If you could erase one event from history, what would it be?
If I am being honest, when I read this question, I felt that I would not want to erase any particular event from history. Because not everything that has happened in history has necessarily been entirely bad. Sometimes, an event happening teaches us something that we may not have understood otherwise.
But if I were truly given the chance to erase something from history, I would not erase one particular event. I would want to erase the mindset of society that is built on double standards.
It is a mindset where, although we call ourselves human beings, we can be ready to do almost anything for a little happiness, comfort, or desire of our own. This is where I come face to face with the hypocrisy in society that we probably see every day, but do not think about deeply enough.
I had been thinking about writing on this subject for the past few days, and today I feel that I have finally got the opportunity to share my thoughts on it with all of you.
This is not only about what we are doing or what we can do. It is about a way of thinking that we have gradually turned into a habit.
Often, when someone else does something, we feel that it is wrong. We think about it, judge it, and sometimes even question that person for doing it. But when the same thing becomes connected to our own happiness, comfort, or desire, its meaning changes for us. We no longer feel that it is equally wrong.
That, to me, is the double standard.
And now, we have not limited this double standard only to human beings. We have extended it to animals and nature as well.
We bring certain animals into our homes. We live with them, take care of them, and treat them like members of our family. We have a great deal of love and affection for them. We may even call ourselves animal lovers.
But at the same time, there are other species that we kill for our taste and a few moments of pleasure.
And then I wonder—where does that love go?
If we love one animal, shouldn’t we also think about the lives of other species? Does simply bringing an animal into our home really make us an animal lover?
I know that not everyone will agree with me on this. Some people may even disagree with what I am saying. But all I want to say is that perhaps we should at least ask ourselves where the limits of our compassion really are.
And this is not only about animals.
We are doing something similar with nature as well.
Whether it is rivers, oceans, trees, plants, or mountains, we continue to use them for our needs, comfort, and desires. We take so much from nature, but do we think with the same seriousness about what we are giving back to it?
If we look at the present world, there are wars and conflicts taking place in different parts of the world. They may have different political, economic, and social causes, but at times, the desire for power, ego, greed, and the need to prove one’s strength over others can also play a role.
But what about the people who lose their lives in all of this? What was their fault?
What was the fault of the children whose childhood is spent in the middle of war?
And why should we talk only about human beings? Such conflicts also affect animals, other species, and nature. Yet we often do not think about these consequences deeply enough because our attention remains limited to our own interests and problems.
I believe that if we were truly given the chance to erase something from history, we should not only think about erasing one particular event. We should think about erasing the mindset that gives birth to such events.
Because even if an event were erased, if the mindset remained the same, perhaps the same thing could appear again in another time and in another form.
Perhaps that is why I would not want to erase any particular event from history.
I would want to erase the mindset of double standards—the mindset in which our compassion changes according to our own convenience.
Because the victims of this mindset are not only human beings. Animals, other species, and nature are also paying the price for it in one way or another.
If something has to be erased, perhaps we should erase the mindset behind an event before we try to erase the event itself.