Day Fifteen

Still in LA for another week. 

A quick search of the web confirms that by no means am I the first to connect bicycling and peace. My task until Monday 6-15 when I dip my rear tire into the Pacific and head for the Atlantic is to plot a route, identify cities and groups that might be interested in this process. 

I am linking a post in Bicycling below because Viet Nam has been an issue for me for since the late 50’s when my teacher had our fifth grade class debate it for a current affairs lesson. But also because the final quote of the article expresses my sentiments perfectly. 

War is an outmoded form of human interaction. The question is will we survive this industrial form of destruction. Seventy years ago the US and the industrial north demonstrated just how destructive war can be with the detonation of a nuclear bomb. 

I do not reject our modern civilization, indeed I am striving to preserve its wonderful accomplishments while at the same time create the awareness that the social conditions that control its development have escaped the democratic process. We are seeing environmental degradation leading to conflict play out across the earth. It is my belief that this is also a result of the degradation of the democratic process in the highly industrialized countries. “The Next System Project” is an attempt to address these concerns. In Marin the Wolff Pack is a discussion group that is also exploring options. 

Politically Syriza in Greece and PODEMOS in Spain are examples of a democratic re-awakening. Bernie Sanders is trying to create such a movement here in the US. 

Here is the posting from Bicycling, another’s ride through Viet Nam in 2013 by MARK JENKINS

It Means Peace

“The bicycle, a Vietnamese war veteran explains to the American cyclists pedaling the Ho Chi Minh Trail, “was our secret weapon,” thanks to its simplicity, durability, and versatility—qualities that just might bring the cyclists some ­measure of harmony.”

…

Ong ­replies politely: “I have devoted my life to serving my people. And as for the U.S., our countries are friends now, as we could have been from the beginning. I want only peace.”

The full article here:

<http://www.bicycling.com/culture/travel/it-means-peace>