Day 106k: Honoring the humility of Hannah … (July 29, 2019)
I was thereafter smoothly flowing out of town when I heard a loud and enthusiastic “Scaughdt!” coming from the side of the road. And who should I see when looking in that direction but Hannah – the wonderful young pilgrim from Japan; the pilgrim I had first briefly met in the lovely hostel in Pieros some 11 days prior, and the pilgrim who had been so kind to me two days afterward when I was struggling so mightily on my way from Ocebreiro to Samos. She ran up and hugged me with tears in her eyes – expressing both unbridled joy to see me again and a heartfelt sorrow for not having stayed longer with me the last time we had seen each other. I mirrored the former while soothing the latter, letting her know that there was no need for either sorrow or regret; letting her know that it was the kindness she did show me in that moment – however brief or fleeting it might have been to her or seemed to others – that gave me the strength to continue on my way …
“Indeed, I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, and so much disillusionment and sorrow, just to become a child again and begin anew. In truth I had to experience all of these varied depths of despair in order to transcend my own fears & longings, and thereby return to grace … I remember clearly all those I had forsaken in moments of angst or greed, and yearned mightily that I might meet them all again – to cleanse what had been with what could be … And yet even though most of these failures will never be so properly renewed, I can still take their memories with me into each new day’s new encounters. I can remember them as I meet their brothers & sisters & cousins distant in distant lands, and I can treat the latter as the former should have been … And so it is that I say to you all: There is never a need to visit my grave., for as the Son knows, I am not there. Instead, if you wish to see me again, look in between the pages of my works and hear me in the gentlest words that come from others’ lips. Go neither to my old school nor my older church nor even my oldest abode, for I am in none of those dusty places. No, go instead and look for me in the depths of your own hearts. You can ever see and greet me there.” ~ inspired by Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoevsky & Kamand Kojouri
;