All I wanted was to buy me a new pair of running shoes and maybe visit places I have not seen before. But this travel had other plans for me. It must have been the stateside winds that transformed me from a common shutter-happy tourist into a pilgrim. The content of my character just got a lift.
It started with my world embrace of the Chicago Tribune Tower (part I). It was, at the beginning, just for the heck of it after watching a movie rather than for any sublime reason. But my spiritual wings got the better of me.
The same set of wings took me to the 9/11 Memorial (part II) that brought the spiritual to a higher level. Memories of the event came back like a nightmare in the middle of the night.
Last are the Vietnam Veterans and the Holocaust Memorials.
Endless names. Pictures and videos that showed people in agony. Images of suffering and death filled my thoughts. Though I’ve seen many documentaries and read stories about them before, I still find it difficult to imagine the amount of pain they went through. Pray, like a good pilgrim, was all I can do right then and there.
I’d like to think that this is fate’s idea behind this pilgrimage travel: compassion and empathy towards suffering and injustice. There’s a lot more to process than I can write. This tourist will never be the same again.
Even with a heavy heart, I raise a prayer and a coffee cup.
Cheers!
If you’ve been touched, amused, or entertained by this post, or it put a smile on your face, please favor me with a cup of coffee. I will continue writing.
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