A Turkish Man Named Faith Sheds Light on Love

I met a Turkish man, a man from Turkey, the other day. He was visiting the United States for soccer games. We had a conversation coming from our next departure. He’s a very kind man. We talked, and he started opening up to me about faith. I don’t even really understand how we even got on the topic of faith, but I loved it, and I was like, ‘Wow, how did we get here?’ 

Somehow we were talking about following our dreams, and he was saying how he wanted to be a sailor. He had a dream to sail the world. Maybe this is not something that is important to another person, but for him, in his faith he believes, and he has a desire to sail the world. That’s his passion, sailing. That’s what he wants to do, and God gave him the ability to sail.

He was also sharing his frustration because he doesn’t always have the faith to pursue his dream of sailing because it’s hard and costly and challenging to keep the pursuit of sailing the world alive. It’s an even bigger issue because his name in Greek means faith. Every time his mom calls him, she’s calling him faith. What happens when your name is faith but you’re all out of it? That was his dilemma. 

I told him a little about myself. I told him I’m a singer-songwriter and that I’m launching this career later in life, and it’s been quite a journey. He was telling me, ‘Never give up on your dreams.’ He was encouraging me so much that I remarked that he was fulfilling the meaning of his name, which means faith. His encouragement of my gifts instilled faith inside me.

He then asked if I had a poem I could share with him. I said, ‘I have a poem. Let me see if I can find one.’ I started scouring my mobile phone, and I found a poem and read it to him. 

Star

They won’t catch you

Moving so fast

They won’t catch you

Blast from the past

Run run run

You’re a bright shining star

Run run run run

Fast and far

They won’t catch you

No matter how hard

They try

They won’t catch you

Fly high

‘It’s also a really brief, short, simple poem’. That’s what I told him. He responded, ‘I really like it. It’s good that it’s simple because I’m from another country, and if you make it too deep, I won’t be able to understand it.’ I told him, ‘That really makes sense. I never thought about it that way.’ I was thinking my poem should be more clever. I’m so hard on myself sometimes.

The conversation continued. I told him my mission. I told him I want to spread love. I want people to love each other. I’m laughing now because he immediately said, ‘Impossible,’ all caps, IMPOSSIBLE. I reassured him that all things are possible with God.

His name is faith, however, he doesn’t believe that in this day and age people will actually love each other. It’s a sad ending for humanity if there’s no love. I hope and I pray that I’m able to spread love again to Los Angeles and beyond through my songs, poems and paintings. 

Love and peace, Shirah Chante, Relationship Artist 

P.S. If you want to join me in this impossible quest to spread love on earth, you can fill out the form on this page to stay in touch.