Pete: Well I’ll be a sonofabitch. Delmar’s been saved.
Delmar O’Donnell: Well that’s it, boys. I’ve been redeemed. The preacher’s done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It’s the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting’s my reward.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Delmar, what are you talking about? We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Delmar O’Donnell: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.
Ulysses Everett McGill: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?
Delmar O’Donnell: Well I was lyin’. And the preacher says that that sin’s been warshed away too. Neither God nor man’s got nothin’ on me now. C’mon in boys, the water is fine.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou”.
It is now already a couple of years ago when I took care of my own past sins, by running through some rather scary burning gates somewhere in Bhutan along with about thousand other similarly minded people. It is not that I’ve been living a particularly wicked life meanwhile, but I will have a chance to erase any accumulated misdeeds and transgressions once again, as I will be spending a week in Turkey from tomorrow on, smack in the middle of Ramadan. Hadith tells us: “He who observes the fast during Ramadhan out of sincerity of faith and in hope of earning merit will have his past sins forgiven him”. I figure that’s a pretty good deal, since I have grown used to eating only twice a day anyway, and this would only mean that I’d have my breakfast a little earlier and dine a bit later. Incidentally, it will be my first time to travel in a muslim country (albeit a very liberal one) during Ramadan, so it will be an interesting observational opportunity.
Speaking of travel, I came across of a list of 7 habits of highly effective travelers which is, as far as I am concerned, absolutely spot on. It is geared towards what is usually referred to as ‘independent travel’, but I suppose there’s a lot of useful stuff in it even for the not-so-independent travelers. But if you are about to set off on your first backpacking trip, then printing this list out and reading it until it becomes a part of your constitution is sure to make your journeys a lot more pleasant both for yourself and others that you may happen to meet with along your travels.
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