Well put Jim. I've read that speech a bunch of times and it's chilling that a product of a military academy (one of the finest educations one can have) would warn us of this impending threat.
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 12:01 PM, CycloFiend <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> wrote: > on 1/19/11 8:04 AM, JoelMatthews at joelmatth...@mac.com wrote: >>> Cycling has many uses and is wonderful .. but riding just for green reasons >>> is or would be weak for me. I ride because I like riding. >> >> I got rid of my car for green reasons. I certainly enjoy riding my >> bike. > > And I didn't really read anything in the article that said those were > mutually exclusive. The main point seemed to be that the people who would > adopt cycling because of green-ness alone are more of an outlier. Getting > people to act on goals which potentially play out over generations is not > easy. It's not the "wiring" we've demonstrated, historically. > > Monday was the 50th anniversary of Eisenhower's "Military-Industrial > Complex" farewell address speech, the bulk of which is way OT, but there's > always been a part of that I've kept written down: > > "Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we > peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must > avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and > convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the > material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their > political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all > generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow." > > I quote that here to recognize that we still have that challenge before us. > An adversarial relationship to those who are not in agreement with us, or > acting the way we feel they should, does little to move things toward the > greater good. > > It's always about the ride. About exuding the spirit of why we ride. That > is what we share implicitly and overtly when we show up at work or the store > astride a bicycle. You never know who it will affect or how. > > - J > > > -- > Jim Edgar > cyclofi...@earthlink.net > > Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com > Current Classics - Cross Bikes > Singlespeed - Working Bikes > > > > "You must be the change you want to see in the world." > Mahatma Gandhi > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
