Peace Pilgrim
"This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." ~ Peace Pilgrim
"Peace Pilgrim" - Mildrid Norman Ryder
Peace Pilgrim, as she was called, walked out her door one day in 1953 and started walking. Her goal .... Peace! She believed that peace on earth was possible, so much so that she walked with her message for 28 years and covered over 27,000 miles. She described her walking for peace as, "on foot and on faith." In 1952 she and a companion, Richard Lamb, completed a 'thru-hike' of the Appalachian Trail making her the first woman to thru-hike the "AT" in one season. There are many, including her personal friends that feel it was the "AT" that inspired her and created, "Peace Pilgrim".
In an interview with Steve Alison on radio station WPEN in Philadelphia shortly after finishing the "AT" in the fall of 1952, Peace Pilgrim announced her plans to walk her first peace pilgrimage from California to New York. And she read from her writings, "while we watch the storm clouds gather and prepare for the storm, let us never forget that the sun still shines behind those dark clouds and may somehow break through before the storm descends. I see sunshine in the real desire for peace in the hearts of humanity, even though the human family gropes toward peace blindly not knowing the way. I think that those of us that have found the way to peace should be shouting it from the housetops." In her words, this is what Peace Pilgrim came to believe, "all of us can work for peace. We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives the more we can reflect into the outer situation."
On April 26, 1952 Peace Pilgrim started from Georgia on her thru-hike of the "AT" which at that time was 2,050 miles long. Her description of her 'thru-hike' and her view as to why one should take on such an adventure:
"I lived out of doors completely supplied with only one pair of slacks & shorts, one blouse and sweater, a light weight blanket, and two double plastic sheets, into which I sometimes stuffed leaves. I was not always completely dry and warm, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. My menu morning and evening, was two cups of uncooked oatmeal soaked in water and flavored with brown sugar, at noon, two cups of double strength dried milk, plus any nuts, greens, or berries found in the woods.
If you are free, I recommend a hiking trip on a wilderness footpath. How inspiring it is to walk all day in the sunshine and sleep all night under the stars. What a wonderful experience in simple natural living.
Since you carry your food, sleeping equipment, etc., on your back, you quickly learn that unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. You soon realize what the essentials of life are - such as warmth when you are cold, a dry spot on a rainy day, the simplest food when you are hungry, pure cool water when you are thirsty. You soon put material things in their proper place, realizing that they are there for use, but relinquinishing them when they are not useful. You soon experience and learn the great freedom of simplicity."
Read more about Peace Pilgrim here.
"Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. It is the lesson of the way of love." ~ Peace Pilgrim
"Peace Pilgrim" - Mildrid Norman Ryder
Peace Pilgrim, as she was called, walked out her door one day in 1953 and started walking. Her goal .... Peace! She believed that peace on earth was possible, so much so that she walked with her message for 28 years and covered over 27,000 miles. She described her walking for peace as, "on foot and on faith." In 1952 she and a companion, Richard Lamb, completed a 'thru-hike' of the Appalachian Trail making her the first woman to thru-hike the "AT" in one season. There are many, including her personal friends that feel it was the "AT" that inspired her and created, "Peace Pilgrim".
In an interview with Steve Alison on radio station WPEN in Philadelphia shortly after finishing the "AT" in the fall of 1952, Peace Pilgrim announced her plans to walk her first peace pilgrimage from California to New York. And she read from her writings, "while we watch the storm clouds gather and prepare for the storm, let us never forget that the sun still shines behind those dark clouds and may somehow break through before the storm descends. I see sunshine in the real desire for peace in the hearts of humanity, even though the human family gropes toward peace blindly not knowing the way. I think that those of us that have found the way to peace should be shouting it from the housetops." In her words, this is what Peace Pilgrim came to believe, "all of us can work for peace. We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives the more we can reflect into the outer situation."
On April 26, 1952 Peace Pilgrim started from Georgia on her thru-hike of the "AT" which at that time was 2,050 miles long. Her description of her 'thru-hike' and her view as to why one should take on such an adventure:
"I lived out of doors completely supplied with only one pair of slacks & shorts, one blouse and sweater, a light weight blanket, and two double plastic sheets, into which I sometimes stuffed leaves. I was not always completely dry and warm, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. My menu morning and evening, was two cups of uncooked oatmeal soaked in water and flavored with brown sugar, at noon, two cups of double strength dried milk, plus any nuts, greens, or berries found in the woods.
If you are free, I recommend a hiking trip on a wilderness footpath. How inspiring it is to walk all day in the sunshine and sleep all night under the stars. What a wonderful experience in simple natural living.
Since you carry your food, sleeping equipment, etc., on your back, you quickly learn that unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. You soon realize what the essentials of life are - such as warmth when you are cold, a dry spot on a rainy day, the simplest food when you are hungry, pure cool water when you are thirsty. You soon put material things in their proper place, realizing that they are there for use, but relinquinishing them when they are not useful. You soon experience and learn the great freedom of simplicity."
Read more about Peace Pilgrim here.
"Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. It is the lesson of the way of love." ~ Peace Pilgrim