Day 080t: When ways are purposefully parted … (July 03, 2019)
We all walked together to the next town of Obanos, and it was here that I intentionally lingered to allow my Canadian friends to move along. And I did so for their benefit, to make sure that their selfless generosity that had been so Joy-fully given up to that point, from morphing into a sluggish feeling of being in any way obligated to help “the starving wanderer.” This almost inevitable shift from joyful generosity to obligated assistance was one of the commonalities I had experienced more than few times on this particular pilgrimage, and it was a dynamic that had never before brought forth any Good Fruit. Far better to allow those who give to do so briefly & powerfully and remember the same with fond positivity than to have them steadily feel more & more as though they had to help or that they were somehow morally required to do so. Yes, I could have remained with them for days – indeed for the rest of their trip, and yes, I could very well have provided them all (Peter especially) with a greater measure of peace &/or insight. And yet to do so would have inevitably come at a far greater cost; the cost of their generosity feeling mandated by worry or guilt, as opposed to offered freely with kindness & courage. I would never rob anyone of this far greater Joy, and so it was that I bid them all adieu and waited patiently for them to walk well ahead of me along The Way …
“There are so many ways to be truly brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else – a friend, yes, but also a stranger, even an enemy. Sometimes bravery involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater than yourself. And yet sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes bravery is nothing more than gritting your teeth through the fatigue & the pain, of getting up every day for the children to do the work of the everyday, of letting loved ones go to live the lives they must live, of taking the next step and only the next step on any pilgrimage of peace … That is the sort of bravery I must have now.” ~ inspired by Veronica Roth
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