Garth,
I share your yearning for a simplicity. I was in the Peace Corps 1981-83 and indeed lived in poverty. I was far from poor, though. While the people around me had nothing by "industrialized" standards, they almost seemed more content with life. They did not have so high expectations (bigger car, bigger house, more cars, etc....) and were so grateful for their families and what nature brought them daily. Our national "pursuit of happiness" is rather a clamouring for property and possessions. One's worth is based on their consumptions versus what they produce.
All is not lost, though. :-)
In the hearts of most humans I believe there is a fundamental desire to love. We just need to filter out all the other distractions. Bicycles help make us human. They are, for the most part, gender free, age free, economic free, non-polluting, self fueled, healthy, and allow just enough mobility to know what folks are doing in the next village.
Cycling isnt my destiny, but whatever my destiny is, a bikes going to take me there. Theyre how Im journeying to my lifes end. It takes me to places where I grow. It takes me to my friends. It connects me with nature. It connects me to myself. Life has so many more possibilities when Im on a bike.
Our job is to share this "filter on life" to as many people as possible.
Jill DiMauro Kensington, MD
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of garth libre Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 10:01 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]The Bicycle Theif
As dark and gray as the post WWII Rome was in 1949's "The Bicycle Thief", the world seems a less beautiful place now with an automobile explosion that resembles fulminating ear mites. I miss a world based on honesty and simplicity, even in the face of poverty. It seemed that every bicycle rider in that movie was fit and slim. For race fans, there even was a brief shot of the peloton coming through at the end. I am lost without my Fidis. Garth Libre in Surfside Fl. Merry Christmas all, and may you all get that special bicycle (part) under the tree.