Back to the Beginning


BY ANNA KORSUNSKA (COMD/III)
annak@ug.bilkent.edu.tr

 "Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to"
~John Ed Pearce

First of all, welcome back everyone! Hope all did well on their exams, had a nice few weeks of rest, and are ready to start the new semester.

I think many people, like me, left our beloved Ankara during the break and went home to visit family. I got to go home for the first time in two years. And that's what I want to write about in my first column of the semester. There are things that we take for granted. And, quite ironically, those are the very things that are the most important: our family, our country, our home. I spent my life traveling, moving around from place to place every few years. So the concept of home was a bit different for me. I created my home around me. And I didn't think twice about it. But recently I had the chance to go home, and it got me thinking a lot about the concept of ''roots.''

I have to mention that I spent a large amount of my childhood in the United States, and the idea in the U.S., it seems to me, is to assimilate everyone. Instead of encouraging people to keep their cultures, they lose them and choose a one-size-fits-all approach. I mention this because it seems like the United States is the role model for other countries nowadays, and it's very sad to see this happening everywhere.

I feel like people have forgotten to value culture. But the thing is, we are not born blank. We are born into a culture, and even if our lives lead us far away from all that, that is what lies at our core. And I really think that a person can never feel complete and happy being apart from that part of themselves.
Now that I am older, I have only started to understand the importance of keeping in touch with my roots. A person without roots is only half a person. They are like a plant that has been picked from the ground: it can live, but on artificial life support, and its life may not be as long and full.

Yes, every person is unique and creates his or her own path in life, filled with their experiences, accomplishments, goals, hopes, and dreams. But our culture, our family, and our homeland make up the background of who we are.

I guess it's hard to feel what I am referring to if it's not as extreme. If you live in your home town, or visit your family often, you take it for granted. So I urge you not to. Because one of the worst things is to realize that it's too late to start to appreciate something. 

Never forget who you are and where you come from.