common sense and common courtesy


common sense and common courtesy...

if we all just spent a little more time police-ing ourselves we would need less police
if we all lived our lives with a greater level of common sense and common courtesy there would be less need to state the law
the law could be rules
civilized people play by the rules

the rules go by both sides
the rules would be updated
the rules would be changed
the rules would be dictated by common sense and common courtesy

harmony would be the goal

acceptance and respect for what is different would be vital for harmony to exist
respect for others would be the basis of the understanding of common sense and common courtesy

tonight after a post work ride I rolled up past dupont
was rolling with a guy named kevin who lives in adams morgan which is on the way to my house in mount pleasant
so we rolled together and chatted
something that does not happen when two people see each other in traffic when in cars
they could call the other's cell phone
but that is less natural
that is far less organic


as we rolled past dupont I saw a cluster of bikes in the middle of the park
I motioned to kevin to duck through the circle rather than around
I was curious
I do not normally catch the dc solidarity ride gathers
the weather was perfect
unseasonably warm
global warming warm?

as I removed my lens cap on the move I got ready with the camera that was already dangling from my neck
blindly I snap shots as I try to make two loops around the circle with some snaps of the shutter

there is no passage

I am forced to get off my bike and weave through the masses
behind me I see people walking home from work trying to pick their way through the chaos

unsure what to do I started to look around
tried to key in on someone in control
all the while focused on getting back on the road and heading home
the anarchy has no leader
so I act on impulse
CLEAR A PATH
i motion with my hands
CLEAR A PATH
people do nothing
people look at the large man in skin tight racing kit and mamoth lime green cyclocross rig
it is clear that I am not in their tribe
my uniform does not spell order
i continue to motion and yell
CLEAR A PATH
LET THE PEOPLE WALK THROUGH
there may have been something about the group representing not just themselves but all cyclist
nothing about common sense or common courtesy was said
it was a short exchange
I left without waiting to see if order entered the situation of anarchy

in the effort for harmony we need to carry our share

sure I rode side by side for the ride up through adams morgan with Kevin
but we were only taking the right lane
we were moving faster than traffic
we did not slow anyone down
we did not hold anyone up

I would like to think that common sense and common courtesy are part of my second nature
even if I slip from time to time and do something really stupid or the other times when I act like an asshole or a jerk
at least I try
it is hard to fight our nature
selfishness may well be our nature

there was some slop
some car culture slop which we were able to bypass through the narrow passage that only a bicycle could squeeze through

DC Critical Mass

(a link with a post that brings the evening full circle... the lamont collective and the women who did the women's bicycle garden tour to canada have the top post... the people in the photo I am about to post mentioned some involvement in that documentary)
((and fat jesse lives in the lamont street collective))

here is a ten year old post with mention of how Rebecca Reilly started these DC Solidarity Rides
very cool
it has been years since I have been to one
it is not really my thing

bega of course is the man behind the curtain for both hub racing and the rfk crit

I wonder what the history of the dcbca
which carries the tangents of the day
ran into AZ just after I finished my ride
my ride had dropped to pedalling around a few blocks before I had to chase down az on the two way had the camera
did not take any pictures
my cross bike reminded AZ of his being let down by the presentation of the Messenger Worlds in Dublin
how the course was more a cyclocross event than a courier race
how the disorganization went well beyond the failure to get a permit
the scheduling of the events was not set in advance
all sorts of heart breaking tales from what should be a great race and a great party
somehow they did not get the race together

the messenger worlds need a little more organization than an alleycat-az promoter of destination dublin and other dc style messenger races

it was quite a web of confusion

after running into various other people and never catching kim
I caught up with kevin who also went to dublin
but kevin was more let down by running out of money and having to come home after four weeks instead of sick as the race was not his main focus over there