Cleanliness

     The joy of Christmas morning cannot compare to the pure elation experienced when I returned to Casablanca, opened up my suitcase, and saw a clean, dry tshirt. Life in the jungle was characterized by moisture and dirt, producing a constant and unshakable sense of "yuck." The ultimate gesture of kindness was letting someone else borrow a shirt that had only been worn once, or perhaps twice. Getting to dunk our hair in the local creek quickly became a high point of each day...until our feet sunk into the thick mud on the way back to our rooms, and all was lost. In short, we were thrust far out of the comfortable lifestyle we are all accustomed to. Our appearances disintegrated and we were left with the most raw forms of ourselves.
     As high schoolers, insecurity tends to run rampant wherever we go. We put thought into every aspect of how we look, how we act, and the things we say. In our minds, our peers are constant critics, and we never seem to measure up, although we are continually giving maximum effort. There in the Amazon Basin, however, all that normally enabled us to feel secure in ourselves was stripped away. We abandoned presentable clothing, makeup, and styled hair. We discovered our physical limits, low tolerance for bugs, and that we are not all morning people. Frustration was never far, we grew irritated at one another, and complaints slipped out more often than not. We were soiled on all levels. However, exposing our base realities led to something new: the ability to evaluate a person on a more sincere level than is common.
     As our individual bodies broke down, we slowly were able to set aside our self-centered discomfort and look around at each other. Slowly, we discovered that bug bites and sunburns