That’s today. The day to say thanks. And that’s why I’ll write this chapter in English, my way to say thanks to one of the many I have to say so. Matthew Wagner. Some years ago the settlers that crossed the Atlantic and reached the east coast of the U.S. did not know a thing about growing crops or any other key to survive in such a hostile environment. But they met some Native Americans who eased their stay and taught them some of these things. Then the settlers used to offer some of their products back to the Indians. This is more or less the origin I suppose this festivity has. Of course it was not long before the settlers took all the native people’s lands and moved them to the west, but that’s another story. I’m here in Flagstaff, Arizona, to say thank you so much to all those that offered some help, in the broad meaning of the word, during this trip. Here we are in the mountains time zone, just eight hours ahead of Spain, and that means I’m slowly going back home. The clock is going on unforgivingly.Maybe Because of that any time I go out for a walk I head west, to counterattack this current of life that is taking me back to where I was. Flagstaff is a cute little town with cute youths and a railroad freight trains pass where billions of times a day. And the hostel is next to the tracks, so avoiding this noise from hell is hard. I remember the hostels in the Middle East, always next to a mosque, and the chants from the tower at 4am waking everybody up. The same idea of seeing the universe as a whole, as different manifestations of the One, Which is alledged to the hinduists, is been growing up in the minds of the Hopi and Navajo indians that inhabited these lands from many centuries ago. Monisms of Source, such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism, tell us that there’s one creator and every stone, every person, every animal, every cactus is an expression of his creation (his or her). And the monisms Of Being tell we’re all the same. You are me and you are him as he is you and we are all together, or whatever the Beatles sang in that psychedelic song about walruses.I do not exactly know if I booked a seat in any of these two courts. I’m quite sure I left my seat in the Monism of Source One, but before I enter the latter, I’ll have to think. But as far as I can tell, the big things are in everyone. I wrote to Matt that my standards for a friendship has been changing in the last months. One could say “this guy you met last night, you can not say he’s your friend, it’s been just one night!”. And on and on. The same with love. And I have to say here “How long it takes to confirm the relationship between two persons ” There is no answer. My trip forces me (I wanted it that way) to meet people and say goodbye to them in days, and I just take and give what I can and leave it like that. I’m a member of a big big family. American size family. Sometimes I feel like when I left Madrid on a spring morning I said “Hey mom, I’m goin ‘to visit some relatives …’ ll right back in some months.These relatives I did not know beforehand, but I somewhat knew this great people were doing fine out there, not waiting for me, but staying around to cross our ways and say the hello-howareyou-whereyoufrom stuff. Names are just word to remind them. Faces and songs and tiny sparks of happinness in my mind are what I kept with me in my backpack. And they will never leave, even when their names are nothing else than some words carved on a stone near their grave. And obviously I can not close this chapter without saying thanks thanks to my mother, who made all and every thing possible in my life. And one last point: I will not eat turkey tonight, the firemen from Madrid who are here on a vacation arecooking “tortilla.” It’s been since Kathmandu without that. THANK YOU.
