{"id":411,"date":"2016-11-14T15:58:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T15:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/?p=411"},"modified":"2016-11-14T15:58:50","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T15:58:50","slug":"11-life-lessons-from-my-motorcycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/?p=411","title":{"rendered":"11. life lessons from my motorcycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I struggle to deal with the many faces of the unleashed hatred following Trump\u2019s election \u2013 including but not limited to bigotry, misogyny, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia \u00a0I\u2019m reminded of how I\u2019ve been taught to handle curves on my motorcycle.\u00a0 OK, those of you who do not ride may think I\u2019m straining for this analogy but bear with me.<\/p>\n

In single vehicle crashes, more bikers are killed in curves than any other scenario. The biker fails to negotiate the curve and runs off the cliff, into the guard rail, the mail box, etc.\u00a0 And dies.\u00a0 Basically, the biker looks at what he\u2019s afraid of, at what he doesn\u2019t want to hit, or what he suddenly finds fascinating, and wham!\u00a0 It\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation stresses the proper technique for handling a curve.\u00a0 One shorthand version of the lesson is \u2013 slow, look, press, and roll.\u00a0 Slow down to an appropriate entry speed. (Get on the brakes \u2013 don\u2019t try to go into the curve at a break-neck speed) \u00a0Look through the curve, look where you want to go. (Do NOT look where you do not want to go.\u00a0 Yes, the cliff is right there, with no guard rails and the edge of the pavement is crumbly.\u00a0 But don\u2019t look at it!\u00a0 You are going to go where you look.\u00a0 Head and eyes up – Look through the curve, look where you want to go) \u00a0Press \u2013 lean into the curve.\u00a0 (You\u2019re at the curve now and there\u2019s no more time.\u00a0 Lean into it.\u00a0 Commit yourself. )\u00a0 And roll on the throttle \u2013 speed up. (Yep \u2013 speed up.\u00a0 If you brake in the curve, the front end of your bike will dive, you\u2019ll lose traction,\u00a0 and you may well die. Speed up and you will be stable).\u00a0 You can stop and change your pants when you\u2019re safely on the straight away \u2013 but there is no time to be tentative on this side of the curve.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I see a curve coming and have no trouble slowing.\u00a0 Other times I find myself going too fast and have to really get on the brakes.\u00a0 That\u2019s where I am right now, watching what feels like the unleashed worse, emboldened to act and threaten our connected humanity, and it\u2019s closing fast. \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve needed to really get on the brakes. I can\u2019t see how to handle what\u2019s coming next, but I can remember what to focus on.<\/p>\n

Side note \u2013 for those familiar with the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory Test, I\u2019m an INFP. I\u2019ve been in tears with my heart racing as I seriously slow down and reassess pretty much everything.\u00a0 Others respond with anger, by sulking, or analyzing, \u00a0We each do the best we can.<\/p>\n

For me, the fear is not of a change, or lack of change, in politics.\u00a0 The fear is for our humanity in the face of the legitimization of hatred, bigotry, homophobia, misogyny,\u00a0 racism, Islamophobia .\u00a0 My fear is We, The People, may just surrender and placidly follow the roads being drawn that lead to divisiveness.\u00a0 My fear is we will focus on the negative, the hatred, and become part of it.\u00a0 Like a biker becoming part of a guard rail.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King reminds us what to focus on \u2013 \u201cLet us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” http:\/\/www.americanrhetoric.com\/speeches\/mlkihaveadream.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Isaac Penington,\u00a0 imprisoned for the crime of being a Quaker, wrote from a brutal jail cell in 1667, a reminder of what I chose to aim for\u00a0 \u201cOur life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand, \u201c\u00a0\"bdayhttp:\/\/www.qhpress.org\/texts\/penington\/letter20.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Things are going to change rapidly around this blind curve in our shared road.\u00a0 Right now, I need to slow down and keep my head and eyes up \u2013 focused on what I value, where I want to go.\u00a0 I refuse to lose control and fly over the cliff or crash into the guard rail. I refuse to let hatred trump love.\u00a0 Love is bigger and better than that.\u00a0 American is better than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I struggle to deal with the many faces of the unleashed hatred following Trump\u2019s election \u2013 including but not limited to bigotry, misogyny, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia \u00a0I\u2019m reminded of how I\u2019ve been taught to handle curves on my motorcycle.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}