Memoires
Why
Memoirs are so important?
“Learn
from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make
them all yourself.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Sometimes I listen to an
experience, a life story from a friend. I wish my friend would put
these in writing, and these stories did not stay in such verbal
expression. When people get older, they fear being forgotten. No
matter how powerful, rich, famous, intelligent, effective they are,
end is coming, all this power, wealth, activity, fame is lost.
Destruction is approaching. At that time, an effort is made to create
a document, and a book, a memoire describing his/her existence for
those who follow it.
The letters of a retired
Treasury director who reached me on the internet reminded me of the
same situation. Without any further delay, he wanted to share with
everyone the important then classified- confidential documents he had
accumulated about his existence. He served in Nixon, Kennedy periods,
his youth career, inaccessible power, activity, retirement, IMF
Philippines representation. These writings, maybe a close relative
has written. These letters are of no importance now, maybe for only
to historians in the future.
We had an old uncle in
the family. He was the general manager of a major ministry for many
years. He was close to us, but he didn't help us at all, especially
when we would ask for help. He spent the last year of his life in
bed. A young scholar took permission from him to write his memoires.
For days he took the active senior bureaucrat periods of his life on
tape, he wrote these tapes and he maybe make a book in the future.
These records remained in the researcher's personal library.
I met a famous doctor. He
was a very influential, important, rich man. He had terminal illness.
He opened a blog on the Internet, writing his life until his last
days. Years later, I came across a google search, memories of the
childhood could have just finished.
We have hired foreign
general managers to USA - Turkish joint venture company for two
terms. We paid each one of them US$ 12,500 plus charges per month. I
worked closely with them as sales manager. They returned after their
contracted time, and then we heard that they died. They both died of
terminal lung disease. There's nothing written on them. It's like
these people never lived. In Google searches, the technical articles
we write, they are seen as co-author names. They have their names in
several English press releases.
I see a tendency to write
memories with the help of "ghost writer" in our aging
riches. "I came to this world, I lived, I did a lot of work for
the community, I made money, I employed people, you do know me, you
do remember me after me", they say. Memoires is written at a
very advanced age, making it difficult to remember old events. The
stories repeat again. Sharpness and details disappear.
I just read the memory of
an old rich man. Because the image of the cigar smoker on the book
cover, which is contrary to the current political understanding, the
sale of the book was censored, the book could not be sold in the
market, it was given to a friends and three donations to a
university. I read the copy there. Fine paper, 370 pages, the book
begins with remembrance of childhood, youth, Robert College, MSc in
the US, after military service marriages, previously too small
partnership in construction companies, endlessly made overseas
domestic travels, the received orders, then the last pages of the
book full of family photos. There is no mention on his top rank in
the richest people, nor his famous Bosphorus mansion. However, in the
google searches, his name comes on these two issues. Scholarship,
foundation, university nothing. All his life he paid education
expenses of 3-5 students within his family members.
Margaret Thatcher, Bill
Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Tommy Blair, Mikhail Gorbachov, especially
Henry Kissinger, all western leaders, have written such books after
their period in power. Çanakkale 1915 war memoirs, first British
General Ian Hamilton (Gallipoli Diary, 1920), then the German General
Otto Liman von Sanders (Der Kampf um Die Dardanellen, 1927) into a
book. A young journalist Ruşen Eşref, wrote the memories of Mustafa
Kemal in Çanakkale with a weekly interview in Mustafa Kemal's house
in Şişli (1919). He first published a newspaper article and then a
book, and the interview book made Mustafa Kemal legendary Pasha.
Our famous writers Aziz
Nesin, Sabahattin Ali, Orhan Veli and Ahmet Haşim became more
permanent and immortal. The childhood memories of Aziz Nesin are very
famous. "Frankfurt Travelogue ", compiled from the
20-article of writer Ahmet Haşim who wrote during his stay in
Germany in the 1930s, are still impressive. Sebahattin Ali's novels
are still on the bestseller list. My last reading addiction, the
Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), left behind great books.
Socrates, Aristotle and Machiavelli call us centuries ago.
Did you know that the
queen writes with fountain pen and memoire every night? Every night,
without interrupting, she writes the impressions of the day. I've
seen a documentary TV show about her. The Queen records her
observations every night in her own handwriting on paper, all of
which will remain secret for 50 years, then be published. It will be
a source for researchers and historians.
I listened to a friend of
mine's experience abroad. He has been working in Russia for the last
12 years. He set up a business there, employed local people. After
the Russian Su-24 was shot down on 24-November 2015, everything was
finished there. "I'm a balloon, stuck a needle, then I exploded.
My work, my property, my property, my office is all over. They don't
give me a visa. I can't go there. All to restart, reset. " says.
In our geography memoire
/ memoirs write for some reason is not very liked. There is the fear
that "one of my writings will be taken upon someone, they will
harm my children". However, as we get older, we get out of the
standard frame, we don't fit into molds. As time passes, we can laugh
at ourselves. These virtues are not valid rules accepted in our
geography.
I tell my experiences to
the young engineers what we have done in the past, the thermal power
plant construction phases and the bidding process. My stories sound
like a fairy tale to them. I think memories / biographies are very
important. It is even more important for societies like us who have
made the same mistakes over and over again. Life is not long enough
to experience everything. It is necessary to benefit from the
experience of others.
The letter details of the
retired treasury general manager reminded me of all these. I would
appreciate it if you give us your thoughts, recommendations,
experiences and expectations.
Ankara 17 September 2019
posted by yuvakuran at 9:49 PM
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