car rant

Sitting in my car or for that matter a car I am filled with a mixed bag of emotions. Amazed at the convenience of it all, sit down, turn the key, step on the pedal and off you go. It is a tool that can take you away from it all to different lands and faraway friends. I feel like one of the masses addicted to convenience, lazy, like I can feel the pounds being add to my body. I am filled with feelings of raping the earth, of how disconnected it makes me feel. I feel like part of the consumer culture, not caring about what the means were only the ends, gas for me. I mean it is a totally dangerous undertaking. Think of who is out there driving a bucket of bolts, hell bent on destruction. On the phone, moving, moving, moving. What does it all mean, for what purpose. The car culture has disconnected society in an attempt to bring us together. Think about how often you sit in traffic, alone, waiting for the light to change, waiting for the flow of traffic to pick up, waiting, waiting, waiting. I am not a very violent person but on more than one occasion behind the wheel of a car I have felt the urge to rid the earth of who ever gets in my way. I have two speeds stop and go. Go is always as fast as possible. Now mind you this urge has passed as I have grown, but at times I am so high strung after being in traffic that I need a tranquilizer to make it through the rest of the day.
To the contrary while aboard a bicycle I feel part of my surroundings connected to what is going on around me, alive, different. I can go at my own pace, I can float above it all. I am a warrior, waging my battle to show that it can be different, there are alternatives. I don’t know where I heard it or who said it but the saying goes something like: "You must live the life you want there to be." In other words you must live the way you would like others to. Kind of like leading by example, not by what you say. I see the world differently from the saddle, it is my meditation, it is my mantra.
What is the fascination with SUVs and huge trucks, do you really need that much compensation? Is that your message to the world? We are running out oil, and hurting the earth no matter how much we are told that is not the case. Global warming could be happening. When in years to come people wonder why, gas is so expensive, and the worlds weather is out of wack, and why cant I have my big SUV because it makes me feel safe? The answer is the consumerism of today, we need to start thinking and trying to make a change. Ride more, drive less, lets learn about where and how things are made. I am not at all saying I am perfect, I have driven a little more than I care to admit lately. I consume, we all do, but start to make a change, it is amazing how different you will feel. We are a car culture, maybe we will need a twelve step program to break societies SUV, gas, consumption addiction. Thanks for reading, now lets make a difference one day, one hour, one cyclist at a time.