Slightly Naïve
Manitou, Manitoba
She was slightly naïve, but definitely gigglish, and not sure what to ask. “Do you eat?” is what she blurted out embarrassingly.
Most people out here have rarely seen a monk, let alone meet someone on a passionate walk across the country and for a fourth time. It really made a difference that the Morden Times featured us on the front page of their weekly. We were supposed to have been well down the road by now since the interview with Andrew Pruden last week. Consequently the delay of Daruka’s moving worked in our favour. The newspaper just came out today when I was trekking on Highway 3. Suddenly everyone in the Pembina district was informed.
That’s why I’m out here, to clarify my being and purpose for being in this area. Not everyone has to follow the rank and file conventions. You can say it is possible to be a non conformist to ‘the system’. I said to the young teen with the inquisitive question, “Yes, I eat and very well on a veggie diet with a lifestyle of self discipline. It means simple living and high thinking. It addresses taking care of the soul as well as the body. Both she and her boyfriend next to her were all smiles. And for that last stroll I could hear the honking of horns and for the more subdued approach, a wave of the hand that demonstrated approval.
Both Daruka and I are in bliss about the response from what we perceived could be a conservative area – Winkler, Morden and Manitou. One last mention, where in the world do you find a place on Earth which is named after the Great Spirit, or God? That’s what is meant by Manitoba – Manitou.
38 KM
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