Eight Countries, Eight Cultures, One Shared Objective

Coming to terms with multicultural life is the logical option for us and for our children's future, even if it does not come naturally. Unless we prefer to once again divide our planet into thousands of small entities where only one race, one language, one set of beliefs and a one-dimensional perspective vis-à-vis anything are standard and where intellectual drawbridges are pulled up at night, there is simply no alternative.
That lifelong learning process includes me -- I definitely grew up in that ill-fated one-sided pattern. A small town in the middle of nowhere and as far as internationalism was concerned, trips to the local pizzeria were considered the absolute maximum; you get more than simply the culinary picture. No need to blame my parents though. It was not because they had so intended it, but by sheer geopolitical force they had become nomads of a certain kind. First Hitler invaded their homeland and then Moscow took over, so to speak. Neither was a preferred choice for my mother and my father. Their homeland destroyed, no longer independent and eventually settling far away, my parents deserve my utmost sympathy and respect.
And sometimes we think we have a difficult life and moan about everything… but please, think twice; really!
In this context, earlier this week I had happily accepted an invitation to come back to what is now a metropolitan municipality, Aydın, and its famous holiday resort Didim. A local hotel, Altınkum, getting step by step ready for business during winter, opened its doors to host an international European Union and Republic of Turkey co-sponsored training seminar. At stake: mobility of youth workers in the framework of “Is non-formal education as important as Erasmus?” run by the Ankara-based System & Generation Association, an organization that promotes the integration of young people into society.
Youth workers and young leaders, both women and men, from a multitude of educational and vocational backgrounds came together to learn new skills. Eight nations were present: Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Italy, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain and Turkey. Hence, the topic for today's column was born.
It is never too early and most definitely never too late in ones' life to board the train that's destined for “shared civilization.” My personal and rather reluctant initiation did not occur until I was 15, while traveling to France during my second homestay (Belgium had come first), with many more years before I realized its full potential. Others may also discover the benefits a little later, too, like I did; it's normal. Needless to say, there were many intermediate stops along the way, some perhaps longer than expected, due to deviations from the “getting the intercultural and multicultural life right” track.
All the young representatives of different countries' civil societies who assembled there were literally and figuratively speaking already there, united in knowledge. They understood that although we may disagree on issues we must learn how to disagree in harmony. We are allowed to refuse to support a particular concept, but must at all times defend the right of our opposite number to express it, just as long as it does not incite hatred in society or ask for violent solutions to otherwise peaceful situations. It is not easy, absolutely not.
Eight countries, two nations, or 206 different backgrounds -- numbers don't matter. What matters is our readiness to jump, to build bridges, to shed the habit of looking inward. It works; the event held in Didim until Saturday speaks volumes!

KLAUS JURGENS (Cihan/Today's Zaman)