The Universal Language


Meet Anita. Anita is our house helper. She comes to our house everyday and cleans for us. Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds, but in this country it is quite common, and almost necessary. You see, this is just a dirty place. There is no nice way to put it. There is dirt everywhere and it covers everything. Without Anita, we would literally spend hours each day cleaning. This time of the year it is especially bad due to dust storms that come through and cover everything in your house with a layer of dust. All that to say, we are very thankful for Anita, and yes, I am probably a little spoiled :)

I love this picture because it describes mine and Alicia's relationship with Anita perfectly. Anita is from the state of West Bengal and speaks Bengali. I am from America and speak English. Our only language in common is Hindi and we both can speak very little of it, which makes for somewhat of a communication barrier. So, this is how our communication normally goes... We say the typical static Hindi greetings to each other. Then I try to speak to her in Hindi. Then she laughs at my attempt because she doesn't understand me (but apparently finds it very funny). Knowing how broken my Hindi is, I join along with her. So, we laugh together for a few minutes. Then we continue on with our work until one of us has something else to say. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Some people my find this type of communication annoying and pointless, but to me it illustrates a great point. I think that laughter is the universal language. No matter where you are in the world, laughter is the one language that everyone can speak. Granted there are different variations. There are snorts, squeals, chuckles, giggles, debarked dog laughs (my personal favorite), etc, but everyone can understand it. As long as there is laughter, words are not always necessary. For Anita and I, laughter is our common bond - and it works.

Victor Borge said, "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." This was true in our case. At first I only knew Anita as the little Indian lady who woke me up when she came into my room in the morning, turned the light on, and began to sweep. Then we started laughing together. Now I know her as the mother of 5 kids, who works at six different houses, lives in a 10 by 10 one- room house, and doesn't really care for American cooking. We don't talk much, but we are friends, and I greatly admire the hard-working woman she is.

Karl Barth said that "Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God." I think in many ways that is true. It provides a way for relationships when there is no other way. You can't explain it. You can only embrace, and it brings incredible joy to any where who experiences it.