An older Gujarati man was sitting in a train about to leave
When a reporter came up to his compartment window and asked
“Do you have a message I can take back to my people?”
It was Mohandas Gandhi’s day of silence
So he didn’t reply but took a piece of scrap paper
Scrawled a few words on it
And handed it to the reporter
On it was written: “My life is my message”
In all the seven years I’ve known you both
I could say the same about you
Your passion for justice
Your willingness to repeatedly leave your comfort zone
Your dedication to the forgotten and the oppressed and the traumatized
Your accompaniment of people struggling for a decent life
In Guatemala and Palestine
South Africa and Saint Louis
Your life together
Is your message
May we walk with you in the decades to come
Here’s to to Nima and Matt!
9.24.2011
Plainfield, Illinois
