It’s been almost two weeks since we completed the Camino de Santiago. I thought it would be neat to watch this movie again to see if we could recognize places we had just recently visited. For those of you unfamiliar with this film, it is the story of a father and son, the dad (Martin Sheen), a physician and widower who has never left his safe and tidy world in California, and his son (Emilio Estevez, Sheen’s actual son), a dreamer who has decided to abort his doctoral studies and travel the world. The son decides to walk the Camino de Santiago, but in the first day climbing over the Pyrenees succumbs to hypothermia. The dad travels to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to claim his son’s remains and is inspired to walk the Camino in his son’s place. The popularity of this movie, released in 2011, has likely played a significant role in the surge of Americans on the Camino in recent years.
I was particularly struck, on this viewing of the film (the fourth time, by the way, but the first time post-Camino) by a statement made by the son to the dad in the beginning of the movie as the son is being driven to the airport to start his Camino – “You don’t choose a life, you live one.” How many of us “choose a life”, mindlessly plodding through each day, sunrise to sunset, going “through the motions” of life. We wake up, shower, maybe grab some breakfast, drive to work, spend eight hours on a job for which we may not be particularly enamored, drive home, eat dinner (likely in front of the television) or grab some take-out on the way home, and go to bed – day after day after day! Americans live a lonely life, separated from family because job opportunities take them far from home. We are addicted to internet, video games, Netflix, television – activities that truly isolate us from other human beings. To rise the corporate ladder, one must devote many hours to our occupation, to the detriment of relationships with one’s spouse/partner/offspring. We long for the day we can retire from the job so we can finally enjoy life. Then before you know it, that’s it! One is either too sick or too old or too financially strapped, or all of the above, to enjoy the “fruits of one’s labors” and the “golden years” of retirement are either compromised by ill health or a depleted pension account, or cut short by an untimely demise.
The American lifestyle, centered on one’s job and the pursuit of the “American dream” – a large home, two SUVs in the garage, and a large stock portfolio – and the predominance of social media, the internet, the smartphone in our everyday lives has contributed to our social isolation and demise of social interaction. The lack of mere civility between individuals is lost. It is so easy to viciously attack another person on Facebook or Twitter because it is so impersonal. Even at dinner (if the family even deigns to eat at the same table), parents and children are more focused on their smartphones instead of actually talking to each other, face-to-face.
On the Camino, sure, people have smartphones, but the mere act of doing a pilgrimage results in an escape from the distractions of the outside world. The smartphones are tucked away in pockets and backpacks. Pilgrims from Spain, Italy, Germany, Korea, Australia, USA, and pretty much every corner of the planet communicate with each other, face-to-face – exploring meaningful discussions in a sort of jumbled mélange of their native tongues and English (which is a second language to some degree of the majority of Europeans). One is transported back in time, in rural Spain, where families and friends participate in the evening paseo, strolling the plazas in the evening, enjoying wine, beer, and tapas at the neighborhood cafes and restaurants, visiting, chatting, and enjoying each other’s company. As pilgrims, we also participated in this wonderful custom. No one rushes home after work and squirrels themselves away in their homes, glued to television or the internet!
And the focus is not on “living to work” but rather “working to live.” The concept of the afternoon siesta persists in Spain – a time of relaxation after a hearty lunch at home with family. Perhaps we can learn something from the Spanish (and Italians and Greeks and French….). Moments are to be savored, not rushed through – truly living a life, not choosing a life.
Camino Musings 
Wonderfully said. I have been reflecting on the simplicity of our days on the Camino. So nice to have spent time with you and Tony. Keep living your life!
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