Language Barrier (?)

My line of work involves a lot of time communicating across languages

through an app, telephone service, or my new friend José.

I have found that this challenge, generally referred to as the "language barrier,"

More often feels like a bridge -

Something that must indeed be crossed, with effort,

but which is as much an opportunity as it is an obstacle

...as long as we remember to reject the lie that the fastest way to do something

(for example: hold a conversation, move a couch, communicate a feeling)

Is the best way.

***

For when I manage a few broken words in Swahili, and see this elderly woman's face light up-

This storied soul warmed by another character's feeble attempt to speak in the tongue of her youth and people-

When I grunt, "Pesado!" and laugh along with the man who is helping me move this impossibly heavy sofa, as he proclaims with a smidge of pride,

" ¡Este hombre está aprendiendo español muy rápido!" -

When the father of the Russian refugee family (whose language I have not yet even dared to attempt!) smiles at me across the bus-

And when I smile back-

I see the true nature of our "language barrier."