O. S. ARI - Some Anecdodes of Him -he was famous also for his wit and wisdom

ANECDOTES OF THE LATE O. S. ARI

” …Ari’s voice, full of wit, filled the room… ” (Mustafa
Dogrusoz in ‘Kibris’ -5 February 1999)

” …He always wore a smile… ” (Harid Fedai in ‘Halkin Sesi’
-27 December 1992)

(In his newspaper columns [mostly between 1968-1992 in Cypriot
‘Halkin Sesi’ -also ‘Birlik’ etc.] often by a little story or
joke did the hailed teacher-thinker-poet the late Orhan Seyfi
Ari [1918- 1992] made or highlighted his points ~so also in his
lectures, debates, discussions, teaching his school pupils.
These simply put anecdotes are hoped briefly and miscellaneously
to familiarise with his wit and a few of the less involved of
the very many views he was also popular for…)

DIPLOMATIC COMMUNIQES, he thought, were rather like broadcasting
live on the radio a match between two boxers called Abdi and
Bandinelli, and announcing the winner as Abdinelli…

‘NEVER TOO LATE to change one’s mind or to make a start’ was not
of more use to one, sometimes, or to a nation, than it would be
to the driver of a car rolling down a cliff to then decide to
drive carefully…

IRRELEVANCY was a natural and common refuge of man ~”You have
gone bald!” he joked with a friend who he had not seen for a
long time -his friend looked at him, then responded, “Ha..! As
if your son’s got more hair than I..!”

THE TROUBLES OF THE WORLD had much to do with this, that some
with breathing difficulties had become deep sea divers…

IGNORANT WE ALL ARE of many things, he thought -some of us, even
of our ignorance…

PERSEVERANCE it was an example of, the little delicate plant
that shots and grows through the concrete of the pavement …

WHINING “O-oh!..” his friend explained, “I missed my train.. oh,
I was twenty minutes late.. I am so sorry…” He replied: “Don’t
be -you would have missed it also if you were only twenty
seconds late..!”

EVOLUTION.. “we were apes”… Now..?! Were we not, now, ‘man’!?..

JUSTIFICATIONS of some reminded him of someone in his early
teens to whom he had given leaflets, booklets, on how harmful
smoking was -some months later the teenager came to him waving a
newspaper which mentioned that an elderly person was a smoker…

RELATIONSHIPS had much to do with knowing that one could not
stand before a mirror and make faces and expect to see a smiling
image…

STRENGTH did not necessarily suffice ~”I am a wrestler!”
threatened one -the other laughed: “But.. I am a runner…”

GOD “Perhaps does not exist;” he said “but, Sir, what if He
does..!?”

POPULARITY it helped to wear a smile -the vinegar merchant who
smiled had more customers than the honey merchant who did not…