Dear India,
It seems that you have been sorely mistaken by the world. Before I met you, people told me you were too hot, your food was too spicy, you were too crowded, and that you would make me sick. I was told about all of your beautiful colors and vibrant culture, but people always surrounded that with such a cloud of darkness that I was expecting this to be a really hard month.
Well, I’m glad you did not meet my expectations!
Although I did not get to know you as much as I would have liked, you were certainly worth the trip. From the city to the small villages, every piece I saw of you made me fall in love with you even more. In my mind, you were going to be nothing but heaps of garbage and crowds if people, but there is so much more to you than that. We got to see the vast expanses of farmlands, fields full of goats and water buffalos, and the tight-knit, loving communities that always welcomed us in as one of their own.
You loved us so well by making sure we always had food to eat and you tried to keep us cool as best you could, even if it meant dragging an air conditioner outside for us. You clothes us in brand new robes and kept us clean and always made sure we got where we needed to go. You always gave us a song to sing, and you let everyone with a song in their heart sing out with confidence and strength.
Some people say there is a darkness that surrounds you, but all I saw was light, because the light of God that is in you is far stronger than the darkness. So even if there were times when we could not find the light, you reminded us that it was always there. You also taught us that our light foes not depend on the light around us. Sometimes we will shine our light and we won’t see it shining back, but that’s okay. Our light is meant to be given away, and we can’t control if it is reflected back to us, we can only control the choicee to shine.
So thank you for all that you have given us. Thanks for the laughter, the music, and the hope you have given us. We will never forget you.
Sincerely,
Jen
