The spoken and written word, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, dance, sport, food, and even human touch – all are forms of communication. I watched “Paper and Glue” this evening on MSNBC. I hope you too were able to see it. The documentary examines some of the work of Parisian artist JR whose projects include murals on the American southern border “Wall,” the Bastille, an American supermax prison, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, and other sites.
The story reminded me of many important things. I remembered my friend Hilda whose poetry sometimes visited the lives of the invisible in our society – people whose lives are most often invisible to not only politicians, but even to the rest of us more fortunate who avert our gaze rather than acknowledge the humanity of those less fortunate. It reminded me of how I have been touched by authors whose works I have read. And I was reminded of Atys Da Silva.
Dr. Da Silva was one of the founders of Pathology in Austin, Texas. He had been trained in Brazil and was the head pathologist at the hospital where I did my Internal Medicine residency. I had become a denizen of the laboratory during medical school. In residency, I was often in the laboratory looking at blood smears, bacterial cultures and other pathology specimens. I may have been regarded as a nuisance by some in the Pathology department, and maybe as an ally by others. All that I can say is that all of the laboratory staff treated me with patience and kindness – most especially Dr. Da Silva.
Later, after I had completed my residency, I encountered Dr. Da Silva at some “welcome function” at the newly opened South Austin Hospital. We sat in the open foyer eating hors d’oeuvres and chatting. After a bit, he said something that sounded like Spanish, and I responded. We continued this way, he expressing himself in Portuguese, and I answering in my native Spanish.
I do not speak Portuguese, but I understood Dr. Da Silva. Tonight’s documentary about an artist and his adventures in various countries reminded me that communication involves many modalities – words, intonation, facial expressions and many other nonverbal things.
The most important thing, I think, is not proficiency in a given language, but one seeking to understand.