Blog #521: And Then I Saw Them

The photo above?
That’s my backpack.

In walking across eight countries…
that little dude has been on my back.

Oh…I know.
It’s really just a book backpack.

But little or not…

That backpack has been my trusted survival mate around the world.
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Do you see it?

On top of the backpack is a funky-cool, brightly colored “something.”

It’s a hand-made bracelet.

And it has a special meaning for me.
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Here’s the story…

On the first day, in the first hour, on my first country-crossing walk…I’m chugging up the steep Pyrenees mountains to cross the border between France and Spain. My brain is yelling, “I can’t believe I’ve started!” and my legs feel extra strong pumping with pure adrenaline steam.

And then I saw them.

Barely three miles from starting in St. Jean, two young women were sitting on the side of the road with their backpacks next to them. One of the two was crying as she looked at her shoeless/sockless foot.

I stopped.

“Can I help?”

In broken English, two brave women told me their story.

In hopes of finding inspiration, they had come from Japan to walk the famous Camino de Santiago. Day #1 was proving to be very unkind.

Foot issues.

And they had no “foot care” with them.

I sat down next to them, took off my pack and pulled out the “magical” band aids, bandages and ointments I’d packed for my own feet. I started doing what I could to protect her foot and keep her walking.

Once I started to help patch her up…no more tears. Instead, I heard nothing but pure, kind, real-deal “gratitude.”

With her foot wrapped and before I started walking again, I gave them extra foot care items for the future. But before I stepped away, the woman whom I’d helped pulled a small bag out of her backpack.

She took something out.

In broken English, she said:

“I made this bracelet. I wanted to give it to someone who helped me on this walk. I am giving it to you.”

Humbled…

I graciously accepted her gift and tried to snap the bracelet on my wrist.

It didn’t fit.

Her face grew sad until I said: “There’s an even better place for me to wear it…I’ll see it every day…and I’ll remember both of you every time I walk!”

I snapped it on my backpack.
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My backpack has worn the bracelet for 8+ years.

It reminds me of a day I saw a person.
It reminds me of a day when a person saw me.

In a world in love with selfies and a self-centered “LOOK AT ME!” attitude…
a funky-cool, brightly colored bracelet on my backpack reminds me that there is a greater difference-making power in the world.

It’s called…

“I SEE YOU.”

And although the world may never evolve to the point that it “gets” it…maybe you and I can keep passing forward a message that has the power to stop tears…and turn homemade bracelets from strangers into prized possessions.

“I SEE YOU.”

And I care.