I DIDN’T
READ NEWSPAPERS FOR MYSELF!
(Publication
Date: March 12, 2007)
Are you obsessed with the
Cyprus problem?
Do you disapprove of the
formation of the government?
Are you angry with the
opposition?
Is the “Cyprus Festival”
held in London getting you down?
Are the potholes you keep
hitting on the way home your biggest problem?
Don’t upset yourself; just
forget about these things for a moment…
***
In recent days, a sense of
apathy, indifference, “come on, life is short, what’s the point?” and not caring about anything, among other things, has come over me.
It’s a strange situation
for me, but I’m quite happy about it.
For a long time, I didn’t
read newspapers for myself!
When I had just learned to
read—in primary school—I would sometimes read the newspaper to my mother and my late aunt (may she rest in peace).
Naturally, I didn’t
understand any of the news I read in those days.
For a long time, I thought
they made me read the newspaper because I had just learned to read and they wanted to test me.
But I kept reading the
newspaper to my family even when I reached high school.
Now that I think about it,
I suppose my family chose this method to help me develop the habit of reading newspapers.
They knew I was very
interested in sports news, but they would have me read all the other news besides sports.
I would impatiently wait
for the news I read aloud to my family to be over, so I could get to the sports news.
First the political news
would bore me; then the economic news would take its place.
Reading those numbers
aloud would tire me out…
I suppose I owe the good
diction I believe I have to those days of reading newspapers aloud.
I remember how eagerly I
would read the sports news.
I would turn the pages
slowly, imprinting the lines I read on my mind, as if I wanted to erase the political and economic news I had read from my memory…
Something happened at
university that I still can’t explain.
Yes, I was no longer
reading newspapers aloud to my family, and I could read the sports news freely, as I pleased; but this time, I found myself eagerly reading the political and economic news instead.
Instead of chatting with
my friends about girls, I would talk about political and economic developments, including the Cyprus problem, and discuss the past.
And yet, in the past, I
read newspapers, but not for myself—for my family.
Apparently, those
political and economic developments I disliked had somehow stayed in some corner of my mind, and, blended with the knowledge I’ve acquired today, have remained fresh in my memory.
I was on a road of no
return…
So I kept reading.
And today, I still take
great pleasure in discussing political and economic developments with my mother on the phone.
*
Lately, I’ve devoted
myself to cinema.
Instead of following
economic developments, the Cyprus problem, political conflicts, environmental problems, pothole-ridden roads, meaningless festivals, and the Greeks’ idiotic behavior, I watch films.
Of course, I read the
news that covers all these things; but just as in the past, I read it not for myself, but for others, and I know very well that no matter how much I don’t want it to, this information will find a place somewhere in my mind.
That’s precisely why I go
to the cinema whenever I get the chance and/or stay home in the evenings watching films continuously: to get away from all this and make room in my mind for other things.
If you feel the way I do,
take this approach and/or make time for different activities, to forget all the developments for a moment and open your mind to other things.
Even if everything carries
on just as before afterward, spending that brief moment doing different things will bring you great happiness too.
And don’t forget: from
time to time, read newspapers as if you were reading them not for yourself, but for someone else; you’ll notice the difference in your comments!
See you on Wednesday… Be
respectful in traffic!
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