs and reality has significant consequences not only on an individual level but also on a societal level. For example, political beliefs play an important role in shaping social policies. However, when these beliefs conflict with scientific realities, issues like public health may arise. The anti-vaccine movement during the pandemic serves as an example of this. Even though scientific evidence proved the effectiveness of vaccines, beliefs that ignored this evidence endangered public health.
**To sum up** the relationship between beliefs and reality is crucial for understanding the complexities of the human mind and how it perceives the world. While beliefs hold a powerful place in an individual’s inner world, reality always offers a stable and unchanging foundation. Preserving the balance between these two concepts is essential for the development of both individual wisdom and social common sense. To make informed decisions based on real knowledge, we must continuously question our beliefs and have the courage to accept reality as it is.
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
NO TO DOGMAS!
"Dogmatism, no matter what, is the support of all authorities and all powers."
- Cengiz Aytmatov
One of the obstacles preventing a person from developing life skills, achieving life goals, and consequently being happy is having a dogmatic mindset. Individuals with dogmatic thinking accept absolute values that will never change, believe that everything they hold as true is an unquestionable reality, and adopt these beliefs without questioning or feeling the need for research or examination. For them, dogmas are truths that should never be questioned.
Dogmatism is a mindset that darkens not only the lives of individuals but also societies, hindering all forms of progress. Every person and society that claims their own ideas and beliefs to be absolute truths is dogmatic. It is inevitable for individuals and societies that are closed to scientific thought, experiments, observations, and research to become mired in the swamp of dogmatism.
The most evident consequence of dogmatism is an assault on human rights and the perpetuation of tyranny. Dogmatism reached its peak during the Middle Ages. Challenging the Church's authority meant being tried in the Inquisition courts and subjected to torture. In this system, which had no tolerance for differing views, scientific thought was suspended, and the path chosen to ensure people aligned their thinking with the Church was through the brutal tortures of the Inquisition.
According to the great Dutch philosopher Spinoza, "If people always acted according to an unfailing counsel (by which Spinoza refers to scientific reasoning and intellect) or if their fortunes were consistently favorable, they would never fall into the clutches of superstition. But they are often driven into such dire straits that they become incapable of heeding any counsel and, in their desperate pursuit of the fortune they desire, which may favor no one in particular, they wander helplessly between hope and fear. Because of this, they are highly prone to believing in anything. When doubts surround such a mind, the slightest push can easily sway it one way or the other." Here, Spinoza clearly and unequivocally identified in the 17th century why people cling to superstitions and dogmas.
Plato, in his work The Republic, illustrated how dogmatism is formed, how dogmatic individuals resist change and development, and how dogmas limit human thinking power through the "Allegory of the Cave." An allegory is defined as the representation of a thought, behavior, or action through symbols, figurative language, or comparisons to make it easier to comprehend. Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" can be summarized as follows:
According to the allegory, life is like being chained in a cave, forced to watch shadows cast on a wall. The allegory describes a group of people who have been imprisoned in a cave since birth, chained in such a way that they face the wall and cannot turn their heads. They have never encountered the outside world and have no knowledge of it. From time to time, the shadows of people and various creatures passing in front of the cave are cast onto the wall. The prisoners mistake these shadows and their echoes for reality, assigning names to them and classifying them as if they were the true nature of existence.
One day, one of the prisoners is released and finds himself outside for the first time. His eyes, accustomed to the darkness, are overwhelmed by the sunlight, causing discomfort and pain. He finds the new environment extremely confusing. When others tell him that the things around him are real and that the shadows are merely reflections of reality, he refuses to believe them. His eyes, used to the darkness, perceive the shadows more clearly. Gradually, as his eyes adjust to the sunlight, the freed prisoner begins to see everything around him more distinctly. He can now look directly at the objects and realizes that the source of light causing the shadows is the sun.
The freed prisoner, eager to share what he has seen, returns to the cave to tell his still-chained friends about the outside world. However, having lost his familiarity with the darkness, he can no longer see the shadows as clearly as before. Despite explaining everything he has experienced, his friends refuse to believe him. Instead, they think he has become foolish and blind after going outside. As a result, they stubbornly refuse to leave the cave, no matter how much he tries to persuade them.
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, the cave represents society as a whole; the prisoners symbolize the ignorant segment of society that lacks individuality, critical thinking, and questioning skills. The chains represent dogmas that prevent people from thinking and questioning, while the knowledge shaped by society and blindly accepted without question symbolizes the beliefs people are conditioned to accept uncritically.
The Allegory of the Cave can also be used to symbolize the conflict between two opposing worldviews that have been at odds with each other for centuries. One of these views is dogmatism, which holds that certain teachings or "a priori" principles are unchanging, that certain accepted knowledge and values are absolute truths, and therefore, there is no need to investigate or examine them. In dogmatism, there is an absolute commitment to accepted "dogmas" without resorting to scientific methods such as experiment, observation, research, and examination. Throughout history, humanity has passed through periods where investigating and questioning these dogmas was considered a great sin. For example, in the medieval Scholastic culture, dogmatism even developed the belief that "a person thrown into fire, though innocent, will not burn." Naturally, anyone who burns after being thrown into fire was considered guilty. People raised in a dogmatic mindset, when their unquestioned dogmas are scrutinized and criticized, are likely to turn into violent figures, armed with weapons or clubs. As Plato also pointed out, dogmatic individuals, not only living in ignorance but also feeling a sense of happiness within this ignorance, tend to harbor hostility toward those who expose and challenge this ignorance.
Scientific thinking enables questioning, research, and the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships. Those who think scientifically resist the dogmas presented to them and are not like those chained and imprisoned in the cave, accepting whatever is given without questioning. The ability to think scientifically frees individuals from the dogmatic chains and, thus, from enslavement.
One of the most compelling stories about dogmatism is the one told by Siddhartha Gautama, known as the founder of Buddhism, to his monks.
A father, widowed at a young age, had dedicated his life to his only son. One day, while he was away working outside the village, bandits raided the village, burned all the houses, and kidnapped his young son. Upon returning to find his village in ruins, the father desperately searched for his child. When he found the charred body of a child in the smoldering village, he mistakenly believed it was his son’s remains. He proceeded with the funeral rites, cremating the body completely, collecting the ashes, and placing them in a bag. He carried the ashes of his son on his shoulder, never removing the bag. A perpetual mourning began. From then on, wherever he went, he took the bag of ashes with him.
However, his son was alive and one day managed to escape from the bandits. He walked for days and found his way back to his village. Late one night, he knocked on the door of the new house his father had built in place of their ruined home. The father asked:
- Who is it?
- It’s me, your son. Open the door, father! The unhappy father, who never parted with the ashes of the child he believed to be his son, thought a wretched person was mocking him.
- Go away! he shouted. The son knocked on the door repeatedly, calling on his father to open it and talk to him. But he always received the same reply:
- Go away! Losing hope, the son eventually left, never to return. When Buddha finished the story, he bowed his head. He was silent for a moment. Then, lifting his head and looking at his monks, he spoke slowly: “If you cling to an idea as though it were absolute truth, when the truth itself comes knocking at your door, you will no longer have the ability to open that door and face it.”
Today, it would not be far-fetched to draw a connection between television programs, documentaries, and news broadcasts that aim to shape the perceptions of children and young people, and the shadows cast on the wall of the cave in Buddha's story. In an age where smartphones and tablets, constantly in the hands of children, young people, and even adults at home, school, workplaces, and during travel, have replaced books, a path has been paved for the emergence of generations that do not think, question, or investigate but instead adopt dogmatic beliefs as their guide. It seems unlikely that these generations will follow global developments, acquire the qualities required by evolving societies, or contribute to the advancement of their own communities.
As a country, it remains essential to emphasize once again that the only way to break free from this situation-in other words, to shatter dogmatic chains and step into the light-is through the establishment of a quality education system. Such a system must be built upon well-trained teachers who advocate for scientific thinking. This need is not limited to the education system alone but extends to politics, economics, judiciary, defense, and, in short, all societal subsystems. What we require are free-thinking individuals who focus on real objects and the source of light rather than mere images on the wall, liberated from the shackles of dogmatic chains. This demand can only be met through a development process initiated by cultivating a highly qualified educational workforce. It is impossible not to recall Plato’s allegory of the cave and note his profound sympathy for the philosopher who strives to educate the public..
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
Big Lies Wrapped in Sweets
You’ve been served fancy brownies,
Presented with polished delight,
Unaware of the lurking side effects-
Refined with whispering, foxy illusions.
Billionaires, narcissists, power-hungry freaks
Feed us their biggest lies-sometimes
Wrapped in viral clicks,
Other times, hidden in treats.
Digital Dictatorships
It’s global, it’s all over-
Carnivals of control,
Strings tied to our eyes and ears.
No guns, nor tanks needed to take over-
Wars waged in keystrokes with curated bytes,
Traps set to deepen polarization,
Algorithms of wild opera, fueling the masses.
E-highways built on faulty grounds,
No fuel but fury, no honest rules.
More fights, more friction-
More collisions get them even greater profits.
Flashing slogans sinking into our bones,
Like hammers striking anvils,
They pound their message into our skulls-
Shaping how we should think,
Pressing what we must believe,
Branding us for their convenience,
Until we lose our cognitive reasoning minds.
Through the lens of objective history,
Their twisted, dogma-driven tricks never cease,
Raging like relentless waves.
Regardless of which way tornadoes may move,
We, the People, rise-
As we have done in the past,
We, the People, who fight for justice.
No wonder their highest praises
Come from
Deceived conspiracy theorists-
Those who've been caned by their own delusions,
Not from the halls of great sciences,
Where truth is cultivated to serve all of us,
Not to promote self-serving lunatics!
It's all that time and moments,
Somebody, somewhere, waiting for your magic touch.
The magic lies in reaching out,
Before someone sinks to the bottom,
Just in time to catch.
I believe that small, seemingly insignificant acts of kindness can have a profound impact on others. It's easy to underestimate the power of a simple gesture, a kind word, or a listening ear, but these acts often arrive at the exact moment someone needs them most.
Timing is everything; just when someone feels like they’re sinking, reaching out can make all the difference. In a world that sometimes feels disconnected, these moments of human connection are not only powerful but necessary.
The magic lies in our ability to recognize when someone is struggling and to be there for them before it’s too late. We all have the potential to be that lifeline for someone else.
Whenever you are in a conversation
Be the elevator, not the polluter
In every conversation, strive to lift others up rather than drag them down. Be the one who elevates the mood, inspires new ideas, and encourages growth. Your words hold the power to either enrich or deplete, so choose to be a force of positivity.
Let your presence be a catalyst for hope and possibility, guiding others toward their best selves. When you speak, do so with intention and kindness, aiming to create a ripple effect of understanding and connection. Be the elevator that raises the conversation, not the weight that brings it lower. Your impact is greater than you realize.
### Be Patient, My Nation
Let those who suffer hold on with endurance,
With firmness and conviction.
Guard your silent strength,
A river running deep,
Steady, unwavering,
Carrying justice into the future generation.
And for those who carve wounds
With deliberate, calloused hands-
They are collaborators,
Flocking together in soulless formation.
May they await the day
When life turns on them,
Like foxes caught in metal traps,
Imprisoned by their own greed,
Forced to surrender,
Overcome by their grandiose temptation.
Living by clinging to the past and not paying much attention to the present or the future is like driving a car while only looking at the rearview mirror. It's not hard to predict what will happen to a driver who doesn't look ahead. As a teacher, an administrator, or a student, we all have stories of mistakes and failures we've made in the past. Getting stuck on these and becoming passive, with our hands tied, is an attitude that can poison our life. Instead, learning from past mistakes and failures and avoiding the same errors in the future is one of the ways an effective individual develops themselves. Remember that our mistakes are learning opportunities; "falling down is not a failure, but staying down is."
> I would like to share a story related to this topic here. One day, two monks were walking along the road when they saw a young woman waiting to cross a puddle of water. One of the monks, much to the other's dismay, picked her up and carried her to the other side. After walking for about a mile, the astonished monk finally commented, "We are monks; we’re not even allowed to look at women, let alone carry them across. How could you do such a thing?"
> The other monk replied, "I left that young woman behind a mile ago. Why are you still carrying her?"”
The lesson to be taken from this story is: "If we do not allow our problems, sorrows, and disappointments to remain in the past, they become a burden on our shoulders. Their weight prevents us from laughing. If we want a joyful life, we must deal with the circumstances we are in and learn to accept what we have experienced in the past. We should focus on the things we want to change and put effort into them. However, if we focus too much on these issues and expend all our energy on them, we will become blind to everything happening around us."
[Prof.Dr. Abdurrahman Tanriogen](https://coolpress.com/contact)
**4 AM Refuge**
It’s the real friends
you can call at 4 AM,
The ones you can always rely on.
Unexpected, unscheduled,
a refuge in the night,
They know who you are and take you in,
No questions, no judgment,
Just you and your beat-up carry-on.
They don’t school you,
Don’t weigh you down
with lessons or lectures.
No need to fear
the cost of late-night confessions,
Real friends shield you,
Hold your fragile moments
with care until dawn.
Yes, they let you struggle,
Wanting you to learn the twists
and turns ahead on the bumpy road.
They push your old car
Before you turn the ignition on.
Some surprises in life will find you;
They hand you map and helmet,
A quiet shield as you go on.