I know you are trapped in a circle of distress. Separated from your loved ones. Left without support, guidance, or a roadmap. Crushed, humiliated, and subjected to insults. Exposed to unbearable circumstances that surpass the threshold of endurance. You rebel. You want to escape and forget. You feel angry. You drift away from yourself. Because those who oppress you and your family do it by exploiting religion, you feel estranged from spiritual values. You want to forget by falling into heedlessness.
I am deeply sorry that you have been left in such darkness. Fethullah Gülen Hodjaefendi addressed you years ago in the first issue of Sızıntı magazine, saying, “We could not understand you!” Sızıntı, or a comprehensive educational movement, was a product of that effort to understand. Now, as a broken fruit of that endeavor, I want to address you: “We couldn’t protect you, child.” We couldn’t shield you from the bullies who held power over you, from savage attacks, from the storms of time, from the darkness. Yet our entire effort was to bequeath a bright future to you, and it still is. Now, the prisons of the country are filled with heroes striving to ensure that what is inflicted upon a generation is not inflicted upon you.
Listen to the Voice of Your Conscience!
Don’t blame your mother or father for not providing you with an easy life. Don’t think that they left you alone by going to prison or emigrating. Also, don’t consider their struggles futile. Don’t condemn them for not acting out of self-interest. It’s true that you are paying a heavy price along with them. However, it is the oppressors, not them, who make you pay that price. Don’t mistreat or blame those closest to you because you lack the power and influence to reach those who are far away. They need your support more than anyone else.
If you can silence the noise and clamor around you and listen to your conscience, you will hear it whispering different things to you. When you understand the truth, you will take pride in them.
The day of reckoning will come when those who have oppressed, pushed, and disregarded you will face great shame. Don’t doubt it for a moment. Put your trust in God. Don’t fall for the black propaganda of those who hold power. Grow, mature, and deepen through the price you pay.
I invite you to your true homeland, your heart.
You are not too far away to return.
Avoid cheap heroism. Don’t accumulate anger and hatred. Don’t succumb to feelings of revenge. Don’t fall into nihilism. Don’t engage in conversations with your friends who are in the same situation that only reopen wounds. Don’t succumb to provocations.
Prepare for Your Own Renaissance
I advise you to stay away from television and social media and instead focus on knowledge, art, research, reading, and deepening your skills and talents. Have not all revival movements in history begun with a period of seclusion in a cave? Withdraw into your own cave. Engage in building your cocoon until you emerge as a butterfly.
Do not limit yourself by the narrowness of your surroundings. Have a purpose. While others sleep, you keep moving, surpassing mountains.
Learn languages. Conduct experiments. Read books. Improve your skills. Write articles. Play a musical instrument. Participate in the Risale-i Nur lessons, engage in profound readings. Prepare a personal schedule of worship that you will implement without neglect. Just as Prophet Moses found Khidr at the meeting point of two seas, search for the elixir of immortality within the balance of this world and the hereafter. Deepen your knowledge in both religious and modern sciences. Nourish both your mind and heart. Prepare yourself for your own Renaissance as best as you can.
When this storm subsides and the sun rises, you too shall come forth in all your magnificence.
Remember, the task of rebuilding the ruins of the country will fall upon you once again, don’t forget that. Those who label you and your loved ones as terrorists today will seek help from you tomorrow. The world is a place engulfed in flames. Strive to become a firefighter. If no one has reached out to you, then you reach out to the oppressed.
Make it your intention not only to uplift yourself but also to uplift humanity.
Now, gather yourself…
