As we try to express our differences, people around us show two possible reactions to us. Some of them enjoy the opportunity to know people with different appearances, different ideas and different perceptions on life. But, unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone. Some people are so sure the path they're walking on is the right one--the only right one--that they think everyone should walk that way.

This idea emerges from a point of view in which "different" is equivalent to "bad." It's normal for a human being to think that the thing he/she prefers is "good." In fact, no one does anything before he/she is convinced that it is a good action. What is abnormal is to label an attitude as "the good one." This leads that person to blame those who act in a different way. He/she then wants to fix the "bad" attitudes of others, that is, to force people to act in a "good" way.

I know that the way I'm telling it makes the situation look distant from ourselves. But all of us make this mistake sometimes. Once a person feels or gains responsibility, he/she has an urge to prevent people from making mistakes. We can see this urge even when we observe our parents: They don't want us to make the same mistakes they made. Sometimes they succeed in preventing our mistakes, sometimes they don't. As a person collects mistakes through his/her lifetime, he/she starts trying to prevent people from making mistakes. So, no matter whether we like it or not, children become just new copies of their parents.

Before we make the same mistakes, we should remember something: this kind of protection doesn't prevent anyone from being hurt. In fact, it causes them to be more hurt when they face real life confused and without our protection. When you look around, you'll see lots of people who can't make simple decisions, who are always afraid of making mistakes, who look like they've never decided anything by themselves. These people are the ones whose "right decisions" were guaranteed by other people once upon a time. Unfortunately, nobody realized they would end up "recycling" those other peoples' mistakes. Do you think that they should be thankful for being "protected"?

İsmail O. Postalcıoğlu (POLS/II)