Dear Listmembers,
Happy New Year to everyone! I'm still having a very difficult time attending to my computer and following the list. Also, there is a considerable amount of personal communucations I have been lagging on, for which I apologize and still intend to sweep up if possible. Must be a phase I'm going through. I do have a predisposition to sort of hibernate during the winter, and I live in So. CA; go figure! Please allow me to once more commend Dale for hosting the CR list. From this I personally have benifited from so many new friendships I can't count them. Through his efforts I'm sure every single one of us has benifited trememdously. It has also allowed us to experience a diversity of opinions which, even if I don't agree with them, I'm thankful that I am exposed to them. Helps me stay in "touch" with the outside world; I have a tendency to operate in my own little world where MONEY and PROFIT are NOT the center of the universe. This leads me to this desire to express my opinion. WARNING, this is just my opinion and probably somewhat "off the wall" for many of you. This is just an observation, nothing more.
I have previously made it known that I have a personal distaste for the eBay thing in general. Yes, the up side is that suddenly items that one would have to "stumble upon" or search for are presented for your viewing and buying pleasure on your computer screen. The "thrill of the hunt" has been replaced by the "heat of the auction". It's the way of the world and I am not condemming it nor seeking to change it; as many others have said, it isn't going away. Suck it up and deal with it. It is a basic indicator, behaviorwise, that reveals what most humans seem to believe. It goes something like this. People who believe, regardless of what they "say", that they have a right or even a responsibility to themselves to get the most profit out of every single morsal that comes their way also tend to believe there is NO benifit to them in being generous or considerate of the rest of the world around them. It doesn't seem to matter that in our group we are all of common interest and are pretty much friendly with one another. Where some see a small group of friends helping each other and learning together; others see an opportunity to shoot fish in a barrel. I have to admit, this is a personal pet peeve of mine; don't know where it comes from but I have to live it every single day. EBay offers a really good opportunity to take advantage of this; as does having this tight little list.
All I want to do at this time is thank those who are considerate of us as individuals and interact with everyone out of passion for the "hobby" and a sincere generousity in their hearts; as opposed to the other way. I understand that there are thousands of ways to justify "taking advantage" of a good situation to personally profit and I will not argue with a single one. But from my time in the "spiritual seeking" part of my life I learned that there is no exception to the rule that actions speak louder than words. The bottom line is that many feel that one's only obligation is to themselves. True in so many aspects. But those who believe that our physical world is all there is to life, our purpose, and the universe are very shortsighted in my opinion. Those who take advantage of the situation and mask their doings while polishing their "reputations" for the outside world to reflect in disturb me. I'm sorry to put this out there, but there are so many that defend profiteering that I feel it neccessary to attempt a little balance and perhaps provoke a little thought. I'm not kidding myself, nothing will change, but it doesn't hurt for people to be exposed to a different perspective now and again. My comments may offend some people, probably about as much as the other view offends me. Sounds fair.
I thank everyone, especially Dale, for providing this forum for discussion and making it possible for all of us to share our views and opinions as well as our passion and collective knowledge. I have been the recipient of more than my share of generousity from people on this list, for which I am eternally grateful. I hope it will continue to survive, or better yet thrive, amongst our membership. The benifits to those who consider more than just themselves are intangable (to some) but I believe strongly that as human beings evolve there is an ever increasing recognition of our oneness in the ultimate sense. If one believes this, their behavior reflects it in their relationships with others. I just want to recognize those on the list who feel as I do about life and our purpose. There is no shortage of great people on this list; many times our collective generousity has been displayed between our members. I feel that my view may even be in the majority, but the supporters of the opposition seem to be more vigorously defending their "rights". Outside of personal benifit only, I still don't understand. End of sermon.
It is an absolutely glorious and beautiful day here in La Mesa, CA and I'm ready to kick off a new year. I'm really looking forward to the vintage bike events this year, primarily to meet and experience more of my "friends" that I haven't met yet and to further my relationships with those I have established friendships with from previous trips to these events. Now is the time to commit in your mind to making it to one of the events, or better yet both events, this year. Those who have not attended cannot comprehend the fun, commardarie, and amount of cool bikes and stuff that happen at these functions. As much as we think it's all about the bikes, it most certainly is not ALL about the bikes. It IS all the people who attend and participate, go on the rides, and participate in the food fights at the resturaunts we frequent. Please make plans to show up and be part of the "Gang". I suppose I will even accept you showing up just to stuff a sock in my mouth to shut me up!
I haven't done any work all year; I'd better get busy now. Thank you all for joining our little club that meets in Dale's living room. I thank everyone who is willing to contribute to our body of knowledge and interest, wheather you blab on the list or lurk; everyone is important. I'm looking forward to meeting more new friends this year so make it to the gatherings; although if you approach with sock in hand I'm likely to have to take my foot out of my mouth so you can stick it in. If you're really nice you'll put the sock on my foot instead!
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA Trying to punch through the writers block of the past month or two.