Nowhere in the world makes more sense to have patience than in Türkiye. It’s not because there are only laid-back persons or people who retired, but because all Turks are used to letting things go as much as possible and not worry too much.
One might argue that this is the ideal life, laying in the sunt most of the year, enjoying the good weather and not worrying. Another might say that things look too good to be true.
Oriental life is indeed much different from the European life. They take more time to do something and they also like to bargain a lot, which is a time-consuming process.
Am I allowed to judge them?
I think that European filters do not apply to Oriental world. It’s just different. I wouldn’t say better but definitely different.
I have tried to figure out what’s different between the two cultures and I think that one major aspect of it is religion, as they follow the Islam and the level of trust in a higher authority is much higher than for the Cristian world.
Europeans ask more questions about everything and contest everything, which we believe to be the better way for development and progress. Muslims tend to follow the destiny without asking too many questions or none.
In one way, going ahead in life with what’s given by the Lord is a simpler way of living life but they are always at the mercy of the Gods.
There are so many religions in the world that I cannot compile everything about them in a short article, but I wanted to reflect a bit on some of the differences between the two cultures as I had to go through an adaptation process here in Türkiye.
I will live here for a while and the question in my head was – how am I going to live my life here?
Well, soon I had found out that nothing goes smooth and easy when it comes to residence permit nor with the car registration or with buying groceries. You just have to have PATIENCE for everything or else you will be consumed by anxiety because nothing goes by a schedule.
PATIENCE in life is a gift from the Gods but here, in Türkiye is a necessity. It is like floating on a boat without knowing when you will get to the shore.
But drifting around all the time is not good, or at least it makes me feel lost and, slowly, I lose my ability to follow the rules.
For me, PATIENCE means that something is going to happen sometime later, within a limited timeframe. Türkiye is something else, it is somewhat lost in time and its constant negotiation process makes you continuously wonder without being able to set a reasonable answer to the problem.
I called it the “GAME OF PATIENCE” because nothing can prepare you for this life. You just have to play along. Minutes become hours, hours become days and …. guess what, days become weeks.
Who is going to win this game?
Well, I think that we all lose!
Why?
Because of the feeling of being LOST.
It’s like trying to project your future during an economic crisis or taking a medicine when you are sick without visiting the doctor. You never reach the end of it.
I just don’t feel confident in this environment.
There is also a positive aspect of it, which is,
You can procrastinate forever without feeling guilty about the outcome. If you make a mistake is Allah’s fault. If you don’t do anything is Allah’s way. If you do a good thing is because Allah allowed you to do it.
Can I change something?
Who cares? Allah cares about everything!
I don’t want to upset all the Turks but Oriental life is not for me. I could be wrong but I choose to be wrong if that’s the case.
I am living a very strange feeling and I can’t really explain it. I am just grateful about my European culture and I will try to enjoy the Oriental culture as much as possible without being too critic.
PATIENCE is a great virtue and you have to cultivate it in Türkiye if you want to have a good life. It doesn’t mean that you have to quit on you plan, it’s just something that you have to accept and play along with.
The real causes go deep in history and they are difficult to be identified and isolated. It is not even the point to fix the problem because it’s not a problem. It’s something different.
If we don’t understand it we are not allowed to criticize or complain. Nobody is forcing us to live in a world that we dislike so, for this reason only, I end my article telling you that,
The world is large and different and it’s one of the things that makes it beautiful and interesting and we don’t have to change anything about it. We can be perfectly happy by accepting the differences and enjoying the similarities.
I wish you all a wonderful day!
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