Believe me, there’s no wit in this. They called, we couldn’t turn down and went. Actually not going would also do. My thanks to them, they realized we were bored and sent us back at the end of 5½ months!

I will not script a drama of “Poor Mehmetcik, Pitiful Mehmetcik” here (Turkish soldiers called "Mehmetcik" like American soldiers called "G.I. Joe"). I was lucky – luck indeed – that my home & wife being in Bursa, I was placed in a very close city, Balikesir. And more than that, I was short-term. That is, “nylon” in military jargon. And moreover, it was a manufacturing plant which is a base quarter for repair & maintenance of the motor vehicles belonging to the army. We were trainees half the day, and engineer for the rest…

Do you know, what was probably the greatest benefit of military service for me? It reduced my Tolerance for Bearing… Yes, exactly the opposite of what one would expect. “You learn 3 things in the army,” said one of our NCO’s; “To be respectful, to be patient and to sneak off…”. Truthfully, in this community, he who avoids many works and he who gets lost most, gains the bonuses – not the ones who work hard and take many responsibilities. “The Army gives endurance” said a lieutenant. Yes, it teaches to be patient, to forbear, to endure but at last it makes you take an oath: “From now on, unless there is weapon force applied, I shall never do what I do not want or what I do not love. And I shal never revere to ones who do not deserve !!” Careful here, I am saying “Tolerance for Bearing”, I am not saying “Patience – Perseverance – Resolution”. Aren’t we, each of us, distinct and unique creatures? Doesn’t this authenticity, even solely, grant us with the right to live as to keep our hearts pleasant? Why then meannes? Why then “bearing”?

Actually, the diagnosis is simple: Comfort Zone. We do not rise to action until the conditions we’re in pushes us out of our Comfort Zone. Our computer wheezes when running, but we do not go change the fan till the wheeze turns into a rumble. We do not sit down and face with our lover with whom we continually argue and reconcile, and wait till the next argument arises. When we see our sullen-faced gossipper neighbours, we bow a feigned salutation and keep walking on. We get up at 7 a.m. and rush to our job, which helps us get by but does not nourish us spiritually. Yet, how beautifully we put into words: “my soul is bored” we say, “my soul didn’t long for that” we say. Man, this is soul ! That which is the most true, the innermost, the most “I” ! Isn’t a signal from that core necessary & sufficient cause to rise to action in order to change some things? For me, personally, knowing what I want and what I love is an enigma. I can never know that clearly, for I’m searching it mentally. However, it is easy knowing what I do not want and what I do not resonate with. Be honest, listen to the signals of the soul and keep the comfort zone narrow, and you strip off that which doesn’t fit you. And I discovered this: although I have not full control over what I’ll insert in my life, I have control over what I’ll keep in my life among those the river brings. And as our beloved Spider Man says in his prime motto “With great power comes great responsibilty”. Such a control power over my life, brings along the responsibilty to wield this power…

Well, I’m not joking! Suffocated by the overtime-rich hurry in my job, I went to the Army. Now, in the employment negotiations I ask how often overtime occurs and whether it is paid or not. I reject the job if I’m going to work under a bed-tempered and adverse chief. I was not pleased with the neighbourhood I live in, so I’m looking for a new house; perhaps even a new city. With 3-4 friends, who are not much fond of industry and think of running their own business, we are attempting to open a café. Army made me more revolutionist !

Here is yet another benefit of the Army – I saw my limits: They are where I put them! For example, running is one thing I used to say “never” and succeded. I, who used to collapse by the third tour around a football field, ran 2,5km in 11 minutes. A friend, who used to complain “I cannot sleep when there is anybody else in the room. How will I marry?”, was placed in the larger dorm – 200 guys in a hall. Now he can sleep in anywhere at any hour of the day. Ah, yes, then there is this: living the day for 18-20 hours. You get up at 06:30 a.m. Train till noon together with the battalion, so that the precious projects of our engineer 1st lieutenants and the other tasks of the plant remains for the nights. Thus, to-bed hour is around midnight. The night-time sentryship shreds this already crippled sleep-time and what remains is a 4-6 hours sleep. Sure, the next morning you get up again at 06:30. I already do not sleep much but if my sleep order is disturbed, it takes 3 days for my tension to take me down. Well, that was my own diagnosis, to be more precise and I used to live by that. And living by that was naturally a luxury in the Army. Yet, I was awake and upright quite energetic ! So this belief about 8 hours sleep being necessary turns out to be hollow too ! These are maybe petty examples but this is indeed clear : Most of our blokages are made of our beliefs about ourselves.

There was an elder brother at mid thirties, who had been in the rowing team of the school. Their code was “hit again where it ends”. That is to say, at the point you say “I’m done, I’m over, I’m drained of strength”, you give your body an order – using pure will power – to row the oar for one last time. There comes a miracular adrenalin pump and you feel you could row for another x kilometers. At the next point of run-out, just pull another row and the cycle starts over… Of course this is an extreme application . It can wear the body out in the long run, but the damn thing called human is interminable! When we say “I’m on the limit”, we actually say “I’ve imagined only up to this level” or “I’ve come before only up to here”

However… Just at this point, a voice from behind my head adds calmly but firmly: There might literally be no limits to the power related to capability; but there is a certain element that affects the intensity of this power – PASSION. The more passionately we get involved, the more this power from nowhere increases. There we go back to what we first learned from the Army: Finding what is flavorable and what pleases one’s soul is the essence.

Besides, I met flowers in the Army. Brilliant guys from all over the country, with a clean heart full of goodwill, learned or “illiterate”, guys like flowers… While my trust to the Army diminished, my trust to my country growed indeed!

We claim to be different and coluorful persons but it is a fact that “like attracts the like”. Thus, in fact, the ones we are in close contact are the ones of our vibration. The phenomenon of like attracting the like does not differ in the Army either. But while the people in our vicinity in life are the ones we are much alike, the ones we are less alike also becomes a current issue in the Army. This makes you say “I’d never guess I’d become such cordial with such a guy…”

Therefore, I say, if you are going to the Army or if you have a relative to go, don’t you worry too much. Just pray that he can manage to be as he is, so that he can attract his likes into the era he’ll spend there. As the elders said:

A pilgrim finds another one in Mecca

A hodja finds another one in tekke

A mad finds another one in the minute

Sh.t finds another one in the toilette. . .