“The seeker of truth shall be humbler than dust”
-Gandhi-
-Gandhi-
The literal translation for humus in Latin is soil, earth or dust. As I read this, few words came to mind that share the same root in the Latin: hum-anity, hum-illity and hum-bleness. What a coincidence that these three words are the motto of my life: Searching the essence of humanity by humiliating myself to see who I really am, who we really are as humans by reaching that humbleness that Gandhi was talking about. What does the dust have to do with all of this?
I had the privilege of meeting the Batwa Tribe of Burundi, also known as the Pigmies of Central Africa. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the Pigmies are the poorest of Burundi (according to the system of have and have not’s). The Pigmies, or Twa, were the first inhabitants of Burundi and other countries in Central Africa including Congo, Rwanda and Uganda; and are known for their unusually small size. Today, to be a pygmy means, not only to be from a different tribe but also a lower social status - the lowest of the lowest. They are considered to be subhuman and the oppression they have faced was such that they don’t consider themselves worthy to be called Burundians. In the Congo they were even victims of cannibalism and slavery…
I say that I had the privilege to meet these amazing people because through them I found the biggest piece of the puzzle that my life is trying to solve - the truth of what it means to be hum-an, the essence of humanity and the way to become humbler than dust. They live in the worst land of Burundi, the steepest slopes where agriculture is impossible. Their houses are made of mud from their own soil, as well as their pottery. Not to mention their clothing, mostly brown as the mud they are surrounded by. They can’t be humbler than the dust because they are the dust of the earth, the lowest of the lowest.
Helpless and unable to communicate with them because I did not speak their language I decided the best way to be with them was to BE like them. Becoming dust, lowering myself to seek the essence of humanity I saw in them that allowed them to smile and laugh in the situation I thought was the worst thing I ever saw. I sat in the mud, next to a group of children that would not stop staring at me - the first Asian person to ever step into their land. They started singing to me, thanking me for coming to visit, thanking God for sending me as a gift.
What? Me? I felt so humiliated by the fact that I was a gift for them. I felt I did not deserve to be treated as a guest but someone lower than them, someone who is learning from their ability to have the joy of life without having a Mac computer or the latest camera equipment. I was becoming lower than the dust and I saw the truth that to be human is just that, becoming dust. Once we do that we understand our commonness rather than our differences, and become united in the search for what fulfills us, which is each other. We are a gift to each other that we appreciate through the act of loving one another.
Maybe in the worldly system that categorizes people according to what they have and don’t have the Pigmies are the poorest people in the world, but according to my standards of having and not having they are the richest people I have ever meet.
Life is more than being alive, breathing, eating and wearing stuff. Life is actually about unwearing stuff, unlayering ourselves from all the labels that have been given to us that do not allow us to see that underneath all there is nothing but earth, soil or dust. Only desiring to love and be loved. As Gandhi said to seek that truth we must become humbler than the dust.
The reality of the injustices towards this people continues and will continue until we can reach the point of understanding that this judgment towards each other is the root of all injustices in the world, not just this one. Let’s try to become hum-an again and help each other to find the lost humanity. If you don’t know how, just take a trip to Burundi and look for the Pigmies!