Elif Shafak. 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world (№ 410096)

D/Ali said millions of Istanbulites used only a small fraction of their potential because of the pernicious proximity of the graves. The hunt for innovations is lost if you remind all the time, they say, death is about to come with its scythe, which glows red in the rays of the setting sun. That is why renovation projects did not lead to anything and the infrastructure could not be built, and the collective memory was no stronger than a napkin. Why create the future or return with thoughts to the past if we are constantly sliding towards thinking about the end? Democracy, human rights, freedom of speech – do they make sense if we all end up die? The arrangement of cemeteries and the treatment of the dead, as D/Ali concluded, are the biggest difference between civilizations.