And the greatest of these is love.

On Tuesday night, we had my "French parents" over for dinner, (what P.A. and Nathalie are lovingly referred to now by all of my other friends, because of how well they took care of me for the first month!! No other assistants were nearly as lucky as I was...we joke that it was like being adopted by a King, haha.) and the four of us got into a really great discussion about Réunion.

Before I got here, everyone kept saying Reunion is such a "mix" of people, because it was settled by all different countries from Africa, Europe, and Asia. One of my French teachers at UTA was actually born here, and she told me that "La Réunion is truly a place where all races are mixed in one person. Réunionnais(es) are from Asian (China or India) descents, African descents and European. Sometimes it is actually very funny to see a Creole family because you can see a mother with four kids and they all look different (and they all have the same father). One can look Indian, another bi-racial, another more dark..."


I didn't understand, really, how strange and true this was until I got here. Then I saw the stark differences between these people...but missing was the racism, the segregation, the cliques that we know in the States. In classrooms, the darkest kids don't only hang out with other dark kids, and the half Indian kids don't only hang out with the half Indian kids and the white kids don't only hang out with white kids. In the back of my mind, I wondered why this was, because everyone has different backgrounds and different beliefs and different religions, something that would greatly divide a group of people like this anywhere else. But not here. 


The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and
compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, forgiveness. 
— Dalai Lama

The one thing they all have in common, Nathalie explained to us over dinner, is that they are Réunionnaise. They are all inhabitants of this tiny island, and (in general) they all speak Créole. 

Le Petit Prince in Creole, which I thought was so cool! 

I have Wednesdays off, and so I decided to just kind of walk around see what adventures pop up. I walked to the little farmer's market in the middle of the city, and realized exactly what my French parents were talking about. On my 10 minute walk to the market and back, I passed a Cathedral, the Grand Mosque (the first mosque ever built in France, BTW), a Hindu temple, and a Buddhist temple, all just a street or two away from each other. It's a wonderful physical representation of the culture and attitude here...not just about religion, but about race and even humanity.

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self 
in all beings...
– Buddha

Little did I know, in just a few hours I would see first-hand how true this really was.

Wednesday was also the first day of Dipavali, a five day Hindu celebration. One of the girls in Schafer's high school class told her she was dancing in a celebration and that Schafer should come see it...so she brought me along that evening. We thought we were going to a small Dipavali parade or something but when we arrived, there was a small group of people (maybe 50 or so) gathered around outside, beneath the palm trees and mountains. 20 of them were old nuns in white with giant cross necklaces, which confused us. Why were there so many Catholic nuns at a Hindu festival??

As we sat down and listened, we realized what the meeting was really about...and that was to bring together all religions, to celebrate life and love and brotherhood. People from every religion, from children to grandparents, took turns reading poems, singing songs, and dancing. A little French grandma was passing by, and, curious, sat next to us to ask what was going on. When we told her, she instantly understood, like it happens all the time. We talked to her for a while, explained where we came from and how we ended up here, and she said "ah yes, this is a good thing for you to see..."

Then the man with the microphone was calling everyone together. The whole group got up and stood in a circle, taking turns lighting candles to put in the center, in a ring. At first, Schafer and I hung back...planning to play more of a spectator role. Then suddenly at the same time, we looked at each other and said "let's go do this." The sun started to set.

So there we were, in the middle of this giant group, standing next to people of all ages, colors, religions. The guy on the microphone was reading a scripture in French. There was a band playing. It was dark now. The little grandma found me from the middle of a crowd and reached over some people to pass me a candle. "Here!" She called, "take this. You girls light this one." And we did. The wind was blowing and I covered it while Schafer set it down in the circle. I looked around. There were five children lighting candles in the center, and behind them stood all of the nuns in white, candle light flickering on their elderly faces. It gave me chills.

We all stood together like that for a few minutes, until we joined hands and recited something in French, from the program. It was about the light in all of us, that we are all human, that we are all in this together. The last time I felt like this...or did something like this, it was in September of 2001, and it was following an unspeakable tragedy. But these people are doing this now, here, for no other reason than because life is good and the future is bright.

When I do not know who I am, I serve you. 

When I know who I am, I am you. – Indian proverb

Now, I think Réunion is a microcosm of what the world could be...paradise and unity and happiness. Understanding and respecting the differences of others but following your own path and beliefs. Living together. I wish other people could see this, could know that it's possible and that it works. Maybe the fact that it has happened here, on this tiny island in the  middle of the Indian Ocean...maybe that's a really, really good start.

I've spent 27 years trying to identify my religion. Lately, when asked, I call it "spiritual, but not religious," for a million different reasons. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe in fact, when someone asks me what my religion is...I should say all of them. 

I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Moslem, Jew, 
Buddhist and Confucian.— Mahatma Gandhi