Dear Caminoheads,
Cris reporting again today from the southern latitudes wishing all my American fellow pilgrims and non-pilgrims, known and unknown, a Happy Independence Day.
As weird as it may sound, when I was in what in Argentina is called “escuela secundaria” -Secondary school-, that you attend for a 5 years period, from 13 to 17 years of age, we had to study “World Wide History” (I don’t know if that continues, as this was by now, more than 30 years ago! Sigh!) When as a teenager I wondered why do I needed to know what the 4th of July meant for the United States, or the 14th of July for the French, or what the Apartheid was, but now as an adult, I cannot be more grateful for that education that sounded so useless at the time. 30 years ago, the word “Globalization” wasn’t really in the vocabulary of a 15 years old, and even less the experiences that were awaiting for me in this life, like this one I have today, writing the 4th of July blogpost on behalf of The Boss (aka Phil), who we know is such a brave American.
I have been thinking what to write to honor this moment, and I thought on this piece of the speech that Robert Kennedy gave in South Africa in 1966, that became part of the collection of words that inspire me since I was first offered them in my “World Wide History” class at school 31 years ago. Back then, I didn’t know about the Camino de Santiago; and I could have never imagined that the person who would helped me the most to re-gain my trust in myself and in humankind would be a pilgrim from Cape Town, South Africa, who I met in my first Camino in 2011.
Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the thirty-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.
These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Sending forth a tiny ripple of hope (and love),
Cris
Beautiful.
We all need to hear those words in our quiet hours , recall and rejoice that we have the good fortune see them embodied and enacted by the creator, writer and the readers of this blog. What extraordinary company we are blessed to keep!
Thank you again, Cris.
Dear Steve-O,
You are absolutely on-spot with your appreciation: we certainly have been blessed with the good fortune of meeting Phil and so many others who come often to this neighborhood, who inspire us “with numberless acts of courage”.
We love to have you here, come often!
Thank you,
Kindly
Cris
Beautiful!! Thanks for your reflections, insights and inspiring words of encouragement!!!
Dear Robbi,
Thanks to you for stopping by on the bank holiday and sharing time with us here! We inspire each other, actually!
Love,
Cris
❤️🇺🇸💙. 🏝 Headed to Vashon by way of San Diego for this Independence Day. 2 planes, a bus, uber, car and ferry to greet Felipe’ & My Rebecca with Camino Loves, Light and Big Big Peregrino Hugs! 🤗
Dear Sherie,
Lucky you!!!!!! Come to visit the blog and tell us more about your visit to Vashon! It did look like a pilgrimage itself to get there with the planes, ubers, bus, cars, ferries…!!!
Looking forward to hearing from you! Maybe you feel inspire to write a blogpost for us?
Much pilgrims love and pilgrims hugs,
Cris
Wow! Very eloquent! I am glad you shared that Cris and glad I took the time it deserved to read and ponder these great words and deep thoughts. Because indeed I felt such mixed emotions about the reason we celebrate the Fourth of July. I love our country, as all countrymen may, but I wondered is the fact we celebrate the birth of our Nation a slap in the face to indigenous people who lived here way before “We” claimed it as “Ours”? Trying to see it from another perspective gives me conflicted thoughts. This is to take nothing away from the many brave men and women who have sacrificed the ultimate for their country and countrymen. Am I the only one having mixed emotions regarding the Fourth of July? I want to feel joy, but just can’t quite get there knowing what our forth fathers did to so many innocent indigenous peoples.
Dear Carol,
Thank you for the brave comment you have made.
I couldn’t get back to the comments earlier because I didn’t want to leave yours un-replied, but I also needed some time to think how to get back. Not that I have an answer, anyway.
Argentina will celebrate its independence on 09th of July, this Friday. We also “celebrate” that we got free from Spain after more than 300 years of being a colony. At the same time, Spain has received back so many Argentinians who fled from here due to the need of refuge during the military governments or due to our crazy economy or other reasons… so while we became independent, we are tied, and that cannot be taken away. But as you said, “we” weren’t either the original owners of this land, maybe here, what is different, is that we still honor the fact that we are a “melting pot” and that when the independence was declared, most of the men who were supporting it, were also European descendants who wanted to recognize that the people who decided to stay in this land, wanted to make the decisions by themselves, and many included things that were opposed to what Spain wanted, one of them was slavery.
Today, I posted something that while related to music and poetry, indeed speak about the diversity we are made from, and in part, it is a great starting point to think on this topic you brought.
Thank you for your thoughtful reflection! you are not alone!
Come often!
Lots of Love,
Cris