At this stage in my long life, I can’t walk well enough to enjoy tours, visit other countries on my own, or even take a cruise. That’s why I am enjoying vlogs that allow me to experience countries that I know I will never be able to visit.
Harry Jaggard on the streets of Pakistan. (www.HarryJaggard.com)
Take Harry Jaggard’s vlogs for example. The guy walks around with a selfie device filming his every move. He walks down a street in Delhi talking to the camera as if someone (me) is actually present. It’s interesting because Harry goes to markets and restaurants and makes every effort to engage with people on the streets –things I would like to be able to do. Yes, I know it is only virtual and that Harry really isn’t my pal and I am not with him in the market stalls, etc, but he makes me feel like I am there with him, somehow. (See Harry Jaggard’s YouTube site.)
He visits a Buddhist temple in Tibet, a mosque in India. Religious holy places that I will never see. Incidentally, Harry seems unaffected by religion and religious practices. To him, these practices are just another aspect of a culture of differences. As far as I know, he hasn’t blogged about a visit to a Catholic church.
He’s incredibly generous and has an open regard for everyone he meets. He doesn’t get to know locals well, but he passes through their lives like a friendly ship, hailing them and gesturing warmly. He is a mellow fellow, good natured and smart. Most of what I have viewed is Harry traveling through Asia by himself. A friend appears now and then and even his dad is a featured player in his journey through Tibet.
He learns a few phrases in the local language, for example, “Namaste” which seems to work everywhere in India, Pakistan, and Tibet. Then he asks locals their names or comments on, for example, their market shop of trinkets. “Nice!” is repeated many times as he tries to relate to the locals. He likes to joke around and does a good job of engaging people but hasn’t time to learn much about their history and local customs. In that regard, he is like most other tourists. However, Harry likes to eat so he finds ways to understand and relate by eating as the locals do. In Tibet and India, this is quite a challenge. He’s not afraid of exotic condiments and spices as well as hot chiles so he does well with relating to the locals through their cuisines. People love it when he likes their food. They smile and appreciate how generous Harry is with his compliments.
If I were on a trip with Harry, though, I would have to stop and look for Catholic churches and shrines. When I toured Italy by myself some forty years ago, I visited the home church of St. Maria Goretti who at the beginning of the last century was attacked by a rapist in her village, Nettuno, about forty miles South of Rome. She was only twelve when she forgave her attacker and died two days later of stab wounds. She is interred in a glass casket at the main altar. An old man at the entrance to the
The cross of Jesus Christ is still a powerful symbol.
church greeted me and explained the holiness of the saint. I swear he told me that he knew her and her family. (My Italian wasn’t that great!)
Just a few years ago, while visiting Cartegena, Columbia I searched for and found the church where the bones of St. Peter Claver lie at the base of an altar. In the late seventeenth century, this humble saint gathered a group of Christian helpers to minister to Africans as they arrived at the docks of Cartagena on slave ships. Claver’s group brought bread, water, and fruit for these hungry and thirsty Africans. St. Peter and his helpers tried to clean them up and even burnt fragrant incense on the docks to cleanse the air of the stench of the hold. I saw his dry, skeletal remains and marveled that he had actually lived.
Today, July 6, both of those saints are commemorated in the Catholic calendar.
If I were accompanying Harry on a journey, I’m sure he’d respect my interest in the religious part of a culture.
I don’t think Harry has been there, but somewhere in India that he loves, St. Thomas the Apostle, the first missionary to India is buried. It’s a holy place for both Christians and Moslems. I’d annoy Harry until he went with me to that holy site.