27th of July the only project for the day was to get the stamp of Clamecy in our credentials. The tourist office gave us one, but that wasn’t the one from the church. The cathedral of Clamecy was in a very richly carved gothic style. Unfortunately, the figures of the portal showing the life of Saint Martin at the main entrance of the cathedral had lost most of their heads during the French revolution.
It has always been schizophrenic to me about mankind, that on the one hand we can create such admirable miracles with our hands, and on the other hand we can be so destructive. When we talk about civilisation we think about the achievements of a society, but does that include the atrocities we invented to kill each other?
Which achievement would we call the highlight of our civilisation in the 21st century?
The way we are consuming in a globalized world? Living in a time where everything seems to be brought to our door just by a click order from our cell phones, but don’t realize how easily the hatred can be delivered on our touchscreens and being planted in our minds.
The more distance I get from not watching the everyday news the better I am able to observe the people around me. During Sunday Mass in Clamecy I was astonished how full the church was, and that all age groups were represented. Even for the little children they offered a play corner in the side chapel where the kids were stacking the colourful toy bricks while the Mass was taking place. But just when every toy block was used and the construction was done it was the next step to destroy everything to be able to continue to build. Maybe the complete human drama was already represented in this little scene. We grow up with the discovery of being able to build something with our hands with endless variations, but soon get frustrated by the fact knowing that we have only limited possibilities of tools and toys. So we are crying for more.
I put my hope into the next generation which is growing with the shared knowledge of a world being limited and no second world to cry for when this one is wasted. We are all part of this “adventure” – being human on planet earth! Let’s make the best out of it all together.
Actually I was observing all this while I was waiting for the Mass to end to ask the priest if we could get the pilgrim’s stamp. There were three of them and the first one I asked was a pilgrim himself and didn’t know where it could be. Finally, I found the right priest of the church who invited us to come to the parish hall and drink a coffee. We followed an old lady showing us the way telling us the latest news that yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the sanctification of Saint Bernadette which was a huge event for motorbikers at Nevers. Well with our equipment we could have smuggled us in somehow as motor bikers, but too late. Even the option of going today to the Fête de la Saint-Cochon (=the holy Porc-festival) at Lucy-sur-Yonne was tempting, but we needed a day of rest.
We had some nice talks with the people at the parish hall offering us coffee and chocolate and the priest stamped our credentials. Our little Sunday walk through Clamecy ended there and we enjoyed a calm afternoon with siesta. Arnaud was making jam from the fresh harvested fruits and it smelled so good. We had a visit from Marc and Ian and later an evening in tranquillity preparing our departure for tomorrow.
