HUMAN NATURE
Johnathan and I in the middle surrounded by a whole bunch of randos.
Darius picked up on something fairly quick, within the first day or so, and comes up to me telling me how amazing it is that kids are kids regardless of where they are or where they come from. I was tired so I threw out the phrase "human nature" and kind of blew it off. He rants on about how incredible it is that they resembled kids in the US and were reminiscent of us in a way by a few of their mannerisms. They laugh at the same things we used to laugh at. They smile when they're nervous. They even love being outside despite whatever the weather. Unaware of their innocence, these children were so welcoming to everything in a world in which they were just introduced to.
When I thought about it on the bus, I found it pretty fascinating as well, but it didn't resonate with me until the last day of clinical's. Jonathan, a translator/brigadier and now a good friend of mine, came up to me in the pharmacy and sparked up a conversation. We spoke on a bunch of things, but this initial interaction led to another conversation that was held at the compound later that night. In the midst of the humidity, the bugs, and the unfamiliarity of it all, we as two humans had a conversation about life and love. This was quite amazing to me. It was at that moment, that I was experiencing what Darius was so enthused about. I was in awe. We related to each other through shared emotions stemming from completely different experiences in very different settings and different cultures. As we kept conversing, I kept thinking to myself how mind-boggling this all was. It was beautiful to say the least. After the conversation, I headed to the dining room, and Fernando, another translator/brigadier and now also a friend of mine, was standing outside sipping water from a blue plastic tea cup. It was all so cinematic in a way. We conversed about how he has 12 (or was it 13?) siblings and about his dreams to be a translator. He is an older gentleman and is getting his bachelors in English at the end of this semester! He asked about my aspirations and when I told him, he responded by telling me that anything is possible and encouraging me to do it. We exchanged information and I am currently awaiting for that email from him in May attached with pictures of him in his cap and gown.
After a few more exchanges, I walked into the dining room eager to share these conversational gems that I had just acquired. You must collect as many of these gems as you can for the value of your experiences increases with wisdom. So fast forward to the last day at the airport. A few of us were eating before our flights and I turned around to tell Abby that this was probably going to be the last time we would see each other, and although I hope it's not true, only time will tell. We are all connected to each other in ways we may not see nor understand, but understand it is a team effort to help and to improve the collective human experience for us all, regardless of where we come from or who we are. I am now convinced more than ever that we are much more similar than we are different. The only difference is that we are unaware, but I guess that's just the human nature in us.
-RDL4EVER