Having a heart-to-heart talk with one of my American Professors

(I would like to post a small part of a discussion being done by one of my Professors and me. Actually, we have been emailing each other about the problems that countries usually struggle and trying to share our cultural acknowledge for a couple weeks. I think the most interesting part of this discussion is the one which is about Terrorist attacks and Islam understanding. I hope you will enjoy reading it. I would not give my professor's name, so you will see his name crossed out.)


Professor,

Tomorrow is a beginning of a holly day in Islam. We call this day Ramadan Festival which lasts one-month-period. People usually try to understand poor and homeless people's situation, so they do not eat or drink anything for a certain period of time in a day. I know it sounds interesting and different, but it is a great and beneficial habit and tradition for humankind. This is one side of the subject that I would like to share with you.

Professor, Turkey is a big and strong country not only with its spectacular beauties and values coming from its past, but also with its young population, its strategic situation, and its natural resources. Also, honestly, I can say that I am so proud of being a Turkish student studying in the US, and of having a long and rooted historical background. However, Professor, as you know, in today's world anti-islamist understanding is gaining power, and in this complex and sometimes crucial radicalism, innocent people who strongly believe in God and Humanism are being damaged emotionally and sometimes physically. Turkish Government is secular: Religious and politics are completely separated from each other, but some radical groups have been trying to push people into a big trap for a long time. What they are trying to do is to use innocent people's emotions and to force people to be a religious person by using God's name. In a secular government, everybody has the right to believe in whichever and whatever they want, but they do not want to admit it, so they are always active on this mission. Unfortunately, our president and his party have the same mentality, and I do not trust them. But professor what I'm absolutely sure and what I know is that we, as educated or uneducated youth of Turkey, will not let them make our democracy powerless and will not let them be a strong power that can set up an agony over people's believes or ideas.

Whatever happens in my country, I know that we have strong relations with our past and our founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and we will follow his way as long as we take breath.

Professor, this email might sound a little bit different, but I just wanted to share some problems happening in my country, and I hope you will be interested in that.

Tomorrow is Labor day and one more free day for everybody. I hope you will have a calm and peaceful day professor.

See you in the class on Tuesday.



Yasar,

Thank you so much for such a nice and very informative post. I am interested in the Islamic religion and way of life. This is the beginning of a holy day in Islam, but I really don't know very much about it.

Yasar, I must be very honest with you and tell you that many leaders around the world and many people are extremely frightened of the Islamic extremists. The huge problem we face is that we cannot tell who is an Islamic extremist and who is not. I have several friends who are Islamic, and I love and respect them very much, and they, too, are frightened of the Islamic extremists. My friends tell me that those Islamic extremists do not accurately represent the religion of Islam or their individual views. It shocks me that any religion would condone strapping suicide belts on innocent children, women, and mentally retarded men and women and then, blowing them up using remote controls when they get on buses or in populated market places. Yasar, that is wrong for anyone to do and to think it is done in the name of Islam is deplorable beyond words. I do not understand why peace-loving people of Islam don't speak out and condemn such behaviors and rise up and revolt against it. Why?

On a very different subject, I pray that you do well on your GMAT exam. I am sure you will make your family very proud and be an important asset to your beautiful country of Turkey.

Turkey is located in a very strategic part of the world. It is poised to play an important role in world politics. I suspect, however, that the image of the United States has been damaged over the last several years because of the poor leadership we have had governing our country. No matter which party wins the election coming up here in November in our country, our relationship with most of the other countries around the globe will greatly improve, including with your country of Turkey.

I enjoyed reading your post, and cordially invite you to write more and tell more about your country and your views toward the topics I have posed in this post.

Dr. ----



Professor ----------,

Firstly, thank you so much for your prompt answer. It is a great pleasure to share daily events and realities with you.

Professor, I always believed in Humanism which is a smooth and soft understanding based on love and respect to each other. In today's world which has endless problems among people and also countries, the only solution to this crucial situation is to respect each other and show your love by taking care of everybody even thought they are not good people. So, humanism is the only philosophy that I strongly support and think about. Professor, I want to say that first, Islamic understanding is totally related to Humanism. It says just love each other. Whatever happens to you, good or bad, fair or unfair, just continue to live in such an honest way and love others with their true or false attitudes. By the way, this does not mean that you must not do anything against something bad threatening you. We must protect ourselves as countries or as individuals, but professor, as I told you before, we must not harm others' believes and misinterpret their believes to the world. I'm so sad about what happened on 9/11 in the USA; I'm so sad about what happened 5 years ago, the big explosion which was a terrorist attack happening in Istanbul, Turkey. Moreover, It was one of the biggest explosions that Turkish people experienced in Istanbul, and a lot of people died. Also, I was taking a Math test at my university, and I heard the explosion as if it was next to us. It was scaring even though it was so far from us. What I'm trying to say is that they are not Muslims; they are not Christians;
They are not Jewish people. Therefore, Professor, I believe that terrorists do not have a religion and innocent believes. They are just brainwashed puppets, as Americans call, losers. I think they will not stop their terrifying attacks all over the world and I hope governments could come together to solve this second biggest problem coming after environmental problems. Professor, our government and our people showed their angers to these stupid terrorists and their damn mentality. For example, maybe Turkey is the best example as a victim suffering from terrorist attacks. Turkey is a big country, but in the south-eastern part of Turkey there has been some attacks which have caused the death of lots of innocent people. So, I know the importance of the situation.

Again Professor, I would like to underline that Islam understanding is not bad;in fact, the bad thing is those killers.

Have a good night and see you in tomorrow's class.