Day 071t: Receiving riches from the Poor … (June 24, 2019)
And so it was that I walked on & on & on through the ever-later afternoon – all the way to & through the tiny hamlet of Arblade le Bas, where I heard a local resident weed-eating his yard and decided to ask if there was anywhere a mendicant pilgrim could rest for the night. I was initially put back by his seemingly aggressive demeanor, and yet it became quickly apparent that he had either recently suffered a stroke or was carrying the burden of some unknown mental disability. Despite the same (or maybe because of it) his enthusiasm regarding my arrival soon became overwhelming, and he enthusiastically invited me inside and told me that he was going to literally construct a bed for me to sleep on in his barn (!!!) … His two compatriots (mother and sister?) were also obviously confused by my presence (with my exceptionally poor French certainly not helping matters), and they all without exception treated me with grace and kindness – offering me what little vegan food they had on hand (shredded carrots, frozen bread, and some apple/banana compote) and speaking with me in surprising depth and earnestness about both my veganism and my Walk. It was at some point during our discourse that I learned the larger city of Aire sur l’Adour was only 11 km away (instead of the 19km I had imagined it to be) and – seeing as how Jean Marc (the proprietor of my recent hostel stay-over in Condom) had enthusiastically told me that I could without question receive a place of rest in the Aire du l’Adour hostel run by one of his close friends, I decided to walk onward and avoid putting out my newfound & already impoverished friends any further …
“The beginning of real Love is the will to let those we adore be perfectly & wholly themselves, the humble and heartfelt resolution not to twist them to fit our own image, but rather to allow them to fully be all who they have decide to be. For if in loving them we do not deeply care for who they already are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not truly Love them at all: we only fancy the reflection of ourselves we seek within them” ~ via Thomas Merton
;