PEACE PILGRIM

From 1953 to 1981 the inspirational woman who chose to be known only as the Peace Pilgrim walked across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico spreading the message of peace and love.  Her pilgrimage started in California.  Within eleven years she had walked over 25,000 miles and at that point stopped counting.  She continued for the next seventeen years, until her death in a car accident as she was being driven to an event in Indiana in 1981.  At that time she was making her seventh trip across the United States.

The Peace Pilgrim was a woman with boundless energy and love.  She stressed a message of simplicity.  She walked alone, without money or organizational backing.  Her goal was to inspire others to work for peace.  She wore a blue shirt, slacks, a tunic with pockets in which she carried a comb, toothbrush, pen, and copies of the message she wanted to share. The message on the front of the blue tunic was “Peace Pilgrim” and “25,000 Miles on foot for peace” on the back.

The Peace Pilgrim became an accomplished speaker along the way, talking to thousands of people of all walks of life.  She was interviewed by national and local television and radio stations and newspapers.  She spoke to university and high school students, churches, and civic clubs.  She was fearless on her walks, never hesitating to walk through ‘dangerous’ parts of cities, as well as rural areas.  She sometimes slept along the side of the road when no alternative was available.  Her message was to get people involved in working for peace. She once said, “I have known that my life work would be for peace—that it would cover the WHOLE PEACE picture:  peace among nations, peace among groups, peace among individuals, and the very, very important inner peace.

 

For the Peace Pilgrim, problems were seen as opportunities.  She once said, “I did as many good things as I could each day, not forgetting the importance of a pleasant word and a cheery smile.  The medicine this sick world needs so badly is love.”

The Peace Pilgrim often spoke of simplifying our lives.  She said, “Instead of hardships, I found a wonderful sense of peace and joy, a conviction that unnecessary possessions are only unnecessary burdens.  I own only what I wear and carry.  There is nothing to tie me down.  I am free as a bird soaring in the sky.  I walk until given shelter, fast until given food.  I don’t ask—it’s given without asking.  I never accept a penny for the work I do.”

The Peace Pilgrim continues to be an inspiration to many, myself included.  I have reread the book about her numerous times and offer these quotes as reminders once again of what an amazing difference one individual can make in our world.

            “Of course I love everyone.  How could I fail to?  Within everyone is the spark of God.  We people of the world need to find ways to get to know one another—for then will we recognize that our likenesses are so much greater than our differences, however great our differences may seem. Every cell, every human being, is of equal importance and has work to do in this world.”

            “To the world I may seem very poor, walking penniless and wearing or carrying in my pockets my only material possessions, but I am really very rich in blessings which no amount of money could buy—health and happiness and inner peace.”

            “Some people seem to think that my life dedicated to simplicity and service is austere and joyless, but they do not know the freedom of simplicity.  I am thankful to God every moment of my life for the great riches that have been showered upon me.  My life is full and good, but never overcrowded.  If life is overcrowded, then you are doing more than is required for you to do.”

            “Think of me and all my earthly possessions.  Think of how free I am.  If I want to travel, I just stand up and walk away.”

            “Live in the present.  Do the things that need to be done.  Do all the good you can each day.  The future will unfold.”

            “Life is like a mirror.  Smile at it and it smiles back at you.”