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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For those of you who don't know me (which is all of
you, I guess) I'm a person who generally looks on the humorous side of
things. I'm the one who originally referred to the list as a "Christian"
list and I've enjoyed reading the reactions. Please note, Scott, in my
original post I used the word in quotation marks. Even if it sounds like
it, I never did mean to imply that all the people subscribing to the list were
Christian, just as I'm not naive enough to believe that all the people sitting
in a Church on any given Sunday morning are Christian. However, I was
responding to the question of whether to leave the Matamoros up or not, and that
certainly is a Christian topic. I'm glad the question was raised in the
first place.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am interested in hearing people who are not
Christian tell about their impressions of the pilgrimage, and of the cathedrals,
etc. What non-Christians think of the Matamoros and what Christians do or
say with this symbol is very important to me. It's not that I feel the
need to PLEASE anyone, but it's still nice to get the feedback.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There are a lot of things in history we would like
to change, but of course can't. My ancestors had nothing whatsoever to do
with slavery (they were Norwegian) but they settled on land in North Dakota less
than 6 years after the Sioux nation had been massacred and driven into
reservations. Ironically, I've been in situations where black Americans
have tried to make me feel guilty for the sins of my forefathers (in Norway?),
but the Native Americans who have been my friends have never commented
negatively that my family's farm encompasses several hundred acres of former
Sioux homeland. I am acutely aware of it, nonetheless. But I didn't
control the railroads, I didn't control my grandfather, and I don't control my
brother who farms the land now. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What I can do is honor the memory of the people who
came before me by telling their stories as truthfully as I can. Lies
divide people, not truth. I would expect a Christian to use every
effort to tell the truth. I would not expect a cathedral which has
weathered 500 years of turbulent human history to be decorated in cheescake and
fluff. Christianity is a religion which should deal honestly
with corruption in the world, and if there are statues and artwork
which harken back to painful history, then let them be seen, only be sure
to let them be interpreted with truth and not prejudice. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I thought the observation someone made that
the Spanish appreciated and preserved the mosques and synagogues to be
especially touching. It is good for us to educate ourselves as to the
true events and nature of the strife between Christians and Muslims and
Jews. The intertwined history of those three faiths is a mind-boggling
thing which affects us all daily, whether you believe in God or not. If we
tried to be politically correct, the first thing we should get rid of is the Old
Testament. But how can we throw out one of the cornerstones of our
civilization?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To me, the Camino is a microcosm of the journey we
take through life. Some take the journey with every intention of finding
God. Some take the journey not knowing what they are seeking. Some
take the journey out of fun, or adventure, or because of a relationship with
someone else. But the reasons you start out on the road may have very
little to do with what you find. One of my friends who walked the Camino
let home as a pot-smoking rock-and-roll drummer. Fifteen years later, he
became a priest.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>El Camino had everything to do with
it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Peace to you all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Karen</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>