The tragedy in Paris is heartbreaking no matter where you are from and what you believe in. Even more morose is the news coming from Nigeria where over 2 thousand…TWO THOUSAND Nigerians have been massacred by Boko Haram. For what? For believing in another religion or spiritual deity than the other? From my point of view, no matter if you believe in Christianity, Islam or Judaism, the supreme being is the same deity. If you believe in other religions or spiritual deities, in my opine, that is your choice and not something that I or anyone else has a say about. Plain and simple as long as you are peaceful. Who cares what others believe in. What you believe is between you and your deity, whatever whom or what that may be. Do I believe in God- Absolutely- but that doesn’t give me the right to judge or force my belief onto someone else who doesn’t believe. That is their choice and their choice alone. As long as you are peaceful then to me, it really doesn’t matter.
I live in a Muslim country and am minority not only in my religious and spiritual beliefs but also that I am not a native to this land. I am married to a Turk and have lived here 5 years. I have not felt threatened about my beliefs although Turkey is about 99% Muslim. Extremists are in every religion that truly do give a proverbial black eye to every belief system. This small fraction casts the biggest shadow over the majority and it sickens me. My wife and I have an understanding- we both believe in God and the same God yet she is Muslim and I am Christian. Muslims believe in all prophets including but not limited Jesus. They also believe he will return but they do not believe he is the son of God. Judaism also doesn’t believe this. Yes, a big and major divide from Christianity. At the end of the day though, we believe in the same God and as long as we are kind to one another and respect each other then we should hopefully meet in the afterlife.
Turkiye Lakros is the first Muslim country to play the sport of lacrosse in the world. We are the first Muslim nation to be members of the Federation of International Lacrosse. The only other Muslim nation is Malaysia and they just became a member over the summer. We are the first and only Muslim lacrosse playing nation in the European Lacrosse Federation. We also are the first and only Muslim country to play in any FIL World Lacrosse Championships and we take great pride in accomplishing all of the above.
Turkey by its constitution is a secular nation although about 99% are Muslims. Turkey is not an Islamic nation nor Arab or Middle Eastern. This is the biggest misconception I come across especially while in the US. Some of our national team players living outside of Turkey have told me about the racism and verbal and physical threats and attacks they have received for the sole reason that they are Muslim. There are over 2 billion Muslims in the world living their lives day in and day out just like everyone else- trying to pay bills, get ahead in life and raise families.
Extremists are in every walks of life and it saddens me deeply that those are the ones who receive the most attention. We need to start looking at the people, organizations and communities that are doing great and positive things for our world no matter if they are Christian, Muslim, Jewish or any other belief or non-belief systems in the world today. Turkey Lacrosse Association is one of them. We are providing a positive service to our community by using lacrosse as a conduit to make our world a little bit smaller and introducing different cultures, beliefs and lifestyles to our athletes and staff when they would have never had the opportunity to learn if not for lacrosse. The same goes for other lacrosse nations playing against and coming to Turkey and learning about our culture and people and walking away with the understanding that we are all the same when it comes down to it.
For example, we play Israel every year. They either come to Turkey or we go to Israel and play one another and through this initiative our athletes and staff have learned more about one another and respect each others’ views ultimately crashing through the misconceptions each had of the other. We are proud and happy to say because of this, that everyone in each program considers the others in their program as brothers and sisters NOT enemies or Muslim or Jewish or whatever. This is why programs like the Turkey Lacrosse Association are essential for not just the growth of lacrosse but to bring nations and cultures together in a common interest and grow as community on and off the field.
Today(at the time of writing this) is our last day for our crowdfunding campaign (click here to visit campaign) on Funds4Sport.com and we are still far off our goal target. I question why has it not been as successful as we would have like. I ponder and wonder is it because we are a Muslim nation? Is it that we are Turkish? Is it that other perceive us as enemies or some far off place that it doesn’t matter to them. We have players who travel over 2 plus hours to come to trainings every week. We have players that do not even have running water in their homes and yet they come to each practice wanting to learn this sport in hopes it will give them the opportunities they never thought existed on and off the field. We are contacted by girls and boys throughout Turkey living in villages or small towns wanting and eager to learn the sport of lacrosse but we cannot reach them because we do not the the funding or equipment to get to them. They are eager to better themselves and want a safe and wonderful outlet to allow them to forget what their home life may be like. This bothers me to no end because we cannot reach them and give them this great opportunity to learn a different sport and be able to go to different cultures and learn from those cultures; making them better individuals and destroy any misconceptions they may have of those cultures and/or belief systems. This is truly the power that sport can have in a positive way.
