No small Kindness … ( 04 / 10 / 2012 )
No small Kindness … ( 04 / 10 / 2012 )
“ Pilgrim , are you walking with your Heart or with your head ?” ~ Camino de Santiago graffiti
That really is the question , isn ’ t it ? Whether we are going to work or tending the baby , sharing time with a friend or being attacked by an enemy , the only thing that truly matters is whether we are in those moments with our cold & analytical heads or with our compassionate & courageous Hearts .
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the very first step I took along a 900 + mile Peace Pilgrimage I walked from Chattanooga ( Tennessee ) to Lighthouse Point ( a bit north of Miami , Florida ) … I walked 700 +/ - miles of that way carrying no money , no food & no water , and I never once asked for assistance of any kind . In the wild , dangerous , terrifying place that is “ the world ”, I was completely penniless and completely alone .
And in the beginning of this great journey , I was indeed often “ in my head ” — cold and afraid and hungry and alone . Needless to say , it was less than pleasant … And yet something occurred on day three that I will always remember : I chose to stop worrying about myself and whether or not I would “ make it ”, and I started opening up to folks — I simply started trying to make their days a bit better . And when I did so , an amazing thing happened : my fear disappeared , and my hunger faded away along with it . I wasn ’ t even cold anymore .
And as I began reaching out more & more to connect with the people around me , I rediscovered something truly wonderful – I rediscovered that people are quite simply amazingly GOOD .
Indeed , even though I was literally sustained for a large portion of my Trek by “ the Divine ” ( whatever that is ), I still wouldn ’ t have survived were it not for the profound Courage & amazing Kindness of the hundreds of folks who reached out to me along the way … Conservatives and liberals , black folks and white folks , the dirt poor and the exceedingly rich — over and over and over I was shown that real LOVE exists at the core of the human heart .
And all we each need to do to feel that LOVE blossom again in our own lives is to have the guts to Care – especially for the strangers we meet … especially for those who annoy us … especially for our enemies .
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