Many people complain about the net and how it keeps you away from socializing. They talk about the people you meet online and about how those are not real friendships. I have been involved with a writer’s group online for a few years now. I’ve made some amazing friends with whom I shared some of my worst and best moments. If these people mean nothing to us, why did I spend a good portion of my morning crying for the loss of the husband of a woman I only physically met once? As tears strolled down my cheeks, I wished I could be in Canada and do anything for this woman to be okay. She is in my thoughts and my heart. Trust me, she’s a friend.
I’m reading a book in Turkish on improper uses of the language and something the writer said made me ponder. I translate, “If you think that someone who doesn’t use language correctly thinks properly, logically, conceptually, immediately give up that belief. A human is as much as he talks, as much as he writes, how he explains, nothing more. Language is what forms thoughts. No one can think without language.” Do you agree? I’ve had several friends tell me how they cannot put their thoughts properly into any language. According to my author, that would not be possible. Since I started writing, mastering English has been crucial to me. Reading this book makes me feel the same way about Turkish. It takes very little effort to speak your own mother tongue properly and, if you ask me, it’s really worth it.
Diane Ackerman, in her book, talks about how a smell can transport you to a specific place and time and bring back an entire memory. For me, music does that. Each time I hear songs from Roxanne’s Joyride, I get transported to the boat taking me from Burgaz to Istanbul and images of the comic book I used to read back then dance before my eyes. I cannot imagine my life without music.
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