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One of the joys of walking the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain is conversation. Positivity reigns, in contrast to the United States. On the Camino, people are focused on their personal journey. The cares and concerns of the world are seldom in evidence. One slight exception, especially among those who are veterans of the Camino, is a suggestion that the Camino has become too popular. Furthermore, business has become too prominent.
The underlying thought is people should be walking the Camino for strictly religious or spiritual reasons. There are entirely too many tourists now undertaking this trek. Worse, business is catering to an increasingly upscale audience not wishing to enter into the spirit of mortification of the flesh, a hallmark of pilgrimages. I confess, although I try to maintain the spirit of a pilgrimage, of wanting to stay somewhere nice and enjoy a good meal.
Sometimes that happens by accident.
Once when I was done for the day the albergue (think homeless shelter) where I had intended to stay was full. l was sent on to a hotel behind the main church in town. This turned out to be the San Anton Abad Hotel, a far cry from an albergue. Through no intention of my own, I had landed in the lap of inexpensive luxury.
Part 1: Charles C. Milliken: Getting out of the boat
Part 2: Charles C. Milliken: Report from the Camino: Plan meets reality
The history of this hotel provides some interesting perspective on business and the Camino. The building, a solid stone structure, was completed in 1377 and was designed to serve as a hospital for the sick and also a place of accommodation for pilgrims. Although its use as a hospital has long since ceased, it has never ceased providing pilgrimage accommodation. Twenty-five years ago it was massively remodeled and upgraded. The owner said he wanted to give something back to the Camino and the people walking it. While I was staying there I didn’t feel like a poor, penitent pilgrim. This is the sort of thing causing some people to be concerned. But even in the 14th century pilgrims had to have food and shelter. Someone had to build that building. Someone had to staff that building. Someone had to maintain that building. All that costs money, time and effort whether you call it business or not.
I recall an incident which happened years ago when I was teaching. A student advisee of mine decided to switch from a business major to a human services major, The reason: He wanted to help people. Obviously, he didn’t think business helped people. This opens another line of thought. What does it mean to help someone? Is supplying groceries, shelter, medicine and thousands of other things people need not helping them? Perhaps the problem is motivation: Pilgrims on the Camino should be walking with God. People who supply food and shelter overwhelmingly do so with the expectation of making a profit. Profit, as we know, unlike wages and salaries, is a dirty word. Should we not, as the golden rule states, do unto others? That student long ago presumably wanted to do unto others. Maybe I’m splitting a hair here, but business does not do unto others, business does for others. Doing unto others implies the other is a passive recipient. Doing for others implies the other has been made an offer which he is free to accept or reject. I think that is a subtle but important difference.
Part 3: Charles C. Milliken: Report from the Camino: Life’s lessons
Part 4: Charles C. Milliken: Report from the Camino: The people of the Camino
The Camino is growing and although people have advocated some way of restricting the number of people walking, there is no practical way to do that or to screen out nonpilgrims. More people walking means more services demanded. What is happening in the Camino is a microcosm of what is happening everywhere: More people having ever rising aspirations cause more businesses to expand to meet them. Having walked the Camino now for over four weeks I understand the desire for simplicity. But I also understand the desire, either on the Camino or anywhere else, for better stuff. Such is human nature — it always has been and always will be.
Charles Milliken is a professor emeritus after 22 years of teaching economics and related subjects at Siena Heights University. He can be reached at milliken.charles@gmail.com.
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