Giving and Receiving

[Felipe Sanchez]

Good Morning:  Well, here I go again.  My aplogies to detractors, my
sympathies to the rest.

I also am not immune to the the sufferings of others.  But after having
lived in the "third world" and Manhattan I conclude that among human society
our needs and wants far exceed our abilities to minister to them.  Several
times a week I walked from 42nd Street in New York to 63rd.  If I had
stopped to assist each person in need along the route I would never have
arrived at my work which was charitable by the way and part time.  In
Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Haiti, even Spain, if I had contributed time and
money in an unrestrained manner I would have exhausted my resources and been
busy all day every day.  So in an exercise of eleemosynary triage I chose a
few persons and causes and I administer to these as best I can which is
considerable in terms of hours and cash. Lamentably, then, I do not let the
remainder of a needful world distract me or by so doing I would be rendered
incapable of assisting my elected entities. Such is the reality of an
overpopulated, complex, materialistic world.  I am not responsible for the
creation of need and paucity.  I am responsible for my adaptation to a world
replete with both.  More than this none of might be expected to so do and
short of becoming another "Mother Teresa" I deem my attitude justifiable and
humane.

And to make my comments germane and relevant, I must admit to having mused
along these lines while on the Meseta Leonese.  What is my place in the
world?  How ought I administer my presence here?  What responsibility do I
have to society? To the environment?  Years ago I chose a partial answer by
deciding to be sterilized and not produce progeny.  This, perhaps, is the
most significant contribution I have made in an overcrowed world with
diminishing resources.  As I traversed the Camino and experienced the
multitudes and decried the trash, my interpretation of that experience as a
microcosm of a macrocosm in crisis seemed totally congruous and valid.
Felipe Sanchez