Day 65, 46 miles, Yucca Valley to Beaumont, CA
Day 64, 22 miles, Twentynine Palms to Yucca Valley, CA
Happy 4th of July! It also happens to be my birthday, and I just rode 3,300 miles across the US, so I hope you’ll indulge my brief holiday diversion.
I love this country. I love its diversity and variety, its possibility, and most importantly, its concept: freedom. The big, bold, precedent-setting experiment that our forebears dared to embark on in which the people are free to think and say what they want, and get to weigh in on policies and government representation.
But here’s the thing: I love the world. I’ve traveled around it a couple times, and I’ve seen firsthand that people are fundamentally similar wherever you go: most of us want to live interesting, enriching lives, and the vast majority of us want to care for our loved ones as best we can.
We have reason to celebrate this country on this national holiday. But I wish we could also have a World Celebration Day, or something akin to the annual festival I once coordinated at my kids’ elementary school: the One World Festival. (I’m by no means talking about one world government here.) I long to celebrate all people on the planet. It’s not a big planet, and we’ll need to appreciate each other going forward.
Having nearly completed a bike trip across the US, I’ve met a lot of different folks, some with obviously different views from mine, which tend centrist. I’m sorry to say that one of the prevalent themes I’ve encountered is fear. Fear of one another, fear of the “other,” distrust of other’s motives. It’s on the rise and it’s killing us. And it’s particularly American.
This bike trip is not political, and I don’t believe in politicizing friendships and other relationships. But I think some of our political leaders are doing us disfavor by propagating fear, and fostering otherness for the sake of gaining and holding power.
I have many friends, acquaintances, and some family members with different views and outlooks from mine, and I welcome that as long as conversation is respectful and thoughtful. I don’t welcome belief in superiority or privilege of any people over any other people on this planet.
I hope I don’t drive anyone away with this diatribe. My July 4th point is simple: We need each other, we need to work together, Americans, conservative and progressive, all different skin tones, Chinese, Russians, Europeans, Mexicans, Australians, Indians, etc. The level of our fear toward those we don’t know is not warranted. It’s destructive. And not sustainable.
Of course, it’s also possible my brain is rotted from too much exposure in the Mojave. Happy 4th of July, happy Independence Day. Help someone out. Enjoy the day.