Today, I am reminded of how I felt eight years ago, when the Gods of Democracy handed the US operating system to a demigod….a lesser being. In another time and maybe another world, this would have been a newly elected president – Republican or Democrat – it wouldn’t have mattered, the system would have been working as it should.
Then and again today, that lesser being is a “lesser human being.” The Gods got it wrong and for a second time. The first time, I was devastated. I couldn’t sleep. I raged for days, weeks against the powers that be – “How could you?”…”What are we, mere mortals, to do?”
I walked a Camino to deal with my anger, my disbelief and my need to put things into perspective. Given that Caminos have been in existence for 1,200 years, I had a lot to draw on. At the end of my 300kms, I realized that demigods come and go, leaders come and go and even tyrants come and go. What survives is the human spirit. Our journey toward empathy is long, often interrupted, certainly threatened and, at times, even despised. However, when we look back, we realize that we have come a long way.
I quote often from the poet Mary Oliver. She derives her strength from forces primeval – from nature, from love, and from the endurance of the human spirit. I will repeat, as long as I need to:
“….it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in (this) broken world…”
We will survive.
Buen Camino