I packed a small Canadian flag to hang from my backpack.
asserted
I → pack → backpack
It’s still at the bottom of my pack 10 days into the Camino Francés, a weeks-long pilgrimage from France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and I doubt I’ll ever take it out.
asserted
I → ’ → it
What hangs from my bag is the same scallop shell every pilgrim wears, the one that will point me toward Santiago for another 540 kms.
asserted
that → hang → kms
I didn’t hide the flag for lack of pride.
asserted
I → hide → pride
I simply found I didn’t need it.
asserted
I → find → it
Because inevitably, somewhere between a village fountain and the next café, someone asks where you’re from.
asserted
you → ask → where
And when I say Canada, I get the same answer, from Australians and South Koreans, Germans and Dutch: ah, Canada.
asserted
I → say → Canada
We love your prime minister, how he’s standing up to Trump.
asserted
he → love → Trump
A young Londoner I walked with for a bit told me there’s a line going around now.
asserted
I → walk → me
It’s “KEEP CALM and CARNEY ON.”
asserted
It → ’ → CALM
None of these people have read the speeches.
asserted
None → read → speeches
They’re not following the tariff files.
asserted
They → follow → files
But they’ve absorbed something — an impression, a general sense of where a country stands; which is the thing marketers spend fortunes trying to manufacture.
asserted
marketers → absorb → fortunes
And here it was, on a dirt path in La Rioja, volunteered unprompted.
asserted
it → volunteer → Rioja
Americans answer differently
Which brings me to the other pilgrims.
asserted
Which → answer → pilgrims
I’ve met walkers from a dozen countries and almost all answer the same way: the country first, then the town if you press.
asserted
you → meet → way
The handful of Americans I’ve met answer differently.
asserted
I → meet → Americans
But you notice a pattern and then you can’t unnotice it.
asserted
you → notice → it
I don’t think it’s shame.
asserted
it → think → ?
I think it’s brand hierarchy.
asserted
it → think → ?
New York and L.A. are global brands in their own right; they travel well and carry no baggage this season.
asserted
they → travel → baggage
The flag does.
asserted
flag → do → ?
So the walker reaches for the equity that still works and leaves the rest at home.
asserted
that → reach → home
Nobody decides this.
asserted
Nobody → decide → this
That’s what makes it interesting.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
One could argue New York simply needs no country attached.
uncertain
country → argue → ?
But that assumption used to sit comfortably.
asserted
assumption → use → ?
Still, America’s soft power is felt.
asserted
power → feel → ?
Most pilgrims here carry an American phone, or American apps on someone else’s.
asserted
pilgrims → carry → else
In a café outside Los Arcos there’s a jukebox playing American songs; in the larger towns you still hear Michael Jackson over dinner.
asserted
you → ’ → dinner
Apple’s goodwill doesn’t transfer to the flag.
asserted
goodwill → transfer → flag
What that jukebox is selling is nostalgia — Americana, a heritage brand
asserted
selling → sell → What
I saw a Route 66 sign in a café in Puente de la Reina.
asserted
I → see → Reina
That’s not the same as trusted as a partner.
asserted
That → ’ → partner
Americana is still valued but the America now on display is gold leaf and marble, the taste of a man who gilds everything he owns.
asserted
he → value → everything
It’s the look of a European court and it’s the very thing a young republic once defined itself against.
asserted
republic → ’ → itself
Looking elsewhere
The word cloud these pilgrims form about America sadly misses one that used to belong: reliable.
asserted
that → look → one
The United States was once a country you could plan around, an ally whose next move you could roughly predict.
uncertain
you → plan → move
That’s the equity that’s been eroded and it’s the cruellest one to lose, because reliability can’t be bought back with a cheque.
asserted
reliability → ’ → cheque
It’s earned by behaving consistently over time, which means it heals only at the speed it was built.
asserted
it → earn → speed
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
