Staff Reflection: "We are Pilgrims on a Journey"

Last weekend, the word "pilgrim" was brought to the forefront of my mind in a few ways. First, I saw an individual walking along the highway on my commute home. He was hitchhiking to get where he was going, an out-dated practice typically viewed as unsafe and foolish. But I know personally two people who hitchhiked around the country only a couple of years ago and did so independently and without any great issue. To me such an endeavor seems an exciting journey, one filled with unknown adventures and sights. Perhaps a frightening and daunting idea, hitchhiking must offer some freedom, simplicity, and the opportunity to witness America or wherever at the grassroots level. When I think of a pilgrim, I visualize someone on a journey seeking intangible enlightenment from either the destination or the journey itself. Many times it is a spiritual endeavor, but others may embark on a pilgrimage to get away from life or to experience something new and exciting. I like to believe that all pilgrims are seeking and finding something beyond themselves, what I like to call God. Hitchhiking sounds like an appropriate means for such an endeavor.

I mentioned that pilgrims often embark on their journeys to get away from an old life. The word "pilgrim" was also brought up in my mind the next day when I watched an old film, "Jeremiah Johnson." It's about a Spanish-American war veteran who decides after his stint in the war that he wants to become a mountain man. I can relate to him in that I came from a very different place to live among mountains, although we have very different lifestyles both before and after our relocation. He met a man in the mountains of Colorado who took him under his wing and taught him ways to survive in the wilderness. His mentor called him "pilgrim," for that was what he was.

These two instances brought up ideas about the modern meaning of the word "pilgrim." Is it the hitchhiker on the road? Is it the ambitious traveler whose heart lies somewhere beyond his or her known constraints? Or are all who seek some enlightenment, spiritual or otherwise, and want to grow, learn and experience life more fully the "pilgrims" of today? I learned from the great novelist Stephen King that we are made of our experiences and journeys and it is those things, the events that happen to us, the people we meet, and the things we see along the way, that are more important than the final destination. I think the pilgrim knows this, or at least will learn it as he or she travels onward. My own personal journey is one through life that lies along the path that God has laid before me. I strive to search for that path and to know it, and I pray that I have the courage to live it.