A Journey of Peace
Many of us were told as children that we should treat all people with respect, even though it is sometimes difficult. How many of us avert our eyes when we see the man in tattered clothes out on the street asking for money to buy his next meal. The question many Christians would ask is, what if that man was Jesus and we turned our backs?
What if Jesus came in the form of a young Japanese man with very little knowledge of the English language, who was bicycling across the country in the name of peace? How would he be received?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that 29 year old Hayato Tokudome is Jesus. What I am suggesting is that his journey as a stranger in a foreign land shows that there is hope for all of us.
Here is how Hayato came to spend a small part of his journey at the Erie City Mission.
29 year old Hayato Tokudome’s journey began On April 19th, 2008 when he left his native Japan, arriving in Los Angeles, California with a bicycle, a laptop, a camera with a GPS tracking system and a very limited budget. His return flight is December 1, departing from New York City.
The purpose for this amazing trip was to make a statement…a very large statement literally printed across our map. Hayato would bicycle across the USA on a route that spells out the word “peace” in lower case English letters.
The project is called “A Piece of Peace” and can be tracked on Hayato’s website: http://tokudome8810.petit.cc/. If you don’t read Japanese, expect to only follow along with the pictures.
Hayato feels so strongly about peace, that he wanted to come to the United States to actually contribute in his own way to the peace process. The original idea was that a team of 5 would make the journey, each taking one letter as their route. Difficulties in organizing such an endeavor left Hayato to make the trip himself.
Through the kindness of an interpreter, Mercyhurst college professor of Japanese and French languages, Keiko Miller, we learned that travelling by bike represents to Hayato the harnessing of human power.
What does his family think of his journey? Hayato says with a smile that his parents are conservative and had no idea what he would run into. He says over time, his adventure has become their adventure. And although they thought it was a crazy idea at first, they have changed and accepted his trip, even cheering him on as they communicate with him by e-mail and follow his travels on Hayato’s website.
Fast forward now to early November when Hayato arrived with Hamot Medical Center security personnel at the doors of the Erie City Mission. Hayato doesn’t remember much about the crash. He only knows that he was completely immersed in the ride at dusk in North East. The next thing he knew was that he was in a Hamot hospital bed with a big bruise on his face, a swollen ankle and stitches on the back of his neck. His bike was totaled, but he, his computer and his spirits survived. After being placed in a hotel, Hayato knew that his money would run out before long, so someone suggested the Mission.
Hayato says he is fortunate to be at the Erie City Mission. He was welcomed here with open arms, staying in the shelter and eating his meals along side of dozens of men here because they are either homeless, or on need of short or long term rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addictions, or the effects of poverty. As the days passed, director of programs Darrell Smith began to see Hayato’s story unfold. Darrell helped to arrange for an interpreter to learn more about this man, and to make sure his needs were being met. Hayato says he was in great pain when he got to the Mission but is recovering nicely, weighing his options now as to whether or not he can somehow complete his journey. The original plan would have taken him to Florida before traveling north again to finish in NYC, (the bottom of the final “e” in “peace”).
So how was this stranger in a foreign land received by those he has met along the way? Hayato says even though the media’s depiction of the United States would lead you to believe that this is a dangerous place, he has had nothing but positive experiences. Some people along the way have even invited him into their homes for meals. That includes our kind interpreter who brought Hayato home to meet her son who is Hayato’s age, and to offer the traveler some “comfort foods” of his native Japan.
Even a crash that landed him in the hospital with limited memory of what really happened has ended with something positive. Hayato has found what so many homeless, hungry and lost people have found at the Erie City Mission, smiling faces, a warm bed, a hot shower and meal, and people who truly care about their fellow man.
Let us all hope that the next time a stranger comes to us for help, we don’t turn away, but smile and know that if it were Jesus, he too would find a comforting home away from home.