A cure for Pilgrim crankiness

[Kelli Leydecker]

I have noticed more postings recently from folks who are commenting negatively about experiences along the Camino. It always brings to mind a sign I saw in one of albergues early in my Camino Frances journey last year; "Tourists are demanding. Pilgrims are grateful." When you feel yourself getting upset over a situation, whether on the Camino, or in "real life", ponder those words. It helps keep me in check when I'm overreacting to something. Have fun out there!

 

[Binya]

Yes, many abundances to be grateful for...affordable accommodation, well maintained trails, trusty waymarkers, birdsong, fellow open hearted pilgrims, the adventure of each unique day...

 

[LdnWalker]

I wonder if the ease of internet access is helping fuel this. Previously you would have time to ponder your Camino events (pleasant or otherwise) before returning to the forum to discuss them. Now lots of people can quickly vent about grievances without considering the tone they are sending out.

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Kelli and Binya , there are indeed lots of things where we can be grateful for .

Wish you both well,Peter.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Now lots of people can quickly vent about grievances without considering the tone they are sending out.

Blessed are the two finger typists.

 

[Maple Leaf Walker]

I've long been fond of this quote from The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles:
" (an) important difference between tourist and traveler is that the former accepts his own civilization without question; not so the traveler, who compares it with the others, and rejects those elements he finds not to his liking.”

I try to be a traveller in life, not a tourist. While I might not always succeed, but I can remain mindful that not all of our judgements of others (or of ourselves) are accurate.

 

[katie@camino]

I have noticed more postings recently from folks who are commenting negatively about experiences along the Camino. It always brings to mind a sign I saw in one of albergues early in my Camino Frances journey last year; "Tourists are demanding. Pilgrims are grateful." When you feel yourself getting upset over a situation, whether on the Camino, or in "real life", ponder those words. It helps keep me in check when I'm overreacting to something. Have fun out there!

Adding this to my collection of quotes on the wall in front of my desk at work. Thankyou

 

[Felipe]

It always brings to mind a sign I saw in one of albergues early in my Camino Frances journey last year; "Tourists are demanding. Pilgrims are grateful."

Although I agree with your general point of view, I also believes it is becoming a thing of a past era, especially after Sarria (but the situation is spreading backwards...) The Camino is becoming a string of businesses offering lodgment, food, transportation and services to pilgrims, many times frankly overpriced (the services, not the pilgrims )
I accept albergues that ask only for "donativo" as they are (and always give as much as I can). I am, as you say, grateful.
But when there is a tariff for services, I consider that the establishment is a business, I am a customer, and I can defend my rights or give an opinion about the services or goods offered.
Just my cranky view...

 

[John Finn]

There is one surefire cure: a few cervezas grandes. All will then be well with the world

 

[trecile]

If walking the Camino makes you cranky you probably shouldn't do it.

 

[Felipe]

Uhmmm...have you heard about the fearful ASCS (that is the acronym for the "After Sarria Crankiness Syndrome")?
It is insidious, you don't notice it until you start posting in a forum, some months later.

 

[KinkyOne]

I wonder if the ease of internet access is helping fuel this. Previously you would have time to ponder your Camino events (pleasant or otherwise) before returning to the forum to discuss them. Now lots of people can quickly vent about grievances without considering the tone they are sending out.

That's exactly why I don't post my daily posts as I walk. Because I'm bitching all the time. About everything But two days later it is a beautiful experience - as a miracle

 

[JabbaPapa]

I've long been fond of this quote from The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles:
" (an) important difference between tourist and traveler is that the former accepts his own civilization without question; not so the traveler, who compares it with the others, and rejects those elements he finds not to his liking.”

Excellent, though I'd put it differently -- the tourist never really leaves home despite the changes in location ; the traveller makes each new location into his new home.

The traveller seeks to join and become a part of local life, with its culture and conventions and social requirements and language, rather than keeping apart from it and seeking only its superficial attractions in special tourist environments outside normal society.

 

[Binya]

The etymology of "pilgrim" says muchos...from the Latin Peregrinus; meaning, foreign.

peregrino/a which we know so well in Spain : Per(from or beyond) agri(Country/land).

The pilgrim, whilst walking el Camino, is certainly taken out their known comfort zone. Herein lies the potential for discovery as one navigates the many paths of uncertainty...terrain, language, culture, various lodging, other pilgrims, food daily routine, time...

I also feel the pilgrim follows a calling of something deeper, holy, sacred...the Camino is a path that transforms on many levels. And as already mentioned, the pilgrim is humbled with gratitude

 

[JabbaPapa]

The etymology of "pilgrim" says muchos...from the Latin Peregrinus; meaning, foreign.

peregrino/a which we know so well in Spain : Per(from or beyond) agri(Country/land).

Just to be technical/nitpicky/pedantic, the root meaning is "traveller", and in the sense of the travelling merchant of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and still in their butcher and grocery vans going from village to village those of today, it designates those who go from place to place -- per agri -- as opposed to the sedentary business of normal village life.

The word has a delightful passive sense -- the pilgrim, etymologically and semantically, is defined by how others perceive him, as the one coming through where we live, the traveller from near or far passing through and going away, giving us news of other villages or from the city or from distant lands.

We pilgrims attach very different meanings to the word, but we should always keep humble within the understanding that others have of us.

 

[Binya]

I don't mind nitpickyness Jabba! Yet ..foreign ...implies entering a completely new world; where all the senses have the potential to be profoundly altered. It is the contrast that forges an alternate path to oneself..or one's connection to god or spirit or ...soul...

John Bunyan wrote of a Celestial City in A Pilgrim's Progress, the allegory of entering a completely different world/state of consciousness...