I am encouraged to read accounts of bus riding and biking. Sadly, car-sharing (hOurcar) struggles to find miniscule funding compared to road maintenance or roadbuilding projects. If we citizens push for the funding to launch hOurcar, it can very easily be found through private foundations, with perhaps some help from the state.
I occasionally take the bus, but do almost all of my work and personal errands on a tricycle. Trikes are so stable, even on snow and ice. I've ridden -- with planning -- through the recent snow emergencies -- as well as the rest of the winter so far. One day I was feeling sick, so cancelled my jobs for the day to rest -- but because of a need to rest, not because riding was impossible. I find that -- after about 4 years of relying on a tricycle (pedicabs and cargo trikes) -- that I have learned more about myself, my relationship to the earth and to others, and about our cityscape than through any other single experience. I recently ran across a quote from Wittgenstein that puts it well: "The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something -- because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of (one's) inquiry do not strike a person at all. -- And this means: we fail to be struck by what, once seen, is most striking and powerful." (The above from "Philosophical Investigations" #129, as quotedby Susan Neiman in "Evil In Modern Thought" published in 2002 by Princeton university Press -- worth reading!) I notice increasingly, while riding, that the violence (and evil) of our world is rooted in the mundane violence of our day to day lives. Ridding the world -- or even the city --of evil and of evil-doers requires a new way of seeing ourselves and of living our lives. This intentional awareness and action is at the heart of being human as well of being a citizen. Evil is diffuse and knit into our daily lives in countless ways. The toxic machine-gun of the internal combustion engine, the inhumane speed at which we rountinely pass small children or slice through space as though our journey is a nuisance and only our chosen destinations are important -- these are examples of the foundations of violence in our world. We do not see or hear the most striking aspects and impacts of our lives, and in fact a certain intentional ignorance is required for us to believe that we can carry on as we are for an indefinite amount of time. Time will tell, of course, but underneath a veneer of civility we too often hope that we can cheat the simplest principles of nature. We are seduced by our apparent success and manipulated by fear into beleiving that we cannot intentionally design our lives to be less violent without giving up some luxury or sense of security. Check out this article online about how the Pentagon is planning for the future: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0202-02.htm and then ask questions like this: "Why is the scenario the Pentagon contemplates here so probable? Is there any connection between the variety of evils -- global warming, global dimming, radical and abrupt changes in ecosystems, extreme violence directed at the USA from many millions of poor people forced to abandon flooded homes, and the like -- connected to my daily choices and to the way we design our cityscape and urban lives? I believe that it is vital for us as citizens to provide our political leadership with the support and clear mandate to plan our infrastructure in the most sustainable ways possible. This is not a matter of choosing between flavors of urban lifestyles, but is a matter of life and death, good and evil, now and in the near future. I observe my children and their friends, and i realize that living a life of peace and designing an infrastructure of peace is the only way to provide them with a secure, prosperous, and peaceful future. Intentional awareness and action for peace and justice is the only path to a peaceful and just future. -- pedaling for peace and justice -- Gary Hoover (Kingfield) REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
