Hope – Hüseyin Gelis https://gelis.org Mon, 20 May 2019 09:57:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 Let’s start the year with an optimistic perspective https://gelis.org/en/2019/01/07/lets-start-the-year-with-an-optimistic-perspective/ https://gelis.org/en/2019/01/07/lets-start-the-year-with-an-optimistic-perspective/#respond Mon, 07 Jan 2019 10:32:54 +0000 https://gelis.org/?p=1129 As the original texts are written in Turkish, English translation is provided for non-Turkish readers. The author apologizes in advance for any and all possible changes and losses in meaning due to translation.

We have already left the first week of 2019 behind. I believe it would be best for all of us to start the year with hope and especially optimism. Well then, what exactly is “optimism”? I have finished reading Steven Pinker’s book “Enlightenment Now” a few days ago. This Canada-born American experimental psychologist defines optimism as “the theory that all failures -all evils- are due to insufficient knowledge.”

There will always be failures or problems, because our knowledge will always be infinitely far from complete. What we need to keep in mind is this: We may encounter problems that are difficult to solve, but it is a big mistake to confuse them with problems unlikely to be solved. Most problems are solvable and each particular failure or evil that we encounter is actually a problem that can be solved. Therefore, we need to be optimistic and focus on the solution to be able to go forward.

An optimistic civilization is open to development and diversity, it is not afraid of innovations, and it has a tradition of constructive criticism. Its institutions focus on continuous improvement, identify failures, and find ways to eliminate them.

There will always be solutions to problems as long as we are optimistic.

After all, what is life but continuous problem-solving?

Happy new year to all!

]]> https://gelis.org/en/2019/01/07/lets-start-the-year-with-an-optimistic-perspective/feed/ 0 Get Rid of Despair https://gelis.org/en/2016/04/04/get-rid-of-despair/ https://gelis.org/en/2016/04/04/get-rid-of-despair/#respond Mon, 04 Apr 2016 10:12:48 +0000 https://gelis.org/?p=467 As the original texts are written in Turkish, English translation is provided for non-Turkish readers. The author apologizes in advance for any and all possible changes and losses in meaning due to translation.

I have more time to read or listen to news on weekends. I see something that is experienced by almost everyone in different parts of the world: Despair. Yet, hope is the most important emotion that keeps us alive and enables us to proceed. Hope is exactly what we need right now.
Thus, I would like to share the words of Bertrand Russell. Don’t you think they also make sense today?
“Get Rid of Despair:
Freedom of opinion and conscience have never been so worthwhile in any age of the history. We must all try harder to reach a higher goal than today. Mankind must have a strong will against a system that creates oppression, injustice and poverty. We must be more vigilant, more dynamic and more powerful. We must defy injustice, groundless hostilities, dishonesty, and oppression. To be strong and smart in the face of a disaster, we must remember what is good and bad. The way to get rid of despair: To remember, to broaden our horizons, to try to see and appraise what is good, rather than the bad.”

]]> https://gelis.org/en/2016/04/04/get-rid-of-despair/feed/ 0 We should celebrate the youth and next generations every day https://gelis.org/en/2015/05/19/we-should-celebrate-the-youth-and-next-generations-every-day/ https://gelis.org/en/2015/05/19/we-should-celebrate-the-youth-and-next-generations-every-day/#respond Tue, 19 May 2015 08:30:41 +0000 https://gelis.org/?p=1037 As the original texts are written in Turkish, English translation is provided for non-Turkish readers. The author apologizes in advance for any and all possible changes and losses in meaning due to translation.

May 19th Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day has a very important meaning to me: Hope. It is impossible to live without hope. Life means constant problem-solving and after every problem we solve, we are faced with another one. This is the same in both social and business life. We may not solve each problem the way we like, yet we must keep our hope for younger generations. It is our responsibility to leave a better and livable world to future generations and thus they can live in a better world and leave it as a legacy to next generations.

For the very reason, we, in fact, should celebrate our greatest value -the youth and future generations- every day. We are grateful to great leaders such as Atatürk for reminding us of them and such days.

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