For C.C.

The day I met C.C. was the day I realized my some of my biggest takeaways in Iraq,

Two of the biggest takeaways I came home from Iraq with weren't incredible philosophical epiphanies; but rather simple and mundane. They came from this sweet girl you see on your screen right now. We will call her CC for safety reasons. I remember seeing CC a few weeks ago in one of the refugee camps I was surrounded by. (In total there are 600,000 refugees I was around, 50% or more being children.) She walked to me slowly and cautiously, with no introduction and grabbed my hand, giggling and speaking Kurdish. I starting laughing, until I genuinely looked into her eyes, and felt pity, and sorrow. I looked and saw my nieces in her sweet eyes, exchanging their fates with hers for a minute. I gazed and saw visions of "What if?", my future children born into a situation like this, or how would I even begin to provide for them with no home or job, only a tent provided by the U.N. to start a life back from. I started to tear up, immediately I looked up and away; yet I know she saw it, for she managed at the moment to squeeze my hand a little harder. Slowly giving me a piece of her heart in the process. So I did the only thing I knew at the moment to do, put her on my shoulders; and run around with her like she was the queen of the camp. Everyone waving at her as we waved back, giggling, as the queen has come to bless her subjects. Giggling in joy, for the life we have now, may be stricken with hardship and suffering, but beautiful because it’s life none-the-less.
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I tell you this story not to feel pity, and this is where I learned my first lesson from CC. She knew no other life than the one she had at the camp, so to feel pity for the position she was in would be showing her that she was living less of a life than I was. She may has less things than I do, and less of privilege, but she still had love, and how could one ever pity someone for that? For she was taking care of me, long be I could care for her in that moment.
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The second is short and sweet, you don't need to know the same language as someone to love them, just simply be present.
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I hope whoever reads this, CC can teach as well.