There were a few locations along the Camino where I had intended to stop and give thanks – not only for how their residents had treated me with kindness back in 2008, but also for how they were reportedly continuing to treat pilgrims with kindness to the current day. The Domenico-Laffi albergue in the town of El Burgo Ranero was one of these sacred places, and it was with great joy that I sauntered into its cool confines to tell the two hospitaleros there (a bemused-yet-impressed Michael and a skeptical-yet-subsequently-inspired Bruno) about my current Walk and offer them two Peace Stones as an expression of my unconditional gratitude.

“The attainment of Enlightenment happens whenever you allow your presence, your love and your gratitude to meld together as one and actively envelop your ego in acts of reckless kindness … In truth, it is not a duty or an obligation we have to love others – it is a privilege to do so. And while it is admittedly paradisaical for others to be as grateful for us as we are for them (a.k.a. “being loved in return”), it is unfair and actually also unkind to demand or expect the same. Enlightenment always considers ourselves fortunate and even honored to possess the capacity to feel so much tenderness towards life that we feel almost compelled to extend gentleness to every facet of the same. In truth, Love is the only game in which we win even when we lose, and gratitude is the only play where the move is best while having neither rhyme nor reason..” ~ inspired by Matthew Donnelly & Tom Robbins

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt