Day 34c: When SOULS reconnect … (05/18/2019)
The going was thick and slow on this day, and I found myself wondering (somewhat negatively, I freely admit) about the stark lack of Meaning-full interactions with others I had experienced when I saw a wine bar up ahead. Thinking it would be especially ironic for a tea-totaling Peace Pilgrim to stroll into such a vinaficionadic establishment looking for a mere glass of water, I amble over and introduce myself to an employee who is obviously prepping tables for lunch — an employee, Claudia, who happens to also be the co-owner of said establishment …
Now I will state up front that my expectations for this meeting were not the most hopeful. The day had been relatively lonely & lame up to that moment, and I couldn’t have ever imagined that a wine-bar on the outskirts of one of Europe’s most opulent cities would ever welcome a pilgrim such as myself. And yet my goodness, how wrong I was! For, after hearing an abbreviated telling of my Walk — its how’s as well as its why’s, Claudia actually began to cry; telling me that she was having an especially rough time that morning and that both my pilgrimage and my presence had re-affirmed her faith in humanity … :O :O :O
So she proceeded to invite me inside, set a table for me, make me what remains to this day to be the most amazingly delicious salad I have ever eaten, and then invite (at the time) fellow co-owner Stefan to join us for a truly phenomenal conversation — a conversation filled with Love and Hope and Meaning; a conversation that possibly inspired Claudia to feel better about her life & its short-term future, and a conversation that most definitely inspired me to feel faithful about my own Mission — its Plan as well as its Purpose … 😀
“Remember that what you teach is actually teaching you; that you will never be able to clearly See the Light of LOVE until you offer the same to your brothers & sisters; that you will only be able to fully recognize It as your own while they are removing It from your outstretched hands.” ~ F. Vaughn & R. Walsh
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