I had found, first hand, the meaning of community on the Camino. I am not quite half way and have added so many people to my friend list. These people are from all over the world. The one thing that is common among the pilgrims is their genuine approach to humanity. If you stop and rest someone will always stop for a moment and ask if you are ok. This can be in any of many languages but the hand signals are the unifying language. We all try to accommodate the other’s language.
Paul and Dana were some of the first. I get messages from time to time touching base while they are far up the trail having left days before me. “M” had made friends with Paul & Dana thus with me. M has been mindful of my hearing impaired and specifically thinks to help me hear when she’s around. I saw here two days before I start walking. She start day before me. I ran into her a few weeks later.
Regina and Arnold, a couple living in Austria, speaks German and no English. Yet, we’ve spent hours together talking through technology.
Other new friends are from China, Korea, Spain, France, England, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. All are friendly to each other and politics are never mentioned. We are all simply humans enjoying each other’s company for a short time in our lives.
humanity can be such a wonderful thing when we drop the things that divide us just enjoy friendship of real and good people. The friendship community was something that I read about but never expected it to be such a prevalent part of this journey.
Leave a Reply