Day 129e: Only the mere cloak of the Enemy … (September 05, 2019)
It was relatively easy walking thereafter. Yes, the shoulder was thin and it was still difficult (and at times unpleasant) to leave the road and walk in the neighboring grass whenever a car approached, and yet traffic on this stretch of roadway (Highway 250W out of Charlottesville) was relatively light and slow-flowing. Still, even though I was smiling more broadly than usual on this day and was walking with more ease than normal, Officer C. Payne of the Albemarle County Police Department stopped by to see if I was okay. I was, of course, and told him so amicably, whereafter we engaged in a brief but amazement-filled chat about my Walk, whereafter Officer Payne wished me all the best* and sent me on my Way …
*It might be important to note here that every single officer who stopped me along the American portion of my pilgrimage had every right & reason to arrest me – not only because pilgrimage walking along American highways is in many jurisdictions illegal, but also for “my own safety.” And yet even though they could have done so at any time, every one of them without exception proved to be respectful and kind and encouraging, before allowing me to freely journey onward. Who would have thought (certainly not me) that American policemen would be so much more supportive of this Walk than American churches even pretended to be – and that by several orders of magnitude!
“Today I bent what I thought was correct to be kind instead. And I have no regrets over the same, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is Right … We would all do well to remember that what we’ve done becomes the judge of what we’re going to do. And then we would all do far better to remember that what others think of us or our past or our person is and should be completely irrelevant to any and all choices of word or deed. Of course, when we’re traveling, we are what we are right there and then. People don’t have our past to hold against us. There are no yesterdays on the road, no yesteryears for any pilgrim. This goes for those met while walking, as much as it does for the pilgrims doing the treading … Would that we would treat each other each day exactly the same; intentionally forgetting who a person once was or what they did or didn’t do or say or believe, and instead simply Love them right then and there as if we had only met them in that very moment.” ~ inspired by Robert Brault, William Least Heat moon & Criss Jami
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