- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2003 CF Ronces to Santiago
Hospi San Anton 2016.
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As I have eluded , Twas not meGood for you Renshaw, now that is Christianity in practice.
Unfortunately, in November this year I was fooled into loaning 130 Euros to a fellow pilgrim, a smart German chap in a hat and bow tie. I had met him on the Camino and walked with him for a few days at the end. He said he had problems accessing funds and needed money to get back home to Berlin to sort it all out. Needless to say, I never heard from him again.It was about 10 years ago , Money was plentiful , to draw €300 from a ATM was easy. I always stayed at the Pension Escaray which cost me €20 or less for my own prefered single room. This justified my €50/100 per day indulgence during the whole day. Sometimes I would have lunch and dinner at the Cafe Urún which meant two bottles of vino - there were times where only the angels led me back home. It was cheaper for me to carvort in Pamplona than exist in London.
When walking on one of the main streets I encountered a ginger young man who had a little sign asking for help. He must have been 21 years old , from an 'Eastern Block' country and he had run out of funds - he was a pilgrim. I stooped down to his eye level and ask how I could help. Then , call it divine intervention I dug into my pocket and gave him €50. His eyes lit up and he suddenly had hope.
Now as little as I am , I can be an assertive little bug***r. I told him that there was a condition , it was that he threw his sign away and started walking right NOW!! Which he did , I had given him enough to live for a week on the Camino , I never saw him again. I do hope he completed his Camino.
That €50 was never really mine was it?
That was just last month. Let’s pray that you yet hear from him. In the meantime, you believed you were doing a kind act; if you never hear back from him, it will be on his conscience, not yours.Unfortunately, in November this year I was fooled into loaning 130 Euros to a fellow pilgrim, a smart German chap in a hat and bow tie. I had met him on the Camino and walked with him for a few days at the end. He said he had problems accessing funds and needed money to get back home to Berlin to sort it all out. Needless to say, I never heard from him again.
Unfortunately, in November this year I was fooled into loaning 130 Euros to a fellow pilgrim, a smart German chap in a hat and bow tie. I had met him on the Camino and walked with him for a few days at the end. He said he had problems accessing funds and needed money to get back home to Berlin to sort it all out. Needless to say, I never heard from him again.
Although she had told her bank she would be in the US for 3 months they decided, while she was away, to issue her with a new Debit Card which they sent to her home address in London and cancelled the existing one!
Not quite a "beggar" story but if it hadn't have been for the kindness of strangers . . .
lthough she had told her bank she would be in the US for 3 months they decided, while she was away, to issue her with a new Debit Card which they sent to her home address in London and cancelled the existing one!
I have never liked lending money to people in person and so I offered to give her the money instead.
By giving instead of lending, we free ourselves as well; from waiting for a repayment that may or may not ever come; often turning into resentment. My mother loaned her brother $300 before she married, which was alot of money in 1948. He never paid her back. There were times in my youth I could hear bitterness in her voice as she had memories that he did not live up to his word. This reminds me of a quote heard long ago that I have not forgotten...By giving, and not lending, we leave our fellow human being free.
Or, as I’ve heard it put another way … something to the effect of ‘try not to harbour resentment, because while you‘re harbouring resentment (and poisoning yourself) the other guy’s out dancing.’"Bitterness is the poison you drink, hoping someone else will die."
Good on you for following your heart, your inner voice to help this pilgrim achieve his goal. Blessings to you and all the good samaritans on the way.As I have eluded , Twas not meI do not need any further credit. Twas the higher Power
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