You know how our eyes have a limited spectrum of vision?

We tend to look forward; forward and only forward. We look sideways every now and then, when we feel like we've lost something, and look around to see if we can find it. But we never really look sideways much. It's tiring and if you can see things well ahead of you, why look left and right?

It's only when you take the time to glance sideways that you understand.

What your heart has been searching for has always been by your side.

You've noticed them, somewhere in your peripheral vision. They've always been there, but have never been too important. Their images are blurred, little specks of black and white. Specks that don't matter much. After all, what are a few grey dots of dust on the whitewashed wall beside the loud, colourful, vibrant painting in front of you?

But then, somehow, you turn, and you see them: the people you've never really noticed, never really understood. Fomr some reason, you talk to them. It starts as a humble, shy question. A reply. You smile. They smile. You are heartened. So you make a bolder move. You start to chat. They listen. You start to giggle. And then you're engaged in a conversation full of jokes and teasing and bright, loud laughter. It's worked--Operation Start to Get to Know People You've Never Really Known Before has been a success.

And so the habit starts: you sit with them, chat with them, share your stories with them, and they do the same. You realize that you have a lot in common. Where you don't, you listen to what they have to say in curiosity, while they press to find out more about what you think. You laugh at the same jokes; sing the same songs; recite the same poems. Your conversations get brighter and brighter, noisier and noisier, livelier and livelier. They even start to turn into some sort of bilingual speech competition--it doesn't matter how you say it, they understand you. And soon it gets familiar. The ringing of laughter, the old in-jokes, the nicknames that only they can appreciate. The time you spend together becomes a part of your life. The better part.

That's when they are no longer insignificant specks of black and white. They are part of the painting--brilliant, vibrant splashes of red, of blue, of green, of purple, of orange, of yellow. They cannot be erased. They make the painting more beautiful than before.

My painting.

I have people with whom I belong. People who accept me the way I am, who understand me, who share my dreams and my pains and my fears. People whom I know will not leave me behind.

I thank the both of you.