My Favorite Place
My favorite place in the world…it echoes with innocent laughter. Children run and dance and play at all hours, radiating joy into every object – the trees, the rocks, the little roadside shops and crooked homes. Dust fills the air and lightly coats everything. My eyes sting of dust and sediment, but mostly they sting with tears of compassion. In every direction is crushed hope, stolen innocence. It is the happiest place in the world. It is the saddest place in the world. If there was an emotion directly a mix of absolute bliss and agonizing, crippling pain, I would use it here. But there isn't. And I can’t describe it. And so I shall not attempt to convey the essence of my favorite place in the world. I will simply tell you where it is, so you can go and see and experience and fall in love, just like me. And this is your warning: It will become your favorite place, too. Africa.