From the time we stepped foot in India I’ve noticed something different about the people here. It’s not material or superficial. It’s something deeper. Something that ebbs and flows with the heartbeat of the country, something that pulses deep within every Indian. After returning to the village yesterday, a group of girls around the age of 15 who live in another village far away from Kalavai were visiting. They go to school with a group of the kids from our village and heard about us being in Kalavai and wanted to talk to us. As soon as they saw us they came running right up and introduced themselves in English. After talking for a while we started racing each `other up and down and up and down the streets. I was exhausted but they were having so much fun I couldn’t help but keep going. J As I looked over my shoulder I saw that there were a group of people watching. Immediately I wanted to stop from embarrassment. But not the girls they just wanted to go again and again. They were just kids having fun with a new friend but they expressed the very thing that I’ve been trying to pinpoint this whole trip. They were free. They didn’t think about what tomorrow might hold or what people thought of them. They were here, with a new friend, and having so much fun. In the states we have freedom of choice. Anyone can pull themselves up by their boot straps and create a new life for themselves. In India it’s a different kind of freedom. They are content. They just live!! and that is what freedom is all about!
Allison Zandarski
Allison this was very well said, if people here in the United States could just do the same, life as we know it would be a new beginning. You keep on running and don't worry about what people think, as long as you're having fun thats what counts.
ReplyDeleteMaribeth