Asked Ekmek

In Turkey, there is this tradition called Asked Ekmek, which translates to “bread on the hook”. So when you go to the baker, you have the option at the counter to buy a loaf of bread for yourself and a second loaf of bread for someone in the community. When someone is hungry, they can go to the baker and ask, “Is there any bread on the hook today?” The bread is shared and the hunger is dispersed while the community grows closer together.

Sometimes people call this paying it forward. I don’t love the word paying. Instead, what is happening is one act of generosity. We overcomplicate how to fix the world, when we should all be focused on just making things better for someone else. One by one that is how the world becomes a little bit safer, a little bit greener, a little bit more joyful. You can do this with the work you do. Just pick yourself to get started.

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”  — Theodore Parker,  January 29, 1858