To Capture the Rainbow

Where does one begin when so much has happened. I am faced with the same difficulty a painter faces when attempting to capture the full beauty of the rainbow. He is afforded all the colors necessary for such endeavor and a white, inviting canvas, but how? How can I mimic the shattering of light into an infinite number of colors? How will I explain to you, the mountains arrested in big brown eyes? How will I detail the smiles of cracked lips sweeter than a Guatemalan bread pudding? Where in the world of words will I find a phrase to describe the feeling in my heart so filled with wonderful humans. I cannot, but more importantly I refuse to reduce this experience to mere words. What I can do however is tell you of a girl named Natalie. A little girl in a red and white dress with a hair band, fearlessly walked up to Xavier students most of which do not speak the only language known to her, Spanish. But she who wore her heart not on her sleeve - oh no - but in every gesture, movement and glance - she who did so did not need words. She talked tirelessly, and when she was met, at times, with blank stares from us she did not stop but seemed to pick up speed and confidence. She wrote some of us a letter and kept others company while they waited in the twilight hours for the clinic to fully close up shop. She ran up and down the steep hill with us, she got in on our inside jokes and she joined us in our silly squad cheer. Most significantly however, is what she represented, for me at least. In a trip with lioness hearts like Mishel and Diana, in the presence of the ever-present Dr. Richard; in the reassuring proximity of our beloved Nurse Stephanie; and with many many other named and unnamed idols of this trip, a little kid in a red and white dress stands head and shoulders above all to teach us what love can be, what a word of kindness can do, and how to seize the world in tender palms so that the beauty of the rainbow may not be disturbed...

Adonis Hawari