The Salt Path (The Film)

When I found out that I was pregnant with my first child, thinking that I would never be able to do the sort of things that I had previously done in my life I took a week off work, put the dog and a tent in the back of the car and drove to Cornwall. People on the campsite where I was staying were worried about me when I gleefully told them I was pregnant ( I’d always thought I couldn’t have children) and probably thought I was deranged. So, on reading the book I felt that I might have reacted in the same way as the author did.

I’ve done similar things to the author and her husband. Had a great time.

It’s the stealing from others I think is wrong.

Though a number of people think it’s ok, if it means you can do what you want to do.🤷🏽‍♀️

Saw the film yesterday. Read the book a couple of years ago. Enjoyed both. One thing that bothered me, why didn't the husband use a stick or walking poles to help him. They both make such a difference if you have a mobility issue.

Of course stealing is wrong, she could have left those bits out, but she didn't, probably because she wanted the reader to understand how desperate she was. I think it tests our ability to have empathy for others who find themselves in desperate situations and whether we can still have "empathy" for people less fortunate than ourselves even if we feel it is partly their own fault. What I remembered was the kindness shown to others even though she and Moth had nothing, but clearly some people didn't remember that. Oh well, we are all different.

Well said Outcast, brilliantly put. I was going to post something on a similar vein only not so eloquent.
The posts on here have been mean and miserly . You can almost see the pearl clutching. There but for the grace go they.

Outcast52. I agree with every word you said!

Do you have any empathy for the shop owner or the owners of the camping sites who work all day, every day to provide the food and facilities that were stolen from them?

Obviously not.

I have empathy for people like that and you empathiseeith people who steal from them.

Not more more to be said really, is there?

John 8:7

What’s that? Judge not lest ye be not judged? I’m ma,I guess a guess there.

Well like I said before, I’ve been in almost exactly the same circumstances, except my husband did due. So I lost husband, job, and house.

And I still didn’t think I was entitled to steal from other peop,e.

What’s more I’ve known hardworking people brought to their knees by those who thought they did have the right to just take what they wanted.

I think maybe it’s you that’s making the judgement.

No.

It's let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Churchview

No.

It's let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

The Eighth Commandment:

Thou shalt not steal.

I hope, however desperate I was, I would not stoop to stealing.

Community fridges are available in many towns. Casual work is often available too.

I don't think anyone has said that it's OK to steal, i don't think Raynor Winn thought it was OK to steal she could have left it out of her book but she didn't. The book is about what she and her husband did when they were faced with difficult circumstances, it is not a moral guide to how we should conduct our lives. Memoirs and autobiographies would be extremely dull if only people with blameless lives shared their stories.

She's a fit woman she could have got casual work, enough to pay campsite fees and buy food.

The Salt Path walk happened in 2013/14.
The first community fridge started in 2015.

I take you're point though. I just think none of us know how we would react if we were desperate and that a little forgiveness is not a bad thing.

She did take work. They renovated a building in return for a roof over their head at one stage and, it's a long time since I read it so I could be wrong, I feel sure she did some work too during the walk - agricultural or factory work.

Churchview

The Salt Path walk happened in 2013/14.
The first community fridge started in 2015.

I take you're point though. I just think none of us know how we would react if we were desperate and that a little forgiveness is not a bad thing.

Many of us have done casual work at some time, perhaps when we were young.

I think this could all have been planned with the book in mind so working your way round wouldn't have been so dramatic.
They're very wealthy now, let's hope they've paid up what they owed.

She wasn’t desperate.

She had alternatives, like work, that she chose not to take.

Maybe she didn’t leave it out because she didn’t think it was wrong. The sense of the book was that she felt it was quite funny. Part of the adventure. It shocked me when I read it.

That’s why I wondered if, now that she has money, she has made recompense.

I've just looked it up. She worked wrapping sheep fleeces during the walk.

No need to steal then if work was available.

It’s no good.

Either you think it’s wrong to steal from other people if they have something you want or you think it’s ok.

I think it’s wrong. You think it’s ok.

We’ll have to disagree.

Lathrus absolutely nowhere have I said it's ok to steal and I don't think anyone else has either. Neither have I said I thought it was a good idea to go off walking with a sick husband. I read lots of books about people doing things I don't approve of or wouldn't do myself, I don't need what I read to give me a moral compass I have my own already.

Now I'm curious. What was the condition the husband was suffering from? Is he still alive?
Of course I could read the book, or I could go see the film, but maybe I'll just google these people...

Then what is all the defence of her actions about me f not a justification for stealing.

It’s simply not logical. If you defend her for stealing to satisfy her wants then you are saying it’s ok to steal.

I haven’t said anything negative about walking with her sick husband. I totally defend their right to do so if that was what they wanted to do.

But the right to make that decision does not give them the right to do it by taking from other people.

It is a self centred focus that puts your own wants above those of others and takes no account of the damage it may cause. I perceived no shame or concern for the people she stole from.

Moth Winn has Corticobasal Degeneration. As far as I know, he is still alive.
I had two friends who had the same illness. They both died within about three years from diagnosis.

Well, Lathyrus I think you need to ask those who have defended her stealing to explain their justification, as for me (and tbh most of the other posters that enjoyed her book) I have just accepted that the stealing of the chocolate bar and sleeping in a campsite field without paying is a small part of the story that she has chosen to tell.