Well this morning the Hare Krishnas came through town in a horse drawn buggy. As would be expected in this small town in which I work they no-doubt brought out several by-standers, some rather off-color comments, the cops, and a little twinkling of hope in at least one bystander, me.
The Krishnas stopped at a local Shell gas station to spray down their horses with a water hose and attracted some attention bringing people out of the near-by offices and houses to see the rather unusual yellow carriage drawn by two horses, a rare site outside Pennsylvania I would imagine. No doubt some of the people in town assumed that they were in fact, "rag-heads", "habibs", or a "militant Islamic group hell-bent on changing our religious views" (can you believe that shit?). It turned out to be none of the above, it was the Hare Krishnas.
For some reason whenever people see others who are obviously from a different cultural background, most people get scared and fear the worse, well it happened again here. The cops showed up and asked them a lot of questions, suspicion eventually turning into curiosity, and then they were off. Traveling down the highway doing their Padayatra (a sort of pilgrimage to no where to spread the Hare Krishna loving mantra).
The couple in the wagon has logged over 12,000 miles on the roads of the U.S. traveling, I believe to Mexico. They meant no harm, they meant no dis-respect, and yet people gawked and stared and pointed mouthing slurs both racial and religious as they did nothing more than spray down the steaming legs and back of their horses.
It makes me happy to see that, to see a seemingly far-off culture come into such a sheltered society and open their eyes, not with fear and hatred, but with love and curiosity, and in my case hope. The hope that more will come through and open these peoples eyes just a little bit further.
Peace
