Dream – 2010

When you hear that word, a perspective comes to your mind. A route to follow. And a vehicle to take you of course. And a captain to nicely drive it. Let’s call this vehicle a ship then... And every ship has a captain at its helm. Our ship has one too. A captain. Very much like us.

The route arrives to the wheelhouse in a closed envelop. The captain tears it up as soon as the ship leaves the harbor. On this page, the path is described with all its bearings and directions that leave no chance for mistakes. I want to repeat this part, the whole journey is pre-written on that page.

“Screw the one who follows the route” says the captain. He gently throws the page that was sent to him by the head office in a closed envelop from the opening of the wheelhouse window... The page flies with the wind... The page is lost from sight in a couple of seconds... You probably get scared. I say probably, because I have never experienced something like that. The captain has probably felt fear in that situation, even for the split of a second... Maybe “Fearing” is the first sense that man has inherited way back from his ancestors.

Since we are in a beautiful story, the wind fills the wheelhouse with lots of dreams entering from the opening of the same window. The moment you hear the word “dream”, you think of a horizon. What else can a captain ask for? Having his ship with him, his dreams on his mind and the wind behind him... Now he knows that he has no more business with the closed envelops of the head office. From now on, it’s up to him whether he is on the right way or makes a mistake by following the wrong wind. It’s completely up to him. Or should we put it this way? The captain won’t be defining this journey as right or wrong any more. “The journey”, liberated from all the adjectives that define it, is freely hanging in the air on the deck, right in front of him. Is our captain aware of the happiness he has, that very few people can have? We hope he is... And his ship is so beautiful.

In most of the wheelhouses, there are flowerpots filled with flowers. Do you remember? You must definitely have seen some before. Most of the captains turn their wheelhouse into a garden from the heavens. Those captains, rather than being there to leave for somewhere, are settled in these wheelhouses as if they would never leave. Yes, it is exactly like that. I mean settling in the journey. Living in the journey. I’m talking about a captain who can go everywhere without going anywhere in the wheelhouse, with his flowers, with his plants, in a beautiful ship that is floating, that is going somewhere. It’s a dream.

Since we are in a beautiful story, the ship we are referring to since the beginning of the story is a big one. And maybe you won’t believe it, you will maybe be scared, maybe you won’t be listening to what I say, I don’t know. I have to tell this at this stage of the story. There is enough space for all of us in this ship.

Isn’t it nice?

Translation: Elif Azaklı