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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