Thank You

Saturday, September 27th

We walked to three temples today, the first on top of a “small” mountain. The mosquitoes didn't get me going up but they got me three times coming down. They knew I was returning and was just laying in wake for my return trip...I hate them.

Let me say miracles do happen. The temperature today dropped to 27 degrees. It was like the power to the sauna went dead. Just for your information, coincidentally September 23ed was a national holiday. It is the day Japan celebrates the official day when the temperature starts to cool down. I guess it's true. It was wonderful. We were still tired by the end of the day, 17 plus miles, but it sure was different in a good way, not sweating with each step. In the morning we took a taxi to the foot of the hill to the temple we were last at, at least we thought we were. The @#*#% taxi driver dropped us off somewhere in Timbuktu, and we had to walk an extra half a mile just to get back on the trail, but who's complaining.

They have an honor system for selling here that is so nice but would definitely not work in the USA. They leave their products, usually produce, in a stall with the prices marked. The idea is for you to leave the money there before you take the item. I'd like to see them do that at home with Ipods.

Oh yes, random act of kindness strikes again, and again. First, a biker stopped early in the morning to give us directions to get to the next temple, and he was right in every detail. Later in the day we stopped to sit on a bench located in front of a coffee shop to rest and drink from a soft drink that we had been carrying when the lady from the shop came out to give us ice tea with sugar. What could we say but arigato. Instead of customers we became freeloaders, but hey we're henro or as they would call us at home, bums, the homeless, indigents. Later that day an older lady stopped us as were rushing to catch the ferry just to give us each a 100 yen coin...just because. I was so taken by this kindness, but too rushed except to mumble arigatogozaimasu...I really wanted to do more to show my appreciation, but ossetai is given without any thought of reciprocity. Later that day I saw an older lady pushing her bike that was laden with groceries. She had stopped twice and I thought that she might be tired. I offered her help, but she said that she was fine. I had to offer. It was the least that I could do. This experience here in Shikoku has renewed my faith in mankind and I wish that I could repay all the kindness that Emi and I have received.

Following Kawahatsu sensei”s guidelines I say thank you over and over throughout the day. When I'm at the temples and when I am praying one of the things that I say is thank you. There are so many things for me to be thankful. The first is to say thank you for my precious life, and with that thought, the feeling of appreciation threatens to overwhelm me so much that I have to keep myself in check or I could easily start to cry. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a girly-man; what can I say? But I am so grateful for having this life. No, it hasn't been all good, but there has been a lot of good; I am so glad to have this life. Thank you, thank you, arigatogozaimasu. And then there is No. 2,3,4...all good reasons to say thank you.