On many of the Camino forums, pilgrims are talking about offering to volunteer during the very busy Holy Year this year. As a result of these discussions, an old thorn in many a pilgrim's flesh has been exposed once again -- the debate as to who is really a pilgrim. In The Way of Stars and Stones I wrote about the Peregrinos and the Tourigrinos -- the 'true pilgrims' and the rest.
On one of the Camino forums, a pilgrim writes the following: " As far as helping out in the Pilgrims' office for Compostela-granting purposes and such, I do not think that I could do it, particularly since someone mentioned that some pilgrims lie (about their intentions?) when they get a credential. I do not understand this at all.... what is the point of the pilgrimage then? How can one lie to oneself? But if this in fact happens for the purpose of getting a Compostela, might there not be another untruths about distances covered and means of locomotion, etc? With this in mind, I probably would not grant anything to anyone, so that sort of undertaking is definitely not for me."
Incredible, isn't it? That people will lie about how far they have walked? And yet, in my experience it happens all the time. Personally I have stopped asking people where they had started or how far they had walked or whether they had taken the bus over certain sections. The less you ask, the less temptation for them to lie -- and too many times have I -- inadvertently and unintentionally -- caught people out in their lies about the details of their own personal camino. Sadly they seem not to realise that the pilgrimage is not a contest and not a race. I have met pilgrims who had walked no more than 50 kilometres of the Way and who had more intense and life-changing experiences during that short time than many of those who had walked much further and much longer.
The Camino is like the pilgrimage through life -- it is not about the destination. It is about the journey.....
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