By Scott Cotter
I’ve got a problem. Or so some people would suggest.
It all has to do with my bicycle obsession. I have them stacked like cordwood in my garage and ride a number of them every week all year long. Twenty degrees and snowing, 90 degrees with drenching humidity, and everything in between.
It’s a way to exercise, a way to have fun and even a way to get from point A to point B. In fact, this week is bike to work week in Kansas City and my intention is to ride to the CI headquarters at least three times.
As serious as I am about my bikes and bike riding, they are not a necessity for me the way they are for so many families we help. Just visit any community where we work and you’ll see them swarming the bumpy, dusty roads, moving people, goods and dreams ahead one pedal stroke at a time.
Absent of two wheels, many of those families can’t get to work anymore and lose precious income to bus fares. Or, like the hardy men I met in rural India who grease the skids of commerce with their bicycle rickshaws, they would go without work and couldn’t support their families at all.
One of those men, Prasanta Naru, told me riding a bike amidst the blaring traffic and scorching sun was far better than farming. It gave him control over his own work day and his own destiny, a fact that filled him with great pride. Though once I swung a leg over his tricycle and tried to pedal a payload that consisted of him and three friends, I wasn’t really sure how he could keep going every single day. It was tough...
In the end, for me the bicycle represents one of the most utilitarian of tools, and this week especially, I honor its contribution for what it gives to so many poor families: an income, a job, a way to move from one place to another and get things done.
Sure, the bicycle is a form of transportation and work. But, it’s also a form of freedom...no matter where you live.
Another way bicycles contribute to sponsored families:
Pedal Power (Read the article)
I’ve got a problem. Or so some people would suggest.
It all has to do with my bicycle obsession. I have them stacked like cordwood in my garage and ride a number of them every week all year long. Twenty degrees and snowing, 90 degrees with drenching humidity, and everything in between.
It’s a way to exercise, a way to have fun and even a way to get from point A to point B. In fact, this week is bike to work week in Kansas City and my intention is to ride to the CI headquarters at least three times.
As serious as I am about my bikes and bike riding, they are not a necessity for me the way they are for so many families we help. Just visit any community where we work and you’ll see them swarming the bumpy, dusty roads, moving people, goods and dreams ahead one pedal stroke at a time.
Absent of two wheels, many of those families can’t get to work anymore and lose precious income to bus fares. Or, like the hardy men I met in rural India who grease the skids of commerce with their bicycle rickshaws, they would go without work and couldn’t support their families at all.
One of those men, Prasanta Naru, told me riding a bike amidst the blaring traffic and scorching sun was far better than farming. It gave him control over his own work day and his own destiny, a fact that filled him with great pride. Though once I swung a leg over his tricycle and tried to pedal a payload that consisted of him and three friends, I wasn’t really sure how he could keep going every single day. It was tough...
In the end, for me the bicycle represents one of the most utilitarian of tools, and this week especially, I honor its contribution for what it gives to so many poor families: an income, a job, a way to move from one place to another and get things done.
Sure, the bicycle is a form of transportation and work. But, it’s also a form of freedom...no matter where you live.
Another way bicycles contribute to sponsored families:
Pedal Power (Read the article)
Powered by Compendium Blogware
Comments for The Power of the Pedal