Today, it is not easy to find and trust a person that you can start a
close friendship. I have just a few friends like this and I thank God for
surrounding me with these trustworthy people.
One of those nice people is Mehmet. I met with Mehmet in 2007. We were
both tax assistants in PwC. He was from Ankara and I was from Izmir. Due to the
fact that the trainings were held in İstanbul, we shared the same room in the
hotel. Since then, we became close friends and shared many things. Despite the
distances we have, we always feel close to each other. Time passed by, we had things
to laugh and things to cry, the one thing that doesn’t change was sharing the
good and the bad experiences. Then first he got married and became a father,
and later on I got married and became a father, too. In the holidays and
vacations, we got together and enjoyed. The tune that our wives and sons caught
was so fine and we became like a big family. People say that good things do not
last long. He and his wife had made a decision, and this decision affected their
life. One of the changes by Mehmet’s side after this decision was starting to smoke.
I
am working for Philip Morris International and my company recently called to action to smokers, nonsmokers, regulators and
agents of change across the world to drive a better future for the world’s 1.1
billion smokers and their families, loved ones and communities. Our
ambition is to lead the way toward truly global change: It is clear as crystal:
If you don’t smoke, don’t start.
If you smoke, quit.
If you don’t quit, change. That’s unsmoking.
It is a fact that burning generates the vast majority of harmful
chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Eliminating the combustion dramatically
reduces the levels of harmful chemicals.
As a person I know about the better alternatives that are available to people
who continue to smoke and through conversation I inform them about the right
thing to do: Unsmoke
Below is a short story of Unsmoke which I touch Mehmet’s life and did
something good for him, his life and his loved ones. The original story can
also be read from
My Best Friend's Divorce
How your soul mate can Unsmoke you when you need it
the most
They say you can’t pick your family, but you
can choose your friends. And, honestly, that’s a great thing, because who else
can really save you when you’re in trouble with your family?
National Best Friends Day falls on June 8,
and it’s the perfect moment to show your pal how much they mean to you.
From heart-to-heart conversations to pulling
all-nighters just to enjoy each other’s company, today is the perfect day to
celebrate your sidekick.
Some will opt for a card, others will pick up a silly
gift. Most of us will give our chums a shout-out on social media. But Volkan (above, left)
went well beyond for his buddy Mehmet (above, right): he unsmoked him.
Their friendship started back in 2007 when they were both
tax assistants at a multinational company. They met in front of the hotel room
that their manager had assigned them during a training week in Istanbul.
“It took a simple handshake to understand he was
special,” Volkan says of Mehmet. They shared stories until the small hours of
the morning and told each other their hopes and dreams until they couldn’t keep
their eyes open anymore.
After that training week, “we kept in touch almost every
day, mainly on the phone, as he was based in Ankara, a seven-hour drive from my
home town, Izmir,” explains Volkan. Then they both fell in love with two young
ladies, got engaged and, finally, married.
“I was his best man, and he was mine,” Volkan recalls.
“Mehmet was very much in love with his wife, and they soon had a baby. Then my
wife and I had a baby, and we spent every weekend together as a big family, it
was a joyous time,” he says.
The two sons were playing soccer together, Volkan’s and
Mehmet’s wives were getting along well.
But last winter, Mehmet phoned his best friend, sobbing:
things were not going so smooth at his house, and the couple was considering a
divorce.
“It was sad, like losing a part of the family,” Volkan
observes. And things got worse when Mehmet admitted that, during those lonely
nights as his marriage was unraveling, he started smoking. “He started with a
few, and then it became a pack a day,” says Volkan.
“It was time to have a chat with him,” adds Volkan . But
hard as he tried, he couldn’t convince Mehmet to quit entirely. However, during
a business trip, one of Volkan’s colleague talked to Mehmet about smoke-free
products. “Then he and I researched it together on the internet and consulted a
couple of friends who already used one,” says Volkan.
Mehmet didn’t quit altogether but at least he is no
longer smoking cigarettes. “It was a tough time for him, for all of us, but I’m
happy because I feel I did something good for my best friend.”
No matter how messy our lives can get, our best buddies
are always here to help.
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