Our old friend Martin “The Walking Man,” is back on my mind as he shared his recent hour-long interview on Argentinian television talking about his epic two-and-half-year journey. His journey crossed fourteen different countries, as he walked pulling his heavy cart over 14,000 miles. The TV host barraged him with question after question, and one, in particular, caught my attention. It is a question I had asked of Martin many times during his stay with us. “Where did you find the most friendly and helpful people and were there places with bad or nasty folk who gave you trouble?”
Just as he did in my presence, Martin shook his head back and forth; “No, No, no. People are really just the same, no matter what country they were from. They might have different customs, habits, dialects, or tastes, but I found that people are just people. The great, great majority of people I met along the way were loving, helpful, curious, and friendly. They wanted to know about my journey, and they wanted to help and assist me in whatever way possible.”
These are words from a well-traveled soul. These are not judgmental words from a tourist who spent a week there one day. These are insights from a man who lived and walked, and talked, and ate, and slept alongside of the people from all walks of life over 14,000 miles. What Martin tells us carries weight, because he has lived in and amongst so many varied people. Martin tells us; “People are basically the same; they want to live a fulfilling life, they want to have a job that provides, they want to be with family and friends and live life through relationships. They want peace and purpose.” Crazy… it sounds just like you and me!
Martin is the ultimate master of the “selfie”. And not so much in the vein of the typical egotistical or narcissistic “Hey look at me! Like me! Love me please!” way, but more a way to document, honor and give thanks to the thousands of people he met and that helped him along his journey. If you jump on his Facebook website link and begin scrolling downward, you’ll soon realize that it is a bottomless pit of photos. Thousands of selfies posing with every type of American you can imagine that he met along his two- and a half--year journey. All included. All a part of what made his trip so memorable. Many of you from First Lutheran and the FM area are posted here.
[The many faces of Americans: https://www.facebook.com/martineechegaray/photos.]
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