When children ask…Who is your God?

I was sitting in solitude, telling my story to the camera when I was mobbed by curious children. They came in one by one, then they saw the camera and realized we were filming.

Going through all my files and starting to edit my transcripts. This is one of my favorite experiences so far in India. I was talking about education and the importance of teaching children and as if on cue, I was surround by inquisitive minds. They were fascinated by our video shoot, some of the children were gathered around Ragesh, (my cinematographer) and the camera and some with me.

Afterwards when we realized it was impossible to continue shooting (I sit alone telling my story on camera) we packed up and walked through the park with an entourage of kids in tow. The children were dressed in their fine clothes for Eid as it was the end of Ramadan.

One by one they took turns shaking my hand and introducing themselves

After our introductions, we took selfies together.

They asked me if I was Muslim, I said no. They asked if I was Hindi, I said no. Those are the 2 most followed religions in India. They asked who my god was, I stood for a moment thinking about how I could communicate a complex theory of my god to these children considering the fact that we didn’t share common language.

I pointed to a tree and said,God.

I pointed to a bush and said,God.

I pointed to a flower and said,God.

I pointed to a bird and said,God.

I pointed to the grass and said,God.

I pointed to a child and said,God.

Then another child, God, another child, God, another…

Then I pointed to myself and said, God.

The group immediately understood and began running around pointing at different things in the park exclaiming, God, God, God!

Then one of the older kids came back to me, pointed at himself then at me and said, ”Same God”

Yes, same god.

God is nature, God is creation, we are all God.

This was such a beautiful moment, I had to share it.  Can you please share this too? Thanks!