People watching is an intriguing way to pass the time. This is especially true in an airport. I traveled through 5 different airports to get to France; Denver, Dallas-Ft-Worth, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and Biarritz France. If you are playing your favourite song on your headphones and just watching you may not notice the language differences around you. Instead, what you’ll see are people looking a little confused or lost. Wide eyes search for a map or staff member to find their gate or the nearest toilet. People struggle with small children or huge suitcases. Their skin may vary in color, but they’re distinctly them and very human. All the differences fall away as we each try to navigate the journey to our final destination. The journey looks different, it sounds different, but is a journey all the same.

At various points I would look around, wondering where I was, because I had forgotten while watching these incredible humans be incredibly human. The only sign of differences were the names on the shops, local advertisements, and the different uniforms of the employees. It’s difficult for me to not see each person as a beautiful unique individual. The current push for nationalism and division between cultures, beliefs, and political parties disheartens me and doesn’t mesh with my view of the world.
One of the things I most look forward to on the Camino is the diverse population that I will engage with. I will struggle to communicate and understand all of my interactions, but there is no doubt that I will learn and grow through each encounter. If I only ever know my own culture and language how could I continue to love everyone as they deserve? It is important in each person’s journey to see the lives of others so they might grow in their own life.
Diversity and new experiences increase our ability to define ourselves in our own way. We need options in order to best understand what fits our own unique lives.

During trips as a child, my mom would lead me in a game trying to guess a persons story just by watching them. Sometimes we’d get silly, but other times we would just go with what we saw. I don’t know if my mum was trying to teach me a lesson, or merely play a game. For me though, it was the beginning of exploring people different from me. It opened my imagination to the uniqueness of individuals and how we tell our story through our appearances. It also reminds me that we are more than the view we show others, that we are much bigger on the inside. That of course brings me back to my favourite Doctor Who metaphor… in the end aren’t we all just timey wimey wibbly wobbly adventurers of time and space traveling in a T.A.R.D.I.S. which is much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?

I think we are. In all of time and space I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.