I was so proud of myself for getting that hot link in the post earlier this morning. Then must have fat fingered something and lost half of the post. So here I am back with you. And back to Cris and the Camino.
The hospitalero from the albergue in Rabanal said it: “the little we think we can do for the other may just be all the other needs”. We were so materially poor on the trail but we provided for each other what the Camino itself didn’t. We learned to help the other. Let’s see what do I have, four day old sausage, a liter of water, a bandaid and a head full of poetry. Will any of that help?
Sometimes we felt like the other. How can that be? How can I be the other? The lines blurred. We learned.
OK, out of time again. Bless you this day. Love, Felipe.
Hola Felipe,
It is quite interesting this thing about talking about the Camino and thinking about the Camino… like no other experience (maybe there are others, I am sure, though), once it is done, we long what happened then. And asking myself why that happens is an usual question. And I guess, it is the fact that in the Camino, we are who we are. Yes, some may have a more sophisticated rain jacket or a tailored backpack, some may have more money to spend on the meals and some may even spend a night in the Parador, but at the end of the day, we all have the 2 same feet that will need to cover the same km and will be under the same weather, and for that matters, it won’t “matter” who you are at home, which position you have at the company you work, how much money who have in the bank or which car you drive. You are just a pilgrim, and to “be a pilgrim” you may need to actually put aside all that, because there, you are by yourself and you will depend on what the others offer to you, more than in what you actually “enjoy” without “making any effort” because they belong to you, when you are at home, things as simple as a comfy bed.
So, this comes to be linked to what the hospitalero said: we were also offered “a little”, a thin mattress in a clean room, under a roof, even if we were 100 in a room… and we were so happy that we were at the albergue and with a bed on it. At home, how many times we refrain from doing something because it may not be “big enough”, “impactful enough”, “relevant enough”, “will not make a difference bigger enough”… and we do nothing? – I did not think that doing something like cleaning the Irish Pilgrim blisters was important, I was doing that daily to my Canadian fellow who was part of my “Camino family”… but for that man, that was all he needed. That is the big lesson, we must ensure we do what we can, not what we would like to do… we are never quite there and we may always be missing the chance to contribute.
Sorry, another super long one, but it is timely for the week: whatever we can do is what will remain years after we are gone.
Hugs to you and to all the pilgrims around your blog.Thanks for the chance to think out loud.
Beso,
Cris
Cris ~ thanks so much once again. I think you said it with the “two same feet” on all the pilgrims. That’s the story right there. And all the excuses that we come up with not to help someone. You are right we must be happy with what we can do. And maybe it is just enough. And yes, it is the deed done that will be remembered not the deed I wish I could or should have done.
Yes, We like all the hugs that you can send our way to the pilgrims around the blog. Never enough hugs around here. And any old time that you want to think out loud, we are up for it. OK, gotta go, Felipe.x