Xacobeo and Football and pilgrims of a lesser kind

[William Marques]

This is a section from an interview with Keith Crandell who was a warden at
the CSJ refuge in Rabanal in the 90's.

"I want to share one of the experiences I had, which was probably my most
interesting moment on the trip:
A Catholic priest from Germany was there with about 10 young men who were
doing an alternative to military service. These were people who did not
want to serve in the German army and their alternative was to work on
public service projects in Germany and they were under the leadership of
the priest. They had not been on the road very long – maybe they were one
of the groups that started in Leon. And so Annie, my wife, saw that they
needed something cohesive to bring them together, so she set them to
picking apples in the garden. Which was nice – they were up there in the
tree and had a great time out there picking apples. They got several
baskets of apples, which we gave to the pilgrims.
That night I sat and talked to the priest. It was one of my first days
there. So I said, “Why do people do this, Father?” (His name was Klaus).
He said, “Well, some people do it for religious reasons; some people do it
for spiritual reasons; some people do it for good exercise, for health
reasons; some people do it because it is fashionable; some people do it
because their friends are doing it. There are no bad reasons – only good
reasons. And everybody, no matter what their reason, is changed by the
experience.”
I was changed, Annie was changed, everybody was changed. Everybody is
changed by the experience, whether it is a walker, a cyclist, or a person
who is just helping (like Annie and I)."

It seems to me that all those who walk, cycle or ride the camino are
changed whatever accomodation they use and however much money they spend.
In fact part of what the camino taught me is to value possessions less and
people more.

Maybe the people encouraged by the adverts to "Go to Galacia for Xacobeo
2004" will be tourists driving to Santiago and maybe some will be pilgrims
walking, cycling or riding with the rest of us. As Klaus said motivation is
not important change is.

William