 Warm weather is good without war. War is good without blood.
Welcome back to all of us! What a hot summer it was! The most memorable part of the summer
was the hot weather. Sitting on the couch and doing nothing but sweating and getting
tired. Such days were good for reading books because the sea cannot always offer me
coolness from the sun. My favorite part of the summer was reading books. I had the
opportunity to read all of the books that I had wanted to read during the school year.
From classic literature to modern literature I read many things. But I should confess that
watching TV was another "hot time activity". As you all know, the most
remarkable event of the summer was the war in Lebanon. The most remarkable book that I
read was Paulo Coelho`s ZAHİR.
ZAHİR is about a woman who left her husband in order to run away from a meaningless life.
She is a journalist who goes to war to become the war correspondent. She leaves everything
behind suddenly, to experience war and observe soldiers. The story is really the journey
of her husband to find her. Embedded within the main story she tells the story of the
soldiers in the middle of the war. She mentions that the eyes of the soldiers are really
different. There is a fear of death in them but also renunciation. For them life is more
meaningful because they fight for a reason. War is a kind of ceremony of blood. War is
like a drug; the closer to war you are, the more you are addicted to living that
meaningful life. There is always a fear of death, but there is no fear when you hear the
noise of a bomb close to you. But there is fear before and after the bombs. People really
realize that they actually live when they are in a war for something and when they are
close to something dangerous. I appreciate those sentiments . War is good with life,
without bombs and guns. We all have to struggle with jobs we have; places we live; people
that we know. In that sense, war as a kind of struggle is good, but not at the cost of
human life.
While I was reading this book, I was watching a real war on television. I cannot get out
of my mind, the picture of the baby with bandages, crying. No bombs, no soldiers, but,
this picture of the baby illustrates what war is. In the modern world, we still find
reasons to keep dropping bombs. Blood and death should not be a means for anything. It is
relieving to make war for something in your own life, but it should not cause anyone's
death or damage. War should not be in one's life. A baby should not be responsible for
anyone's reason to have war.
It is a quite a disturbing thing to write about war for a first column of the year. But,
it is the most important thing that we have all witnessed during the summer. I hope we
won't keep witnessing Turkish soldiers going to Lebanon. Farewell!
Gülay Acar (COMD/IV)
howtoreachgulay@yahoo.com
 |
