Botan Times EnglishHappiness of Forgetting

A few days ago, on 20 June, 15 people died in the fires that broke out in Mardin and Diyarbakır. We felt very sorry for them. We were sad, our hearts break for them and for cases that happened to us. I wonder if we will remember them after 1-2 years? How well do we remember their names, ages and faces? Can we comfortably say “15 people died years ago!” before mentioning their names? Or, like so many people and events, they will disappear into the darkness of our memories.

Although history records the days gone by, it is constantly being renovated as a living thing. History adds to new events and continues as a wheel. How much do we remember in this wheel of history? Not one hundred years or thousand years! How many things do we remember from years ago, months ago or yesterday? Or according to what criteria do we forget or remember things? These questions about forgetting also show us the process of forgetting. Human mind is an important source, both learning new things and also forgetting some things. For this reason, the middle age philosopher Augustine sees forgetting as a part of the human mind. Augustine describes the human mind as a valuable treasure and says that humans can find what they want in this treasure. If forgetting is a part of the human mind and it is like a treasure, can we say forgetting is an important thing?

Anthropologist Marc Auge answers this question in his book “Les formes de l’oubli” and says that forgetting is an important thing! In order to stay and live in the present, he says that forgetting is a necessary and important thing. What kind of forgetting Auge talks about here? Is it necessary to completely forget and leave behind the past in order to live and stay in the present? For this question Nietzsche answers and says yes, history and dependence on history is a big obstacle and a dangerous disease. If we haven’t got rid of that disease, we can’t have a strong link with the present. Therefore, for Nietzsche, people should get rid of the disease of dependence on history and use history for present life. Is history really an obstacle for our lives? Can we settle for a good life when we forget history and the future? Think that we forget the Dersim massacre, don’t talk about the Enfal massacre, our people that were executed in Mehabad, our children that burn in the cinema of Amude… Can we easily forget these events and only stay in the present? Can we settle for a good life without giving up and forgetting our history?

The ideas that consider history is an obstacle to the present are based on a common idea. Their approval is that if we always talk about history and stay in the pages of history, we won’t be able to open the door of life. And we won’t be happy. This idea isn’t totally wrong. Especially for those of us whose history has been full of pain and blood. If we remember massacre everyday, can we make a link with the present? So let’s forget it! We don’t care about history, we will forget the The Year of Fire, Halabja, Zilan Valley Massacre. Our 15 people killed in the fire, forget them and move on to present life. Just like people who react extreme(!). After sharing photos of the fire and people who died, they shared their enjoying times near the river. Here we should make a choice between forgetting history and remembering the history. Either we leave history behind and move on to the present, or we hold on to history! For Nietzsche if we hold on to history and always remember the history, we can’t be happy. Because remembering history causes people pain and sorrow and prevents them from being happy. 1000 years before Nietzsche, Omar Omer Xeyyamm also burdens his memory with the same thing and says as a fallow in his Rubaie:

Ji çehreya gulê nesîmê re nûroj xweş e

Di nav şînahiyê de ew ruwê dilsoj xweş e

Ji wan roj buhurî tu çi bêjî, ne xweş e

Dilgeş be û behsa doh neke ku îroj xweş e [1].

Xeyyamm also sees history and the past as an obstacle to his happiness and says that as long as you talk about yesterday and dwell on history, you can’t be happy. Is forgetting really happiness? Can we open a new window into a new day and a new life as if nothing had happened? Or can we sacrifice the past for the happiness of today? Can we build a bridge between the past and the present and can we balance them?

German artist Gunter Demnig has placed stones in German streets to remember Jewish people killed by the Nazis: Stumbling stones. He placed stones with the names of Jewish people on the pavement and in the street, saying that don’t forget the Jewish people who died in the fluency of life. Every step you take on the stones is a reminder of the Jewish people who died, lived and walked these streets. The name of Gunter Demnig’s project seems to draw our attention to something. As if he wanted to tell us that history and the memory of history don’t block our lives, but only stumble on us. It stumbles so that we know that the stones of history are always in our lives. These stones aren’t an obstacle to our present life, on the contrary, they offer us the opportunity of settling our future.

Of course, forgetting is a part of life, as is remembering. Even, according to the culturalist Aleida Assmann, forgetting is a more human and social behaviour than remembering. But here we should have a clear understanding of forgetting and remembering. What is remembering? If we share a historic photo once a year and forget it in 2-3 minutes, is that remembering or forgetting? Do we mean the complete abandonment of history through forgetting? If so, how can we build a common mindset? If we leave the pain of our people how can we build a common national consciousness? It doesn’t seem possible. Perhaps a life that builds with history and looks to the future will be a solution. In a word, it’s not a 2-3 minute memory. People need to be aware of history and build a common future in every step and movement of life! Is it possible? If we don’t mention our pain from history, if we ignore it for happiness, can we be ourselves? If we forget our history, can we reach tomorrow? Or we would be forgotten and disappear. As a philosopher of the 20th century, Gadamer says that what is forgotten is what has not been said.

[1] Omer Xeyyam- Rubaiyat. Sabah Kara translate from Persian – Nûbihar Publishing House/ 1998

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This article was translated by Betül Demir