TIME FOR A RANT

Graffiti is a pathetic attempt at anonymous recognition 

Graffiti is just about everywhere in the world and for the most part I don’t like it.  Sure there is some that is funny or thought provoking but it’s still a blight on the landscape and I would rather not have to look at it.  Unfortunately it is also on the Camino.  People wishing you “Buen Camino”, signing their name, leaving all kinds of messages.  They write it anywhere there is a surface that will accept their pen or brush.  The sad thing is the people leaving their tag are pilgrims.

Perhaps I’m just old fashioned but I can’t understand why they do it.  Do they actually think others will appreciate it?  Maybe they think it’s beautiful or that they are making some kind of important statement.  I think it shows their disrespect for someone else’s property, private or public.

In the Galicia region, all the trail markers were recently replaced with new ones.  I’m sure a lot of expense was expended make and place these monuments along the trail.  There’s one approximately every 1/2 kilometer, and some have already taken advantage of the blank space.  It’s only a matter of time and they’ll all be defaced.

A while back on the Meseta, I saw a Italian guy with a red marking pen writing on the back of a road sign.  My first though was, here’s this pilgrim and what does he bring with him on his pilgrimage, a @$%%*# marking pen.  So the cop in me couldn’t help myself and I confronted him.  “What do you think you’re doing?”  He just looked sheepishly at me and shrugged his shoulders.  I then suggested that I come to his house and write something on his front door or better yet is car?  “No comprende”.  Like hell buddy, you know exactly what I said.  Don’t know if it did any good, but he walked ahead of me and I never saw his tag again.

One tag that I have seen several times a day since I started walking is “Melted Rubber Humans”.  So I searched Google and it turns out it’s a alternative band in Scotland.  So who wrote it hundreds of times, a band member, or just some stupid fan.  I’m going to try to find out if one of the band members walked the Camino and send him or her a message.  I know, I know, I’ll probably just be wasting my time, but what the hell, why not?

So, I’ve raised a question in my mind.  We pilgrims on the Camino are guided on our journey by yellow arrows.  Sometimes these arrows are in the form of formal signs placed by the Spanish government, but most times they are just crudely painted on some surface.  The sidewalk, walls, street signs, light posts, trees.  Is this ok? Is it graffiti or something different?  What do you think?