I'd like to start a new tradition!

[SSScout]

In May of 2013, I set off with a friend on a personal expedition  Some months before, he had  lost his dear wife to a long illness, resigned from his job (they questioned his leave useage while tending to his ill wife), and decided he needed a break, a time away to think things out. 

He is Catholic, I am not.  He had fallen away from the faith of his upbringing and wanted to reconnect.   We had known each other thru Scouts, our boys had grown up together (different Troops, but camporees etc.) . So he calls me one night and asks if I would "take a hike with him"....

 

What he had in mind was not the C&O Canal, or the Appalachian Trail, but 800 km in northern Spain:  A traditional Catholic Pilgrimage Trail named Camino de Santiago.

I won't bore you with the details of that, it is well accounted for on line.  But why me?  of all the people he might invite, why me?  He paid me the great compliment of saying that he knew me , knew my stability, we were of fairly equal capabilities, and, to  use his language, he "needed a lifeguard". 

We hiked and talked and had many adventures and met many different people from all around the world (who would think that hiking in Spain would be popular in South Korea?) .

When I returned home,  (talk about scheduling!), two weeks later, I was off to the National Jamboree in WVA.    MORE HIKING (!) and adventures.  

 

On the Camino, there were ,as Stosh mentioned in one of his last posts, many soul connections and farewells as folks met , hiked a spell together, and then went their separate ways.  Long discussions in broken mismatched languages, eyes meeting, understandings and help given and accepted. Everyone on their own journeys, but similarities recognized and valued.   One thing was universal thruout the Camino:  The greeting.  "Buen Camino!" 

 

When I got to the NatJam,  I again met many new folks, each on their separate journeys and adventures ("will this phone EVER charge up??"), but I eventually decided one of the things I missed from the Camino was the shared greeting, the acknowledgement of our shared experience.  "hello, Hiya,  Good morning "  didn't cut it some how.  We needed a multicultural, cross borders connection.

 

I would  therefore like to suggest, all you 2017 and 2019 Jamboree bound folks (I haven't decided yet)  consider adopting a new  greeting:

 

" GOOD JAMBO !"    Any time you pass a new friend on the Consol bridge,  raise your hand, and wish him "good Jambo!"     Hey, that cook in the Camp E mess hall, "good Jambo!"    Waking those Scouts up in the morning:   "Good Jambo!, Hey! , get yer lazy carcass outta that tent!  Good Jambo!"  Acknowledging the Scouts in your Merit Badge area, "Good Jambo, welcome to the...."

 

The tradition starts with somebody doing it.    You have a year  to practice.,.

 

Good Jambo to you all!

[jr56]

Interesting idea