I don’t know exactly when it started. I am not sure if we will have a well-directed shot if we turn our cameras to 2020 over the Covid 19 pandemic, which will have an exceptional place on the stage of history. But there is a restlessness in the air. It’s like everyone around me is stuck. The feeling of meaninglessness in everything they do, not finding the meaning they are looking for, questioning the things they normally enjoy, the taste of goat horn left in the mouth by all the activities done in an effort. Stories of violence that we see more often in the media. Now you will say that one knows one’s own self. This is obviously your view of the world. I often check myself with the same suggestion, but this time it is a bit different: In late 2021 and early 2022, Gallup surveyed nearly 127,000 adults in 122 countries, and the data revealed the painful times our world is going through. In fact, negative emotions such as stress, sadness, anger and anxiety, which have been on an upward trend for the last 10 years, reached a new record in 2021.[1]
There is no doubt that each country and each individual in the sample has their own subjective reasons behind their answers. Leaving the deeper research to the experts, we see that our country stands in a place in this equation that needs to be looked at very carefully. In what Gallup calls the Positive Experience Index, which consists of components such as feeling rested, being treated with respect, smiling, laughing, doing something enjoyable and learning something new, ranking 3rd from last in the world after Afghanistan and Lebanon is sad in any way you look at it. . The same study ranks Turkey second in the world in terms of daily anger and third in terms of daily sadness.
Human beings are beings of emotion and I think it would not be wrong to say that emotions rule the world. Even those who claim to be the most rational have arguments that they weave around their emotions, and decisions and actions they take based on emotions. Our thoughts and actions are dominated by our emotions. I don’t know whether it is the asceticism pulling our emotions down or the emotions triggering the asceticism, but there is a depressive mood like the Monday Syndrome that never goes away.
I don’t want to make anyone more pessimistic. Especially when the ancient teaching of “fate happens, don’t tell” has taught us that the way to attract only the positive from the world of possibilities is to speak positively. On the other hand, the brave and questioning student in me keeps raising my finger from the back rows, telling me not to confuse optimism with Pollyannism. The disease must be diagnosed precisely and accurately so that the right treatment can be found. In order to be optimistic, one should not stop framing the current situation and ignoring the facts. On the contrary, optimism should give the courage to understand the current situation with all its variables, to draw the framework completely and to go to the root-causes of the problems. It must be able to offer the power to move on after fully understanding the current situation.
This also applies to this situation. Why does a society experience such extremes emotionally?
Can this be explained only by the economic background?
The pot boiling on the stove is of undeniable importance. On the other hand, could there be traces of the fatigue and wear and tear left on people by today’s scene, which prioritizes purely economic interests, shapes all life habits around interests, and puts economic relations at the center of every human structure?
Is it not only being unemployed, but also working overtime neglectfully without “taking care” of the job you have?
Is it because the society has no branches left to hold on to since it has moved from being a producer to being a consumer, from giving to taking, from being content to being greedy?
Could it be that their search for honesty, merit, trust, sincerity is becoming increasingly unsatisfied?
All is possible and more. Let’s leave social analysis to those in the know, but this much negative emotion is not sustainable. It is time to do something new and different, to be different. All this suffering must not be in vain, it must be the pangs of a birth. A birth that will transform and change society for the better…
[1] https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx
