A Lady

Most people don't know that on base there are many foreign non-military workers. These people are hired to do a number of duties around post: clean bathrooms, cook, work as food vendors, take out the trash, etc. They don't make very much money, and so the military scoops them up to work for us. For example, a cook in the DFAC (dining facility) makes approx. $150 per month. I can only imagine how much the men who drive around emptying and cleaning the porta potties around post make.
As a soldier I see hundreds of these people everyday and I have become accustomed to 'not seeing them', if you will. It is almost as if they don't exist to us. We don't speak the same language, have the same customs, or even the same body language. They are there to work, and so are we. We go about our lives living together but never meshing, except for a few instances when I remember that they are human beings and they have the same human tendencies that we all do. Tonight, I saw a lady in the bathroom. She was getting ready to clean. I'm not sure where she was from, she had a beautiful dark blue dress decorated in lighter blue print on with a matching head scarf. She had a gold stud in her nose and she was brown. I don't know if she was from Kuwait or a different country only here to work. She had a nice smile. As I was getting ready to wash my face, she walked over to the sink with what looked like a container and looked over at me with a big smile and said something to me that I didn't understand. I just looked at her, with an expression that conveyed obvious confusion. She said again, and again, until I understood....she was trying to tell me how great it was to turn on the water and have it be hot. 'Hot, hot, water, hot' and a smile. What a great moment. I am amazed how much we take for granted. Praise God for that small moment that let me appreciate every miraculous detail of my life.