Losing focus on what’s really important

I used to be much more active on social media. It was my habit to send a few tweets each day and post something nice on Instagram. I used to get a kick out of a few likes from my 600-plus followers who were kind enough to send them. At the same time, I felt empowered. I felt that I was making a difference until I realized that none of my social media posts had really mattered that much. I probably did not contribute to anything just by retweeting a tweet that everybody already saw a million times. So I found ways to stop my social media cravings. After a month I came to the realization that the time I had spent as an active contributor to the chasm of Twitter attempting to write something striking and make a comeback that would silence the others had caused me to lose focus on what really is important. Once I had distanced myself from all of the hassle of social media, I regained my focus.

I believe the same lesson is true for politicians. When they are too bent on getting one over their opponents, they lose focus. They cannot realize what is really important while dueling words with the other faction.

I want to hold their hands, look into their eyes and say that whatever you want to say to smear your opponent doesn’t really matter; it is not important. The seat you are occupying, the self-importance that you and the people who surround you attach to yourself is not important; the money you make, the power you have or want, are not important.

The only thing that really matters is life and the conditions in which life exists. We are in a critical stage where we can stop our current way of life and progress. We can create a better society in Turkey and the world where all people have equal opportunities, where they feel safe and able to find meaning in their lives. We can reverse global warming. We can stop animals from going extinct. We can change the way we look at politics; we can change the definition of power. We can change the whole conversation of current times. If we want to.

Technology is enabling us to move forward. We can provide the world with free and high-quality education if we wanted to. We can end world hunger by clever choices. We are at the verge of printing meat via raw material. We don’t have to torture animals to feed humanity. We don’t need to destroy forests for more agricultural lands as we can now grow vegetables without soil. We can harness sun’s energy at high efficiency levels; we don’t have to build more atomic energy plants. We have the tools to make all the minorities heard. We have the tools to make self-sustaining homes for homeless people.

We have the technology, but do we have the will?

Do we want to choose peace? Can we live in a world without any enemies? Can we live accepting that every individual has the right to have high quality education and access to nutrient-rich food?

We have to decide. Will we as humanity spend our days trying to get one over the people we see as demons on social media, or are we going to put social media and all that technology has given us to some good use?