29 May 2020 Friday
Searching for Yourself
Sümeyye Öcal, a lecturer at Istanbul Gelisim University School of Health Sciences Child Development (English), "Sometimes people need to lose what they have in order to understand the value of them. For example, when someone finishes high school, s/he realizes how much s/he loves her/his friends, when s/he enter the business world, s/he realizes how sweet her/his school years were actually, s/he understands the value of her/his family when s/he becomes separated from them. In fact, I think the situation of social distance protection, not being able to go out, the need to stay away from our loved ones for their sake are a bit good. When we have to stay home we squeezed our lives in the homes, we would not go out for weeks except our basic needs. But we have longed to talk face to face with our friends, to grab on to somebody, to feel their presence with us…"
To be understood, to feel valued, to share your feelings, in short to be a social creature, are among the things that are good for many people. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, in the third place there is a need for “love and belonging”, and in the fourth “the need for esteem” is placed.
These are really the requirements of being human, our body, our soul and our psychology need them. Without these, there can be a significant decrease in our level of happiness, so to speak, “our mode is falling”.
Longing for each other, longing for nature, longing for the sea actually shows how important these are to us. So communicating with digital media or following each other in social media were not enough for us. Face to face education and training could continue in the form of distance education, but when one did not look into other’s eyes, something was missing and they did not enjoy it as before.
Maybe the students learn from their friends as much as they learn from their teachers in the classroom or they maybe affected by the stimulating environment of the classroom.
When the curfew for young people removed for a couple of hours, the streets were so beautiful, games were played outside, happiness spread from child to child. So, playing on the street, holding hands, being the leader of his own game, running, jumping all and more of them are good for the spirit of human. As our Minister of National Education, Ziya Selçuk said, “… hug the tree…”
I wonder, people who grew up hugging a tree in their childhood, who love cats, who both fear and run with dogs, could harm them when they grow up? All of them are closely related with each other, isn’t it?
Since we have built ourselves concrete houses, we have been isolated from nature day by day. As the floors of the houses increased, our isolation rate increased, and as we made ourselves content with the sites, we moved away from the real world. We perceived ourselves as if we were not really part of this ecosystem, as if we were at the top, and perhaps we thought that we had the right to do everything whatever we want… However, nowadays we felt how much we belong to this system and that we are firmly connected to each part of the system. Before losing things, it is necessary to appreciate them, or tomorrow will be too late…
Lecturer Sümeyye ÖCAL
