Day 16c: Consequent with Consequence … (04/30/2019)
There were supposedly three primary Camino tributaries that flowed through Weil am Rhein to the German-Swiss border, and one of them — the one I intended to take — supposedly led to a pedestrians-only bridge (named the “Peace Bridge”, fittingly). Of course, as is so often the case when plans are made, God begins chuckling — in this case with fewer & fewer clear waymarkers seen the further I proceeded through town; fewer & fewer & fewer waymarkers — until those few had dwindled to none … :O
And yet I was not dismayed, for I still enough of my wits about me to know which streets led generally southward; a flowing hypothetical that was soon affirmed by Ingrid, a wonderful woman (out walking her dog at the time) who verified that I was indeed walking correctly towards the land of clocks & chocolate, and even that I was in-deed quite close to crossing into the same.
Excited to leave my first country behind and enter my second, I was more than ready to saunter onward to Switzerland when an intrigued Ingrid began asking me a number of questions about my pilgrimage. Well, as you well might imagine, it didn’t take long for her amazement to peak by asking if I would accompany her back into town — both to meet her husband and to share their noonday meal … :O :O
Needless to say, this was an extremely easy YES to announce, and we chatted amicably about all sorts of fascinating topics — religion and politics and veganism and kindness among them — until we were at her doorstep in seemingly no time at all. Edmund, Ingrid’s husband, was also quite the intelligent conversationalist, and the three of us had a lovely time discussing the innate but admittedly very deep-seated Goodness of Humanity and the poignant necessity (much more in the United States than in Germany) for folks to disengage from corrupted party-politics and invest instead self-sustainable community.
Our visit was in truth flowing along quite nicely — until lunch was served. For even though Ingrid had asked extensively about my devoutly consequent veganism — including the what’s (not even eggs or butter) and the why’s (because I refuse to pay anyone else to do anything to another animal that I wouldn’t myself do to my own dog or cat) thereof — she had misunderstood my aversion to butter, and had soaked the pasta sauce in oodles of the same … :O :O :O
Now this was no big deal for me, truly. Many times already on my Journey had I been offered non-vegan foodstuffs, and I had calmly and respectfully turned down every one of those offers every time. I told a visibly upset Ingrid the same, I told her that I was just as grateful for the hospitality and the salad, and I told her that I would eat the pasta just as joyfully with olive oil and sea salt. And yet Ingrid would have none of it — and she remained more than bit distraught. It seemed that nothing could soothe the anguish she felt over her well-intended mistake, and then she finally asked if I would at least eat the sauce’s vegetables (carrots and asparagus) if she washed them off thoroughly beforehand. Now many “vegan purists” would have scoffed at such an offer, of course, believing — not wholly incorrectly — that anything cooked in milk or butter becomes indelibly stained with the same.
That having been said, the true vegan is the one concerned with most effectively spreading the message of veganism and its Compassion-based & Justice-steeped lifestyle. And so, as a rare-yet-appropriate exception to my own guidelines, I accepted Ingrid’s offer and let her joyfully wash the non-vegan sauce away from said vegetables — and we all enjoyed a far more lovely meal as a result; a meal that could have been laced with sorrow and misgivings and even resentment (a negative experience which would have made it far less likely for Ingrid & Edmund to one day go vegan themselves), and yet a meal that was instead ladled with loving banter and insightful conversation (most of which centered around discussing many of the more common reasons people offer for not being vegan, along with my calm-yet-clear explanations as to why the same are patently invalid).
All in all it was truly a splendid afternoon — for myself & my two newfound friends, of course, and yet ultimately for my animal Friends as well … 😀 😀 😀
“You can build walls all the way to the sky’s upper reaches, and yet I will ever find a way to fly above them. You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, and yet I will still find a way to resist and succeed. And there are so many like me out there; far more than you think — people who refuse to stop believing in justice; people who refuse to live without decency; people who Love in a world without walls; people who send compassion into hate, resilience into refusal, faith into hope, and caring into fear. I love all my brothers & sisters just as much as I Love you. Remember this, and know you cannot ever take it from me.” ~ inspired by Lauren Oliver
;