become a "globe friend", that means friends from around the globe working for the good of the globe

Now we should pick topics.. I think each of us should have a major concern. Mine is definitely “wars”.

But my sub-concern will definitely be “poverty and children”, which does not mean I cannot support all the other topics.

Soon I’ll try to list the things I/we can do about the topics “wars” and “poverty and children”.

I think I have listed our major concerns in general. Do you have comments or additions?

- Environment

a.Nuclear energy
b.Pollution
c.Global warming
d.Change in natural resources/end of oil as a fuel
e.Ecology and recycling

-Wars

-Animals

-Poverty

-Health
a. Sexual health
b. Medical safety
c. Medical needs of poor countries

-Accountability of globe-friendly organizations

-Child abuse
a. Child pornography – This makes me sick, really sick :(
b. Working chilren

-Women’s problems

I agree. It is impossible to save the world alone. But it is possible to do a lot personally and to organize many people for the same purpose.

Maybe it is time to actually do something. Could you please write to me what you are concerned about the world the most? I know Mykle is concerned about animals for instance. Then maybe we can devise a functioning system where everyone will be doing something about what they are concerned about the most. I myself am concerned about wars and hunger the most.

Cheers

I think Happychik’s entry was quite “real” which I really admire.

I am a real dreamer and I have a tendency to change things to the good but sometimes lack the ability to see the reality. Though, I think the combination of “dreaming” people and “reality-seeing” people would be the spirit to change the world if they all mean to do good. I think this “energy” and “self-sufficiency” theory would be one of the priorities for peace. Self-sufficiency is also a sine qua non for individual peace or simply peace with your partner. It would no doubt be a sine qua non for international peace.

Besides, I believe that changing the world to the good will mean lots of research, theories, designs and application of these theories and designs by skillful people. I personally believe that I can start something like this but need help of others. I have a non-political draft project to be developed. It mainly concerns hunger and war. I want to implement it in 10 years step by step. We’ll see. Even if it does not work, I will at least have done what I can.

Giggles

People say it is early to plant trees now, I will wait for a few more weeks.

I called a foundation in Turkey called TEMA, which aims at preventing erosion via afforestation. I thought they would help me about where to plant trees, which is really important now in Turkey, as large forest areas have burnt in the latest fires. But they were reluctant or too lasy. I’ll try consulting related departments of universities.

Cheers

I have been on a one-week vacation on the south coast of Turkey and it was great. Time flew slower there.. I swam, practiced yoga, talked to wise people, enjoyed the nature and hugged trees.. :) Wish I could stay longer. When I returned back to Istanbul I was shocked by the crowd and the chaos of the city. Some day I should live somewhere like that. Once I have done the things I want to do..

I saw that I could live there on little money and I began to see myself really lucky for not needing too much money.

Hope you all had a nice week, too.

Giggles

I do not consider any reason logical enough to kill someone else, except for if you are defending yourself. That is something else, I guess.

What you say is closer to reality than what I’ve said, I’m afraid. However, I would still dream of a future where compromise or self-sacrifice would replace breach of other people’s rights. Also in our individual lives.

Cheers

Dylan has certainly developed the text a lot. Now I need to proceed to the next step, that is writing to my instructors at uni and to associations that can support us.

The edited version of the text:

WAR IS ILLOGICAL

Countries, states, international unions of countries, or whatever, all fall into the same misconception as many human beings individually do: We aim at power or money as a means leading to happiness, security or honor.

Have you all heard of the Skopos theory? For the benefit of those not in the translators’ family I will try to explain what the Skopos theory is, briefly. “Skopos” is a theory which prioritizes the purpose of the translated text as the major goal of translation. Accordingly, translations of a single text would differ in many respects depending on the purpose for which they were translated. For instance Hesse’s “Narcissus and Goldmund” would receive a much more embellished translation if it were being translated for adults than if it were being translated for children. So what is the significance of the good old Skopos theory when considering warfare?

As the Skopos theory suggests for translation, purpose similarly plays a major role in our lives. We do almost everything for a purpose; even the natural activities of the wonderful and complicated systems in our bodies all have purposes. We have some end in mind when we attempt to do something; though we may attain it or not. Attempting to do something without a purpose is a purpose in itself, paradoxically.

What is the purpose of the “almighty” war, then? – Power? Money?
Might be..

Then what is the purpose of power and money? – Security? Happiness? Honor?
Must be..

Countries, states, international unions of countries, or whatever, all fall into the same misconception as many human beings individually do: We aim at power or money as a means leading to happiness, security or honor. First of all, power and/or money seldom lead to security. Pragmatic power- power that does not emerge from the willing submission of others, and which is certainly the case in war- necessitates having enemies and thus the sacrifice of security. Even on an individual basis, considering human beings, struggle for power or money that breaches others’ rights leads to a disturbance of the conscience and thus of inner peace and the disturbance is of course mutual. Likewise, countries disturb not only their own peace but also the peace of others with war. Aiming at future wealth and thereby more security, countries trigger more enmity towards them, paving the way for more wars. Aiming at future wealth and thereby more happiness, warring countries cause pain, grief, a breach of the basic human right-to live-, financial loss and what is worse, permanent environmental damage for all parties, not only during the time of war and its aftermath but also well into the future.
To reiterate, power and money, which are the ultimate ends of personal greed or, on a larger scale, war, lead neither to security nor happiness. I will leave it to you to judge whether personal greed or war leads to honor or not.

If you agree that “WAR IS ILLOGICAL” , be it on the grounds stated above or for any other reason, please add it to your translations, interpretations, articles or any other kind of writing or speech, especially the ones that are destined to reach other people, as a form of widespread protest against war, against wars of yesterday, against wars of today and against wars of tomorrow, which might possibly be prevented.

A Translator

Footnote: This text aims at organizing a non-political and peaceful protest against war by inviting all the translators and interpreters in the world to add the simple phrase “WAR IS ILLOGICAL” mainly to their translations and interpretations between certain dates for a given period of time. The protest will be supported by the X Associations and the translators/interpreters cannot be held legally responsible.

I could write the statement I want to send to international translator associations or unions. Tonight a friend of mine from New Zealand will check the English of the text. You can find below the text itself, before editing though. I would be glad to receive feedback, any comments that can develop the text.

“WAR IS ILLOGICAL

Have you all heard of the Skopos theory? Supposing that you are out of the translators’ family I will try to explain what Skopos theory is, briefly. Skopos theory is a theory which prioritizes purpose of the translated text as the major goal of translation. Accordingly, the translations of a single text would differ in translations done for different purposes. For instance Hesse’s “Narcissus and Goldmund” would be translated in a much more embellished way if it was being translated for adults than if it was being translated for children. So how is the good old Skopos theory related to war?

As what the Skopos theory suggests for translation, purpose also has been assigned a major role in our lives. We do almost everything for a purpose; even the natural activities of the wonderful system of our bodies all have purposes. We have some end in mind while we attempt to do something; though we may attain it or not. Attempting to do something without a purpose is a purpose itself, paradoxically.

What is the purpose of the “mighty” war, then? The purpose of the showy war, which has not failed to remind itself from time to time throughout history, and most of the time unforgettably? “ – Power? Money?
Might be..

What is the purpose of power or money? – Security? Happiness? Honor?
Should be..

Countries, states, international unions of countries, or whatever, all fall into the same misconception as many human beings individually do: We aim at power or money as means leading to happiness, security or honor. First of all, power or money does hardly lead to security. Pragmatic power- which is baseless and does not emerge from the willing submission of others, and which is no doubt the case in war- necessitates having enemies and thus sacrifice of security. Even on the individual basis, struggle for power or money breaching others’ rights leads to disturbance of the conscious and thus the inner peace- there is no need to mention you need to disturb other people’s inner peace while doing this to yourself. Likewise, countries disturb not only their own peace but also others’ with war. Aiming at future wealth and thus more security, countries trigger more enmity towards them, paving the way for more wars. Aiming at future wealth and thus more happiness, warring countries cause pain, grief, the breach of the basic human right-to live-, financial loss and what is worst permanent environmental damage for all the parties involved, not only during the war and the aftermath but also in the future. To repeat, power or money, which are the ultimate ends of personal greed or on a larger extent war, do not lead to security or happiness. I would leave it to you to judge whether personal greed or war leads to honor or not.

If you also think that it “WAR IS ILLOGICAL”, be it on the grounds stated above or others, please add it to your translations, interpretations, articles or any kind of writing and speech, especially the ones that reach other people, as a form of widespread protest against war, against wars of yesterday, against wars of today and against wars of tomorrow, which can possibly be prevented.

A Translator”

Planting trees is left for next weekend, I’m afraid..