Day 089k: Proffering another Peace … (July 12, 2019)
It was gloriously smooth & easy walking that day (a path-trait that would prove to be a common one for much of the next several weeks) and I soon enough found myself at the famed Ermita de St. Nicolas*, the famed donativo hostel of which I had heard so many wonderful things. It was places like this, places that maintained the traditional heartfelt respect & unconditional generosity towards pilgrims, that keep the magic of the Camino alive, and even though it was still very early in the day and I had many more miles still to tread, I stopped in to offer my humble thanks to that kind place. It seemed that more than few others had heard of the refuge’s open-souled graciousness as well, for a queue of a dozen or so other pilgrims had already formed outside (even though it was still more than few hours before the hostels’ doors would open for admittance). The hospitaleros on site were a little off-put when I walked past everyone else and entered the refuge proper, and yet they warmed slightly (yet still skeptically) after I explained that I wasn’t cutting in line, but was rather simply there to offer them thanks for their Great Work and give them the Peace Stone that I had made for them a few kilometers before. They didn’t quite know what to make of this gesture, though they did encourage me to sit and enjoy their last cup of coffee from that morning’s breakfast. An obviously exhausted Taiwanese pilgrim-couple then came over and asked for some coffee as well, I easily offered them my own cup after they were told there was no more. The hospitaleros, still partially convinced that I was somehow trying to scam them for an early admittance into the hostel, soon warmed to me as pilgrim-friend after pilgrim-friend walked past, saw me, and greeted me warmly. It was nice to see their doubt melt away into unbridled kindness thereafter, and I made sure to wish them well and move onward into the day before receiving any other gifts; leaving them with an untainted proof of the selflessness of my journey, and hopefully inspiring them to offer others some of the same …
“I look back upon my life and realize how so many people gave me help, understanding, encouragement, and inspiration – extremely important things, all of them – and how so many of them never knew it. They entered into my life and by their sheer graciousness became astounding powers within me. In truth, all of us live psychologically & spiritually by what others have given us, often unwittingly, in the significant hours of our life. At the time these significant hours may not even be perceived, and we may not recognize them at all until years later when we look back, as one remembers some youth-heard music or boyhood landscape. We all owe to those others much of the gentleness and wisdom that we have made our own; and we are well-called to ask ourselves in what ways will my choices today inspire others to think gratefully about us one day as well.” ~ via Albert Schweitzer
*Parochial Ermita de San Nicolás
Puente Fitero
09107 Burgos
Spain
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