2007...
(Publication Date: January 3, 2007)
This year, Eid and New
Year celebrations coincided.
We entered the new
year in a festive mood.
Today is the last day of Eid
and the third day of the new year.
I wish you a happy New Year
and Eid, and hope that everything goes your way in the new year.
It is customary, when
entering a new year, to express our hopes.
In today's column, I too
will express my hopes.
Read on and see whether
they match your own.
***
My hopes for 2007:
I don't want to have to live
as though there is always electricity in the grid.
While great efforts are being
made around the world to raise people's living standards to the highest possible level, I don't want to see governments/administrators who, as if to spite these efforts, try to lower our living standards through their incompetent work.
I'm also thoroughly fed up
with administrators who, claiming to be carrying out infrastructure work, constantly and indecisively tear up our streets, roads, and highways.
I want administrators who
see neighborhoods that rival the Dikmen garbage dump.
I also don't want to see
politicians on our local television channels, whom we now perceive as “showmen.”
I don't want the practices
of the electricity utility that subject us to nights of compulsory romance.
I don't want to hear
scientists' statements that leave us confused about which foods are healthy and which are unhealthy.
I'm also thoroughly fed up
with EU diplomats/politicians, who have become very far from trustworthy because of their two-faced statements.
I don't want to have to ask
myself thousands of questions on my way to a hospital in the country where I live.
I don't want to see drivers
who show no respect for people's right to live and fail to obey traffic rules on the roads we all share.
If possible, let's not see
local administrators who can't solve the public transportation problem, either.
I want concrete development
to come to an end at last.
I want strong, resolute
politicians who can stand firm against all kinds of pressure from abroad, refuse to back down, and put the interests of the people in their country above everything else.
I want to hear that there are
many people who respect their surroundings, protect nature, and plant trees instead of cutting them down.
I don't want jobs to be done
in government offices through friends-and-family connections.
I want to see civil society
organizations that put society's concerns ahead of their own interests.
I don't want to write about
political issues in my columns, no matter how much I try to avoid them.
For pedestrian safety, I want
to learn in practice what overpasses and underpasses, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, and traffic lights are.
By collecting waste paper
that is kept in storage areas around me and in offices, I want to save a tree that might otherwise be cut down somewhere in the world.
I want to see the young people
in my country talking about the world's problems, environmental issues, and volunteer activities—not just cars and girls—and I want to hear them discussing these subjects.
Because I believe that people
living in my country can be peaceful and happy only if politicians are sincere and honest, I want there to be such politicians in 2007.
And finally:
I don't want the problems
that haven't occurred to me right now, but that come to your minds as you read, to happen either.
Until Friday... Be respectful
in traffic.
All texts and other content on this page are original and belong to Cem KAR. They may not be used without permission, even in part, in any printed or other electronic medium (CD, Internet, etc.).