No fruitful information, humble occupation and disappointing livelihood could ever devalue the brilliance of his presence. She was an unerringly perfect personification of Fijian chi. She strolled down the hall with an intangible earthiness, dusting the shelves with relaxed eloquence. His wrinkled skin formed a gentle waterfall on his face, a manifestation of his difficult life. The same dark brown skin exaggerated the garish colors that bled through his tattered Sulu like a poorly decorated birthday cake. Despite all this, his tired state was fighting a losing battle against the bright light that radiated from his chocolate eyes. I cherished our capricious and omnipresent daily exchanges in my psyche. She left me flowers, I left her chocolate and we both left letters on the mantle. Coincidence: two strangers who became instant confidants motivated us. We opened windows into our lives, expanding on our lifestyles and shaping a divergent lens of mixed cultures through which we both perceived the world. Our eyes met and his mouth opened in a smile. Approaching me, she fished a white flower from her Sulu which she delicately placed behind my right ear. “Thank you, my friend, for sharing your life with me. Every day I read your fairy tale letters to my children – I hope that one day maybe they can read them too,” she croaked. A tear fell......middle of paper......we are happy. That is, until globalization and advertising convince them that they need processed foods, jeans, a car and a loan to make all this possible. At the end of our journey, noticing that words still eluded me, Talei impetuously threw me into his warm, motherly embrace. I found enough of my voice to whisper, “Thank you. Thank you for this extremely valuable day. » She laughs. In response to my taken aback expression, she quickly explained, “My name means “precious” in Fijian. » The unerring poetry of this statement struck me with searing force, as I reflected on our time together. Talei, the epitome of warmth and compassion, had opened his world to a stranger, teaching me a fundamental lesson. Stripped of the pervasive materialism of a consumer society, fulfillment persists and reveals a striking truth. Above all, life itself is precious.