A Redundant Man: İshak Alaton_{Cemeteries Are Full Of Indispensable People}

"At an early age, I started questioning myself, wondering what there was beyond becoming wealthy. When I reached 65, I wrote an essay. It's title was "The Ability to Become Redundant." As I advance in age, the time I had left became more limited while the number of books waiting to be read on my shelves increased. I needed to find a solution to this contradictory situation. I needed to change my lifestyle. I reduced the time I wasted sleeping to the minimum. Transferring my business responsibilities to the younger generation sooner would address this situation. I took rapid steps in that direction. It was a great source of pride for me to see professionals who had absorbed the principles set from the beginning by the founders. It value this more and more. I see becoming redundant as the crowning of my life..." Now when I look back as a man who has reached 85, I believe I have covered quite a distance.

Life isn't as long as one thinks. Time flows and passes. What is left behind is what you've done, the causes you have struggled for... Don't forget that what we call life is not about the years you have spent, it is made of what you've experienced. Everything starts small, it starts with small steps... Unexpected obstacles appear at unexpected moment, obstacles emerge in front of you and you are being tested.... Of course, there are opportunities too... Your character and your attitude develop as a result of what you've experienced.

It is good that I realised early, after I had earned some money, that owning more money wasn't very important.... It is good that I made success appear ordinary, that I diversified my assets... It is good that I pursued my quest and confronted the question "what will I strive for in my life?"... It is good that I always sought respectability... It is good that I met Üzeyir Garih... It is good that in time I left the business to professionals... It is good that I embarked on the way to become redundant... It is good that I freed myself and relieved myself of my burdens... It is good that I wasn't raised with a single identity... It is good that I turned to my social responsibilities. It is good that I thought, and expressed my opinions courageously... It is good that I didn't pay attention to threats.... It is good that I questioned myself and the society, that is you... It is good that I said: "let's cleanse ourselves of our sins"... It is good that I became an "early crowing rooster".
I live every day with the aim of becoming a more perfect and a more useful human being...