Once in a while we come across a person in our lives that allows us to understand the meaning of dignity. It is Mustapha El Harchi, a disabled painter by mouth from Morocco’s seaside artist colony of Essaouira that serves as a reminder how self-dignity and self-preservation of the soul are free. I first met Mustapha El Harchi five years ago. I was strolling just past the wide entrance to Essaouira’s old medina and walked right past him. I did a double take, then circled back. It only took a glimpse of Mustapha painting by mouth for an immediate recollection of Jim Sheridan’s film “My Left Foot” staring Daniel Day-Lewis. Thus began a story of acknowledgement and friendship.