Day 102h: Another walker well-met … (July 25, 2019)
I had paused to gaze at the closed & locked doors of the town’s Capilla de San Blas when Aina called out to me and approached with a wonderful smile beaming from her face. It was a rare and treasured joy to meet up with pilgrims previously met along The Way; rare primarily because I tended to walk at a much faster pace than most of my fellow travelers and few of them ever managed to “catch up” to me (even on the days when I walked for very short distances &/or chose to rest completely). I had first met Aina back in Ponferrada while sharing the tale of my Walk with some hospitaleras there, and had seen her again just a few days previously in Santiago while heading to receive my Camino Compostella. It turned out that she had decided to take a bus tour to Finisterre instead of walking the additional 90km to get there, which is how we were blessed to meet for a third and final time on our respective journeys. Aina was one of the smaller group of pilgrims who really seemed to “get” the significance of what I was doing (and who obviously embodied much of its primary messages of radical kindness, unconditional compassion, and selfless service) and my spirits were truly buoyed by being able to spend a few more moments with her before my Walk her bus tour both continued onward …
“I have a vision of a great Rucksack Revolution where thousands or even millions of open-minded & warmhearted young people are wandering the world with backpacks, going up to the top of mountains to pray and heading into the dingiest ghettos to make children laugh and old men glad. And they are all of them – each & every one – followers of Christ’s selfless Way; full-bore Zen Lunatics who only wish to bring peace to those in despair and joy to those in sadness; to walk about writing poems of love with their smiles and novels of caring with their deeds. All they want to do each day is leap boldly into their world by being kind to strangers and shock all nearby with unexpected acts of generosity and goodwill; offering visions of truer freedom and a far better world to all, and inspiring all to enliven the same.” ~ inspired by Gary Snyder
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