And.
There’s always an And.
There’s always another positive step forward we can take.
And so, I ride my bike as zero-emissions transportation every day. And I plant in synthetic-free soils. And I buy second-hand clothes and use a refillable water bottle instead of new petroleum-based products. And I donate time daily to the increasing bike class requests (see here) as the weather warms — and gas prices rise. And I rollerskate as my moving meditation, as a reminder to put one foot in front of the other, if nothing else feels possible.
And I limit my time around toxic people, and those who live in the gutter of failed imagination when outside-the-box thinking (or at least currently-known best practices) is needed now more than ever.
And I work in my professional capacity to encourage physical and mental resiliency in a state 3,300 miles away that’s 50% ahead of the rest of my country in climate change, and at direct risk of attack from Russia.
And I make my little upcycled bike waste earrings and share them with people, thinking maybe they’ll inspire someone else to create something new from something old.
And I try to help (or at least stay in touch with) my family — my husband, my daughters, the elders. And I eat my vegetarian meals (15 years this month; easiest change I ever made). And I share old posts from five and ten and fifteen years ago filled with useful info when it seemed like we were ready to make positive changes as a society but didn’t.
And I start and end each day on bended knee, saying my simple manifesto, written shortly after 9/11 and hanging ever since on my wall right where I leave the house each day:
And I somehow, some way, continue to trust the journey — with full recognition that ultimately, we’re all just walking each other home.
And . . .
A new day dawns, and it starts again.
(What is your next And? What positive step will you continue to take, or begin, today?)
I loved that song when I was a little girl (during the Vietnam War, oil embargo, first Earth Day, and Women’s Lib and Civil Rights movements). Maybe it will help now (see related post: Cold War).
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 