Some folks seem to understand that pedaling is healthy and good. Little children understand immediately. They need no explanation. Children enter into the joy of biking and triking even as toddlers, squealing with delight as I ride by at a human-scale speed on neighborhood streets. They love to exchange smiles and laughter and shouts of affirmation.
Some adults are able to see with child-like eyes or "beginner's minds" as well. I am more amazed at the moral bankruptcy which clouds the minds of many, causing them to deny that our actions have consequences or that the laws of physics apply to them. I wonder if Mr Reitman and others who contribute to my 5-year-old son's asthma every day when they start their cars are willing to pay for his medical treatment. I do not, unfortunately, get to breathe much fresh air as I ride through our city each day. I do get to inhale plenty of carbon tetrachloride and benzine and corbon dioxide and carbon monoxide and too many other pollutants to list. So does my son as he runs and plays. So do all the other children in Minneapolis. So do the elderly who are also vulnerable to various ailments related to pollution. It is too easy to live a life of moral bankrupcy in our American city. The laws of physics do not even apply to us. Or do they? The rules of civic engagement and the balances of environmental and economic justice do not apply either, obviously. Any citizen of our city can put the key into the ignition of that machine gun we call an internal combustion engine and go shooting it through town with no consequence at all. Never mind that each turn of the key in a car ignition switch is a vote to make my son ill. Never mind that each drive through town is a vote to make many children ill. Never mind that each drive through town is a vote for war fought with our own dirty nuclear munitions which will kill and sicken innocent people as well as our own soldiers for years, even generations to come. We will never have to pay the price. We have become adapted to the reality that we ourselves will never have to pay the price. We drive in comfort, and we love the convenience of our car-enabled lifestyle. No moral rules apply to us. We live in a city in the Upper Midwest of the united States of America, after all. We will never have to reckon with our own nation's terrorism. We will never have to reckon with the degraded environment we leave behind us as we load our lard-laden fannies into our cars and trucks and swing by the big-box store, the fast-food joint, the health club, the office. Perhaps fresh air makes us sick here in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Perhaps clean air and water and soil are the enemy? Perhaps bike riders are the enemy -- maybe terrorists? Anyone wgho asserts that our comfortable and convenient lifestyle might need to be carefully analysed and altered must be on the margins, after all. Either they are crazy and cannot think straight, or they are evil, and will not think straight. No rules apply to us here in the comfort of our cars in Minneapolis. We are above critique, above any kind of justice, above the laws of physics, unnassailable and invulnerable. We are above God or Nature or anything created, evolved, or eternal. I wonder if the pollution, fellow list members, is not essentially that of mind, sould, and spirit. I wonder if we shape our vision too often according to what is comfortable rather than according to any kind of noble principle or careful and caring thought. I know the results of the violence of our petroleum addiction first-hand. I have stopped insulating myself with an automobile, and believe me, that is a way of opening one's eyes. Please do not marginalize me by discounting my perspectives. We face the greatest ethical dilemma of our species every day, and I believe that we in Minneapolis have largely chosen denial. We have chosen to accept the worldview shaped by advertizing as our reality. We are embedded in a multiply-addicted culture which is in deep denail about its own addictions, and is throwing global fits of rage to make sure that the fix is always available. I am appalled at our inability to think clearly or honestly about our own individual responsibility and choices as citizens. We the people of Minneapolis, Minnesota can make a great and positive contribution to ourselves, to our bioregion, and to the nation and the world by taking truly patriotic action: reduce petroleum consumption and related pollution; develop healthy systems for urban living, including transportation. Stop making our children sick. I ride a human-powered vehicle every day. I stop in winter to help motorists get unstuck from snow and ice. I know everyone cannot do what I do, but I know that most people actually could if they would re-design their lives with care for both local and global impacts. It is time to act responsibly as individuals and as a collective group of citizens. Will any list members be willing to carefully consider this post and respond in a thoughtful, heartfelt way? My son is sick -- can you read this father's honest cry!?!? My heart breaks to think of this, and to think of the number of people who are made sick by our petroleum-addicted behaviour. I do not even live all the way around the world in Bagdad, I live in your own city. Do you care at all? Will anyone else join by suggesting truly patriotic actions to make our children, our city, state, and country actually strong again? I have suggested and model for you one patriotic action: using human powered vehicles as standard transportation for trips under three miles one-way (six miles round trip) -- and sometimes as far as to St. Paul and back. I use public tranportation sometimes, and ask to carshare only at great need. Any other suggestions for taking action now? Gary Hoover King Field _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
