This afternoon,I came home from work and planned to get my gear and head to the gym to try and trim my waist line after the holiday!. Also,summer is coming and I want to return the favour and kick sand in others faces for a change!. However, after receiving a few phone calls I had no choice but to do some very urgent work from home.
As it was a beautiful day here, I opened the windows to allow the warm afternoon breeze to drift in. Unfortunately though I had totally forgotten that the local school had just finished. Thus a multitude of children were drifting out with tired brains and hungry stomachs and heading home Whilst no doubt grumbling about the abundance of homework Sir had given to them. Slowly the abundance of children trickled away as I settled down to plan my work and send some important long winded e-mails. However, within ear shot and away from eye shot, a group of children were shouting and screaming at full voice. "koş (run) Koş koş" came the cry below. Gradually I could feel my patience slowly drain away along with my concentration to work! "damn kids, why don't they go home and play for Christ sake" I thought to myself.
Slowly the cries became hollers then the hollers became screams. Enough was enough and I could no longer concentrate with the bedlam going on four floors below. With clenched teeth and tensed hands I slammed down my laptop from my legs and half ran to the window to tell these young pest to stop shouting or expel their energy somewhere else. I slammed my head out of the window and immediately drew in clouds of air to exhale with force at these inconsiderate little terrors!
My eyes locked onto the children and as I was just about to explode my anger at them something caught my eye. From my high vantage point I could see one child, eyes firmly closed counting backwards, while five other students were dotted around the immediate area. Behind a wall, behind a tree, under a parked car, in the communal swimming pool emptied for the winter. I watched bemused for a while then realised my clenched toothed anger had now been morphed into a lose lipped smile. Watching them play this simple game of hide and seek reminded me of two things. Firstly of my own childhood and how we played the same games forty years before and secondly just how innocent Turkish children are compared to children back in my homeland.
Ok, they were screaming and shouting and generally disturbing the peace of our normal tranquil neighbourhood..However, had I not done the same in my youth growing up in a small village in England?. Had I not caused the neighbours to scream at me?. Had I not enjoyed these simple games and gained much pleasure.? Actually the last question is definitely YES I gained much pleasure as it gave me my first kiss behind a garage while playing hide and seek. I was ten years old!. I also wondered if at all British children still continued with these games past down from generations before them.
On my last visit to England it is so obvious that English children have lost all respect and the power to use their own imagination. Society and a vulnerability to commercialism have robbed them of an orderly childhood . No game is a game to them unless it has high quality graphics and the ability to kill as many people as possible on some trend setting computer game. When are people going to realise that these games of war, hatred and killing do make an everlasting impression on a young clueless mind. English children have lost the ability to communicate and I do not mean a pubescent teenager I mean all children. They answer in grunts or street slang and write in a language that is "kul and wiked"to them. They know a world of smart phones and peer pressure and a "must have" society. They are established into a society where sex, violence and drugs are open particles right across the British community. I mean what type of society thinks that it is perfectly ok to offer sex education to five year old children? Doesn't anyone sit back and think of the lunacy of this?. It's no wonder the UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe.
Back in 2007 UNICEF published a report of 21 economically advanced countries. It compared 40 indicators -- poverty, family relationships, health and safety, education and children's own sense of happiness -- that might affect the well being of children.
Top of the list were the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. At the bottom, in 21st place, was the UK, just below the United States. The report concluded, essentially, that children growing up in the UK were the unhappiest in the industrialised world, and that parents in more than half the countries surveyed spent more time "just talking" to their children than did those in the UK; and that just 40% of UK 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds find their peers "kind and helpful". Of course,reports are just there to be read and discarded!
In contrast, here, the children seem to be hidden away mostly of the dangers and the more murky side to life They are raised mostly in a family valued society where respect for other humans is paramount. I am always amazed when I visit a Turkish friends house if they have children how calm quiet and obedient they are. Also how interested they are and always ask questions about myself and my country. Of course, using me to help them with their English homework also. I can never imagine an English child being presented with a Turkish person at their house to show any interest to them and their culture whatsoever.
I am not saying that all Turkish children are angels, hell, I have worked in a college here!. They also play the same computer games and have the technologically brain numbing entertainment as their British counterparts. What I am saying though is that in general they have not lost the respect for elders and know their place in society. They are still the blooming generation, still aware of what they are and where their place in society is positioned. Whereas, the youth of the UK have accelerated their understanding of their place. They live with a mind of " I am here now give me what I want". However, you know what scares me the most?. It's not this generation in the UK, it's the generation to follow. The thought of ending back in the UK, as an old man being surrounded by the children of children who were raised without any moral compass feels me with total dread.
Even the simple things, like catching a bus come into play. The other day, I was on a very overcrowded bus here. I stood, which is the total norm here to donate my seat to an elderly man who thanked me and sat down. Opposite me was a teenage boy about fourteen years old, dressed in his school uniform, staring out the window totally lost in his own little world. He was oblivious to the over crowding and old people standing around him, whilst he sat cozily. Feeling a little angrily about this, I tapped him on his leg and politely asked him to stand and give his seat to one of the ageing people around him. He did so without any complaint and apologised!. Now, could I imagine doing that in the UK?,asking a fourteen year old boy to stand up and give up his seat. The answer is no of course. Through fear of being told where to stick the seat or fear of confrontation. It is just something that would be totally alien to attempt.
I think Mustafa Kemel Ataturk said " the future of Turkey is with its children" well if he looks down on the children of Turkey I am sure he will see a bright and respectful future..I wonder how Churchill would recieve if he also could look down at his "land fit for heros" !
