If you live in the TRNC, the dreams you have can sometimes be very strange!
Just like mine…
Yes, I know Albert Einstein’s saying, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” and I’m aware of how important it is. People need to dream so they can have goals! So they can work toward those goals and give meaning to their lives.
But unfortunately, the dreams I’ve been having lately are very simple and strange! Lately, I keep imagining that little room and the scene inside the government office I’m always calling: I imagine a civil servant so overwhelmed by a heavy workload that he doesn’t even notice the phone ringing: I imagine a civil servant left to deal alone with the problems and documents citizens put before him, forced to work by himself, trying to handle a whole host of tasks single-handedly because of staff shortages, and on top of that unable even to take a coffee break. As I imagine him in that state, a loud sound pulls me out of my reverie. I look toward where it’s coming from and see construction workers struggling to cope with their difficulties…
I imagine the problems he faces, and try to think like him… At that moment, the civil servant Akakiy Akakiyevich from Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’ comes to mind! I picture Akakiyevich’s struggle to get his coat! Then my thoughts shift from Akakiyevich to our civil servant, and I try to guess what’s going through his mind: “As if all the problems at work weren’t enough, there are the problems in my personal life, too! Ah, if only I didn’t have problems in my personal life, how wonderful that would be,” I imagine him thinking. I feel sorry for him. Then I turn on the television and watch a report about how bad life is for a man who can’t find a job…
My dreams shift from people to objects… I picture the files crowding around the civil servant who has to work in that tiny room! I get angry at them: “Back off! Leave the man alone!” I say. Then I see the phone ringing incessantly, and I have a little word with it, too, for doing everything it can to distract the civil servant, who is focused on his work and can’t even take a coffee break, let alone a lunch break… Then I notice the sound in my ear. I realize I’m the one responsible for that incessantly ringing phone, and, feeling a little annoyed with myself, I hang up…
My thoughts leave the room, and I imagine the end of the workday… I imagine the civil servant, who has to work in that tiny room all the time, getting caught up in a heavy workload so he won’t keep citizens waiting, and not realizing that his workday is over. I hear him scolding himself, and see him rushing to his car... When he gets stuck in traffic, I witness him shouting at the others: “Brother, do all of you really have to drive separate cars to work?” I watch him complain anxiously about getting home late. Then the sound of horns from the cars behind me jolts me out of my reverie. I realize I didn’t notice the light turn green while I was daydreaming, and I regret having kept the cars behind me waiting...