Thankful for 542 Smiles on the Camino
Thankful for 542 Smiles on the Camino
by David Larwa | Brighton, MI
By any chance did I walk with you on the Camino?
I recently purchased a new phone. While transferring the data and pictures, I discovered I had 16,542 photographs. I had taken some 12,604 of them while walking the Camino.
For fun, I asked my phone’s virtual assistant to show me only photos of the Camino and faces. Up came 542 faces.
What is the chance (prospect, possibility, probability, odds, plausibility) your face is in my photos?
Over the past several years, I have walked ten Caminos. The average number of people walking in any of those given years was 350,000, and 350,000 times 10 years is a lot of people on the Camino. If I narrow the time down to the month I walked, we have a more reasonable number of 75,000 people I chanced to walk with in a given year, and 75,000 pilgrims times 10 Caminos equals 750,000 people.
Wow! This means there is a 0.072% chance I have a picture of your face on my phone. But of the faces captured in my photos, what is the chance you are smiling in my photograph? 100%.
A French neurologist, Duchenne de Boulogne, studied facial expressions. The work of Duchenne and others found there are actually many different types of smiles. Not sure what all of the different types of smiles are, but they all must be on my phone!
Where is the arrow? Hopeful smile.
Can you help me? Pleading smile.
I remember you. Lit-up smile.
Good to see you made it. Happy smile.
Would you like to share a meal? Warm smile.
Do you need a doctor? Grimace smile.
It’s only a little farther. Hopeful smile.
Can you take my picture? Expectant smile.
I hear the Gaita galega, the traditional Galician bagpipes. Joyous smile.
I did it! Contented smile.
I am thankful for all the 542 faces and smiles the Camino has given to me. I hope you have a photo of me smiling, too. Please look.
Thanks for walking with me.
