Victor Perichon strikes again

Hi blog. I know it's been a while but I wanted to pick up on a similar vein as where I left off: biking. This past november, a friend of mine and his girlfriend decided to bike from Boulder Colorado to St. Louis. They set out without any prearranged accomodations and basically relied on the goodness in people's hearts for beds at night. Through this adventure, Victor and Leah were able to stare various communities right in the eye and see how they responded to needy strangers. To me, this is the best way to obtain an indication of a society's health.

There's a lot of talk about indicators: social indicators, economic indicators, national indicators. But I think the best way to tell how good a society is doing is not by how many hospitals they have or how well their roads are maintained, but by how the people treat eachother and others. After all, if someone's able to reach out and share with another person, more than likely that means they believe this action would reciprocated,nwhich implies a level of trust essential to the sustaining of social capital. However, sharing with complete strangers, especially broke ass strangers that are passing through town and likely will never be encountered again, reveals a trust and sense of universal communion so ingrained that it must be dissected at another level altogether. For in this instance, the opportunity for reciprocation does not exist and thus the only satisfaction imparted on the giver is the knowledge that the gift is not taken for granted. This requires a universal trust in human kind.

I think the best way to gauge a society's social capital is to go out and meet the people and see how they treat you. But then, what do I know?

Here's a link to an article about Victor and Leah's crazy adventure:
http://dailystarjournal.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=2329&SectionID=14&SubSectionID=29&S=1

Visit to Recyclistas/ Bicycles reign supreme

Hello y'all.  Welcome to the most exciting blog ever.   Over the course of the next ten weeks (with the possibility of an extension or premature termination depending on various circumstances) I will be regaling whoever so chooses to subject themselves with any and all musings which may pass through my head pertaining to how we can all live our lives happily without infringing on others' (including the soon to exist and their offspring) ability be happy.  Special attention will be paid to methods by which people can work together to enhance each other's happiness and learn how not to step on each other's toes, in other words community building.

I would like to open with a story regarding one of my favorite ways of being happy while incurring a very limited amount of others' happiness reduction (ohr), biking!  Biking is by far my preferred mode of transportation.  Unfortunately, due to the vast distance separating my house from my school, I am forced to couple biking with riding the bus, which isn't such a big deal.  When I lived in Montreal I was able to bike to school every day of the year and I'm happy to say I wasn't the only one (although sometimes I secretly selfishly wish I was the only one hardcore enough to brave the elements).  Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) it's very entertaining when people think there are conditions out here which are unsuitable for biking.

One of the best parts about biking is the potential to forge connections with one's surroundings and it's inhabitants.  Just the fact of being completely exposed to everything in one's vicinity allows for greater appreciation of all the constituent objects in this area as well as opportunities to say hello to friendly strangers.  Events like critical mass and the world naked bike ride also bring many diverse individuals together to celebrate low ohr inducing transportation.

For example today I went to Recyclistas, a bike shop which allows you to work on your bike with some well trained direction for a minimal fee.  I'd been to a couple similar operations in Montreal and one in Vancouver but I'd never been to Recyclistas.  It was very similar except that I'd never been to one where I was the only repairee (apparently winter thursdays are slow).  There was the usual couple of bike mechanics working on their eccentric projects and offering help and suggestions whenever they get the chance.  Near the end of my visit a young boy was dropped off by his mother with a bike he'd found. I got the sense that he frequently gets dropped off there as a surrogate for a baby sitter.  

I think community bike shops like this one are an amazing way to bring people together and  help create an alternative to the over consuming, time obsessed status quo.  Learning valuable mechanical skills while meeting like minded individuals are great community building activities.  These shops also often devote one day a week to only admitting female or transgendered individuals in an effort to allow any such people who may be intimidated by domineering male presences and thus expand the spectrum of people who may participate the community building.

Cool gotta go.  See ya next time.