Think Like a Cactus!

There was a man who lived with dozens of cactus on his tiny balcony on the corner of the neighborhood: Uncle Cemil. No flowers, no geraniums... His love was only for cactus. Every morning he would go out on his balcony with his coffee, look at his cactus and chat with them. “You look like a thorn again today, but your heart is soft, I know you!” he would say and smile. At first the people in the neighborhood said, “I think the sun has gone out on this man,” but then they got used to him. Children even came up to him and asked, “Uncle Cemil, which cactus is the most talkative?”

Uncle Cemil's favorite cactus was the round and hairy one; he named it Şefik. One day he said, “Şefik is sulking a bit today, I think he got too much sun,” and his neighbor Mrs. Elif, passing by on the balcony, smiled. “Does a cactus ever sulk, Mr. Cemil?” Uncle Cemil winked: “They are very sensitive inside, but they hide it with their thorns.” From that day on, Mrs. Elif bought a cactus in her own pot. She secretly named it Şefika.

Over time, the tiny army on Uncle Cemil's balcony grew, becoming not only a plant but also a kind of therapy corner for the neighborhood. Everyone bought a cactus, Uncle Cemil gave them names and characters. “This one is a bit stubborn, this one breaks easily, but it will bounce back,” and people found their own versions of themselves in the cactus. And so, the neighborhood was no longer a man talking to cactus, but a neighborhood thinking with cactus.