Food for Thought

We touched down safely last night in Albany after 15 hours of traveling. It is nice to be home, but the Istanbul trip was a huge success both professionally and personally. It was so valuable to experience a different culture, both to understand its differences as well as its similarities to our own. At the time of our departure, the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was featured in a local newspaper slamming greedy capitalism due to the “rapacious drive for profits that is driven merely by personal interest and material gains and is not a sustainable economic model.” He quoted the famous Native Indian proverb: “Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will the white men realize we cannot eat money.” He further mentioned that Turkey is a nation that “values gratefulness and protecting the poor. We are members of a civilization that does not separate the economy and morals but places morality in the foundation of economy.” At the same time, I was impressed with the juxtaposition of Istanbul being a city of twelve million where capitalism is flourishing and materialism is interwoven into the fabric of everyday life. Nevertheless, it is refreshing for a major politician to feel free enough to address these issues in the way he did. Another major issue noted in the newspaper related to how much food is wasted in the hotel and restaurant business. Ironically, our California friend, Scott, was talking about how he was working with a California non-profit, which was working with hotels and restaurants to transfer unused food from these establishments to organizations that feed the poor. It just goes to show you how important international cross fertilization of ideas are necessary for us to improve the human condition, enhance economic opportunities for all of us, and reach a more sustainable planet.

My final takeaway from our trip is a full recognition of how hospitable so many Istanbul residents are to foreigners. Even the many who could not speak English seemed to go out of their way to help answer a question. Turkey has many challenges ahead of them including the role of women in society, corruption, and the need to elevate the rule of law in a modern society, and my strong hope is that they do so brilliantly. Turkey is such an important country on our globe; being a bridge between east and west. The Prime Mister indicated that “lasting changes are realized where external and domestic dynamics intersect and as much as a society accepts and are in accord with them.” Good luck to Turkey and the rest of us in meeting this necessary alignment.

Mark