Walking Around the World

Some times you are just in the right place at the right time. In 2001, I was working in a nearby town, Port Lavaca, Texas. One morning in February I read a newspaper notice about a guy from Canada that had set out to walk around the world for peace, and would be coming through Port Lavaca that week. I spoke to my supervisor, Ana Pena, about it, hoping we could find time to at least see him as he passed through. Walking around the world! How in the world, so to speak, would that work???

Ana did some checking, and discovered he was camping overnight at the Lighthouse Beach RV Park. We tootled out there, and sure enough, there he was, with a tiny blue tent and a three-wheeled stroller to carry his stuff: a bit of food, his clothing, a first-aid kit, and a sleeping bag. His name was Jean Beliveau.

His native language was French, but he said his English had improved quite a bit by now. He had left Montreal, Canada, on August 18, 2000, traveling alone down the east coast of the United States, across the southern states, to Texas. He talked about his mission to promote peace and non-violence to the profit of the children of the world. Jean showed us his map of the world, depicting his projected route. He plans to walk across all the continents, from North America to South America, then across South Africa, up to Europe, then the Middle East, South and Eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and finally back to Canada.

This journey will take 12 years to complete, which is in accordance with the United Nations proclamation: 2001-2010---International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence.
Both Ana and I became totally entranced by his story. How he missed his family back home in Canada, and how he felt called to take on this mission. I thought, how can one man make any difference? His calmness and serenity impressed us. He was totally, how would you say it, totally modest and unassuming. The more we visited with him, the more I came to realize, he COULD make a difference—to one person at a time. He was making a difference in ME.

Ana arranged for him to speak the next afternoon to the school children at her church. Children of all ages listened intently to his talk, and clustered around him afterwards for autographs. One child had asked him how many shoes he had worn out. He told how people had donated new shoes when he needed them, and later a shoe company began donating shoes. She held up her foot for him to autograph her sneaker. He solemnly did so, then with that infectious smile of his, said a foot-signing was a first.

He was to head on south toward Mexico the next morning. I fretted a bit about whether he would be safe. There are sections of Mexico that are dangerous. Then I remembered: he had walked safely along the entire eastern coast of the United States, through Washington, D.C., and New York, to Florida (where he had to hole up with new friends to ride out a hurricane, then stayed several weeks to help clean up), then westward, through New Orleans and Houston. My angst began to ease up.

A few days later, I was still a bit distressed, worrying about his safety. Would he be OK in strange places and big cities? Where they spoke different languages, so many different cultures? In all extremes of weather? So alone he had looked, disappearing down the road.

That night, in my sleep, I dreamed about him. I saw him heading out from the park in Port Lavaca, heading for the rest of the world. In my dream, I saw him walking away down the highway, and he was totally enclosed in a large "bubble," three-wheeled stroller and all.
When I awoke, I was awestruck by the vividness of my dream. I knew immediately what the "bubble" represented: it was a sphere of safe-ness around him, generated by his essential goodness, the purity of his mission, and the best wishes and prayers of EVERYONE he meets! The farther he walks, the larger the "safe bubble" becomes, with the addition of each person's "God speed!" he receives.

I feel so blessed to have been in that place and that time, that February day in 2001, when Jean Beliveau came, literally, walking by. I do believe that one person can change the world. Jean is changing every one he comes in contact with. I thank his wife Luce for having the courage to share him with the world. I follow his progress around the world by logging on to www.wwwalk.org. It continues to be an amazing story. People of all cultures, from many, many countries, offer him shelter, serve him meals, buy him shoes, try to give him money. He refuses gifts of money, saying, with a wry grin, it would be dangerous.

Then he tells the story of what must have been a mugging in New York by what he calls "young toughs." He said they "roughed him up," and went through his belongings and threw them about. As they ambled off, they tossed back a derogatory assessment, "Hey man, you no got any good stuff!"

If they only knew.