Why Democracy?

Democracy is like love: one cannot give up on it just because it is hard. It is like Edison’s lamp. At some point, if not at the ninety-ninth attempt, it will work at the next, or at least, our life will set the next step. Yes, it is confusing and distressing. Yet, it is also exhilarating. Why?

Photo by Capturing the human heart. on Unsplash

You may think that the idea of ‘the people’ is utopian as we live in the age of populist manipulations. Albeit life is short, life is hard; when we refuse to wake up, it is called depression. The same applies to democracy.
One should never give up. Because, despite all the pain, it is also a wonderful opportunity.

The pain to defend democracy is like the pain of choosing to become a human again and again in a world where many turn into a beast.

Yet, the pain to defend democracy can also bring together the hearts that sing the their melodies in tune with the universal symphony of existence. Without one and each unique note, voice, echo, sound, a symphony will not ‘be.’

It is exciting to meet new and different melodies every day. It is exciting to rhyme together with nature. It is exciting to imagine a world where discord makes the most beautiful music if it is a part of a universal symphony of respect and appreciation. It is exciting to know that we live because we can only live together.

So, dear reader, faith in democracy is like faith in love. One can not give up because our experience in the past or our present experience has been hard. One cannot give up on democracy, because, sometimes people make democracy, and sometimes, democracy makes the people into the humans.

This life is full of tests, yes. Yet, the biggest of all is our individual choices in everyday life between choosing to act like humans despite all the legitimate reasons to unleash the lions within.

Stay safe, stay calm, and keep your faith in yourself, in the human inside, and the human inside the others. If not today, it will come out one day.

For that day, we aim to sail…

through the winds of the people

the mast of democracy

feeling the waves and storms,

and keeping our hearts as the light house

for the human we are

towards the shores,

where we can the be best and most of our own version

Democracy is fragile. It survives as long as you and I choose it to survive. How do we choose? By committing to the universal human values even at the darkest of our times. Easy to say, I know. Thus, it is as precious as humans, and love.

Choosing to stay as a human being is hard; but, it is worth it. Don’t you think? Would not it be wonderful to see the people who are so powerful yet so humble? The ones who can do all, yet, choose to abide by the universal values at all cost?

Photo by Grant Setera on Unsplash

One becomes the human and joins the symphony of existence with their unique and most beautiful melody. That is not the song of land of utopia or heaven, no. It is maybe a silence in sheer clamorous conflict. Or it is a flower growing in a muddy and smelly swamp. It is the faith in democracy. It is the faith in humanity. It is resistance to stay as humans despite all. It is resistance to stay as humans in a world where many look like humans, but how rare real humans are!

To be true to universal human values makes us ‘be.’ One doesn’t have to dream of the utmost coherence or harmony to uphold the values of democracy. On the contrary, it is a conscious acceptance of difference and indifference. It is to choose to smell like roses because it is who the humans are made to be. It is the hope that all will find a way to come together around universal values.

So dear reader, democracy is like love:

in health and sickness,

in peace and conflict,

we are committed.

For the love of humanity and my respect for the Maker of all, I choose democracy over and again, despite all the pain and struggle.

P.S.
I wrote this essay as one of many and in the spirit of ‘the academics of peace.’
Mothers suffer the most in Turkey from politics.

In the deepest sadness and memory of the children of Turkey:

For Rıfat, who died out of a broken heart at the age of 19 in Canada, in the last week of February 2021;
For the ten-year-old Nurefşan, who drowned in the waters of the Maritsa river, trying the flee her own country on 05/03/2021.

May your names make history, in the history of peace.