Day 19 to 21 - The Good and the Bad

 There have been three deaths on the Camino since I began my journey. A gentleman had a heart attack crossing the Pyrenees on my third day, a young man drowned in the Atlantic after completing the walk past Santiago to Finisterre, and a woman was stuck by a car 27 kilometers from Santiago just two weeks ago. Also, no new leads are emerging about Denise, a young woman who hasn’t been seen on the Camino since April 4.

Denise disappeared from an area I’ve just walked through. The police have warned women not to walk alone through this 20-30 kilometer stretch. As I walked this section with friends always in sight I had an ominous feeling of dread. The landscape is desolate, there is a single lane road that parallels it and shrub that rises high to each side. I wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

I overheard Sherry say the Camino is a metaphor to what we will experience when we complete this journey. There are ugly sections along with the beauty. There are towns where the only sign of life is poverty and others teeming with wealth. There are desolate sections and then in a blink of the eye you feel you are being crowded out by a wave of people pushing you aside.

I think I began the Camino assuming I would see good everywhere. And I have. But I’ve also seen so much sadness. I’ve followed a man who had a teddy bear tied to the back of his backpack. Two days ago that little teddy bear had been left behind at a cross on a hill. I’ve seen a beautiful picture of a little boy going through cancer treatment at a church and then run into that same picture 100 kilometers later at another church. I can’t imagine what those carrying their mementoes are going through.

Today’s post is dedicated to my cousin, Mary Stewart Fortune. There is a beauty gene that runs through my family and Mary Stewart was awarded it in her looks and in her heart. She joined the angels two days ago and is no longer in pain from the brain tumor or the treatments she was subjected to in the hopes of saving her. Mary Stewart is happy now. My sadness is for the three children she left behind. A seven year old boy, a middle schooler and one graduating from high school are going to have to find the beauty in life at a time when the world seems surrounded by sadness.