SLEEPING PARTNER

Hello, my dear friends of life in my heavenly Turkey, whose health is precious, whose hearts are kind, whose souls are beautiful, and who are full of awareness.

Our relentless war against cigarettes, or rather, drugs, continues. In previous weeks, we mentioned that cigarettes are medically considered a type of drug. Last week’s column touched upon sensitive dynamics. One of our faculty members sent us an email stating:

“Mr. Uğur! Are we going to prevent smoking and similar use in schools and universities with a ‘magic wand’? First, educate the parents,” he commented.

That’s a very interesting approach from an instructor. I hesitate to write here where the training started and continued. But I can’t help but ask.

Why are you there?

How many ‘awareness’ training sessions have you given to students so far?

How many seminars have you organized at your university in the field of social-emotional development?

Are you aware of the methods and techniques used by specially trained drug traffickers, disguised as students, to psychologically match with and approach students right under your nose?

There’s a concept called ‘identification crisis’. Have you ever heard of it, professor?

Perhaps not every parent is perfect. Except for traumatic cases, every mother and father tries their best for their child. And they do. But who will protect these children from dangers they are “unaware” of? Leaving aside being educators (however one can be in this mindset), aren’t you, above all else, morally obligated to do much better in this insidious game being played on the mental and physical health of Turkish youth?

No matter which side you’re on, there’s one undeniable truth: in this life, everything, good or bad, returns to its source. This topic could go on and on, so I won’t elaborate on it now.

Unfortunately, our love for children, from infancy to adolescence, is both unconscious and overly sentimental. There are families who, after gently putting their children to bed, shower them with excessive affection, almost devouring them. We show our children great tenderness under the guise of love, which is very open to abuse, and then when things get difficult, we say, “What do you know?” Regardless of their age, we should see our children as individuals and approach them with respect and self-confidence.

Even babies start moving around and trying to assert themselves when they’re only 6 months old. Let them grow up as ‘individuals’. Because we’ve created a society where children never grow up. In this country, there are still parents who treat 40-year-olds like children. Because that’s how you grew up too. Let the next generation grow up with stronger perceptions, higher awareness, and greater understanding.

THE MAGIC WORD
Dear readers, dear parents, the period between the ages of 12 and 18 is a critical stage of social-emotional development. Identification and friendship constitute two very important aspects of social-emotional development. In common parlance, this period is called adolescence. Young people at this age criticize and investigate everything. Because a person tries to build a new world of their own. And in that world, the most important source of security for a young person is friendship. The magic word here is friendship.

WEEKLY AWARENESS NOTE
Smoking and the significant damage it causes to the brain become even more dangerous when combined with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. 40% of young people are obese. First of all, we know that smoking damages and reduces the elasticity of elastic fibers in all parts of the body. But the loss of elastic structure in the brain’s blood vessels, combined with the effect of blood pressure within the vessels, can lead to branching, aneurysms, and high blood pressure, which can cause unexpected and very bad surprises. I’m not even mentioning learning disabilities. There are funny characters in some cartoons who suddenly have cigarettes popping in their mouths. Remember how many of us would cry with laughter while watching them? Smoking and drug addiction are exactly like that. Let’s laugh, let’s have fun. Let’s live healthy lives, both mentally and physically. As long as our loved ones don’t suddenly shed tears.

Uğur Uğural