Joy is innate in us mortals. Unless, sadly, for some, somehow, at some time, it has been cruelly suppressed. Think of the joyful symbiosis between a baby’s smiles and giggles, and us. Are we not touched, irrespective of the colour of the child’s skin? Is it not the smile which communicates joy to us? And don’t we usually smile back? And feel all the happier for it?
Much has been written about joy among the poor, something I experienced myself as a child growing up in Nigeria and on my travels later in India and Ethiopia. The poorest of the poor willing to — in fact, insisting they — share the little they have. Eating, drinking and laughing together as a shared levelling moment. I have learned never to turn down the humble offerings of the poor.
