Palmer Trinity School

TR AV ELING IN LIFE, literally and metaphorically, is a universal theme present in every religious and cultural tradition. Pilgrimages produce personal growth and possibly spiritual awakening. When creating a course that would be interesting and poignant for our students, I discerned the "journey" motif would provide rich and profound stories to explore with my students. After all, we all experience life with its twists and turns into the mysterious future. I was able to find films, as well as guest speakers, that were relevant to the course. Two teachers, Julio Carasso and William Gonzalez, told stories of leaving Cuba under very different circumstances. The agony of giving up home and moving into the unknown shakes people to their very core. What we plan is never the full outcome; journeys are exterior and interior in movement. Journeys that are chosen are certainly very different from journeys that are forced. But, both are difficult. We learn so much from our travels in so many ways. In the mid 1940s, my Australian mother, a "war bride," was nineteen when she met a handsome American lieutenant who swept her off her feet and proposed to her. She left everything familiar behind and traveled to the United States to begin a successful life together. They loved each other for fifty years until he died. However, she continued to mourn leaving Australia, especially her beloved family. Her's was a choice. Rarely do we ever understand the ramifications of the sacrifices we make, or the gift of blessings received as we make life decisions. In my classes, we watch films such as Lion, The Life of Pi, Into the Wild, Wild, The Way, and Harriet, which show how people are transformed by their journeys. The class also covers the Twelve Step Program and the perilous journeys of addiction and recovery. Understanding its Benedictine roots of confession and reconciliation, we grapple with life's obstacles. Everyone faces life alone and in a community, where we encounter diverse people, family and friends who change us. We also change others. Robert Frost, Mary Oliver and other poets lead us into the existential meandering of the journey. Learning about religious pilgrimages such as the Camino of Santiago de Compostela, Canterbury Trail, The Holy Land, The March of the Living, and the Hajj take us to places of suffering and awareness. We experience feelings of remorse and regret, yet also the emotions of celebration and ecstasy. Whether it be Odysseus, who travels far and wide after the Trojan War, or Penelope, who stays home and travels psychologically into defending her way of life, journeys are epic and convoluted. He shows his bravery in various places while she courageously faces danger right in her own backyard. Life is unexpected. Our dance is one of engagement and disengagement. We meet ourselves in different and unexpected places, being renewed and recreated each day by our own travels. The Journey by Mary Oliver One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do– determined to save the only life you could save. S U MME R 2 0 2 1 27

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