HUMANITY HIKER

Coming into San Francisco we had a Lions Club speaking engagement lined up, but no place to stay.  Our route brought us by the Parkside Community Church and I suggested to Ky at the end of the day that might be a place for us to stay.

Ky contacted the church, but instead of staying there we were adopted by the church’s secretary, Teri Guida.  What made this gesture particularly striking was that she hosted us while the rest of her family was away, including husband Jim.  This highlights one of the virtues necessary for kindness, courage in the form of going outside your comfort zone.

I’m not saying everyone should bring anyone they meet into their homes.  We obviously had some built in credibility that would assuage the concerns of most, but befriending strangers of any background still involves some element of risk.  Teri accepted that risk and made us feel like family in the process.  Our conversation around the dinner table that evening was genuinely warm and we now continue on as Facebook friends in this high tech age.  In fact, I think I’ll share this on her page.

Thanks Teri!

Time to continue along with the kindness and community posts.  Going from West to East along the American Discovery Trail journey the next kind person encountered was Carlos de la Fuente near Auburn, California.

We met each other hiking along Folsom Lake.  Carlos saw our full packs and stopped us because he figured we must be doing something interesting.  This was based on his own experiences, which included walking across both the United States and Russia in the 80s for peace, then later kayaking along Central America for peace as well.

ADT Carlos de la Fuente

Carlos and his wife Mariana invited us into their home where they treated us royally, but the whole life of Carlos is a tale of kindness.  He was a police officer, then a lawyer, then a judge, then a pro bono advocate for the homeless and the unfortunate.  His global jaunts for the sake of humanity were just a reflection of his communal impulses to better the lives of those around him.

Meeting someone like Carlos so early in the journey, soon after visiting the community of Locke, together set the tone that this would be more pilgrimage than mission.  We would be on a journey of discovery more than proselytizing about the virtues of kindness and community.