Life In A Walk

How well do we really know each other, any of us, even the people with whom we're genetically close?

I'm thinking about that in the middle of the night as I've just watched Life in A Walk (free on Amazon), an excellent documentary by Yogi Roth, a young man who invited his dad to take a long walk with him--the Camino De Santiago, a famous pilgrimage through Portugal and Spain. As a young man who's traveled the world, even spent a month in India with his dad, Yogi wants to know his father better, ask him questions, and learn more from him.

Some people take this pilgrimage for religious or spiritual reasons, others for the challenge of doing something physically challenging. For Yogi and his father, Will, the walk was a way to spend time together walking through beautiful villages and landscapes.

What makes each of us uniquely who we are is a mystery, even to ourselves.  Why do we want certain things and not others?  Why are we attracted to certain people as friends and partners?  What are our idiosyncrasies, our dreams, our favorite pieces of music?  How do we spend our solitary hours?  What places on the planet do we want to see before we die?  When a stranger asks us, "What do you do?" what do we say?  What are our regrets, our happiest memories? What excites us, makes us lose track of time?

The tapestry of being this human being with other human beings is endlessly fascinating, often frustrating, and infinitely expansive.  Why, I ask myself watching this documentary, don't we spend more time getting to know the people we love?

When my friend Deb called me a few nights ago to recommend this movie, she said, "I have decided I want to walk the Camino De Santiago and you're the person I want to walk it with," I thought......Hmmm, really?  I'm not a walker or a religious pilgrim.  I'm a driver, a picture taker.  But okay, I'll watch these movies about the walk and see if I can figure out why you want to do this....

Deb wants to experience what it's like to "carry what you can only carry on your back."  She's 54 and this is her dream before she dies, "even with these terrible feet of mine."

When we spend times with friends and family, we usually talk about the past or we tell each other stories we've told before or we catch up on things that have happened since we last saw each other.   This film inspires me to be with people in the present, to do something together that leaves us changed in some way, bigger.