August, 2002
Unthinkable

As I'm out riding I take great interest in talking with other bikers while at a restaurant or gas station. I’ll ask questions like, "What do you think of the EPA’s proposal to tighten up emissions standards to the point of eliminating carbureted bikes by 2006?" I get a blank stare. Or, "Did you know that your employer doesn’t have to cover your medical costs if you get hurt on your bike even though you have insurance?" Once again, they look at me like I’m talking a foreign language. Maybe I’ll ask, "What do you think about the new ‘End of Life’ legislation that already exists in two European countries and might be adopted by the EU?" I then have to explain that ‘End of Life’ legislation would prevent any car or bike older than 15 years from getting a license for normal use on the street. You could only get a parade permit. Eventually I may get a response and typically it’s something like, "That’ll never happen here. That’s unthinkable."

The problem is that in today's society there are no more unthinkable ideas. School shootings used to be unthinkable. Promiscuous sex before marriage on TV sitcoms used to be unthinkable. Now it's common. Sex in the Oval Office used to be unthinkable. Committing perjury before a Federal Grand Jury about sex in the Oval Office used to be unthinkable. Recently in India a woman married a statue. It used to be unthinkable. Hiding billions of dollars of corporate losses from auditors and the public used to be unthinkable. Declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional used to be unthinkable. Leaving your kids in a car in the middle of summer to go in and get your hair done and not knowing that this was dangerous used to be unthinkable. Ending a baseball game in a tie used to be unthinkable. Two gay men expecting quadruplets through invitro fertilization and a surrogate mother used to be unthinkable. Kicking a kid out of school because he formed his hand into the shape of a gun and said "Bang" used to be unthinkable. A bunch of cave dwellers destroying our best known symbols of commerce and shattering our sense of security used to be unthinkable. Giving some idiot $3,000,000 in a lawsuit because the coffee was hot and she spilled it on herself used to be unthinkable. Having Forest Service employees start fires so they have something to do and burning down half of the west used to be unthinkable. Having a baby while at the Prom, throwing it in a trash bin and then going back in to finish the dance used to be unthinkable. Changing the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" to "The Bell Ringer of Notre Dame" so as to not insult hunchbacks used to be unthinkable. Yet every single one of these things have happened.

So, why is it unthinkable that motorcycles will be outlawed? Why is it unthinkable that End of Life legislation will be passed? When you talk to people maybe the best message we can get across is that there really are threats out there. Most people don’t think they are threatened. Remember the analogy about the frog and the water. Throw a frog in a pot of hot water and he’ll jump right out. Put him in cool water and raise the heat slowly and it will be frog leg stew before he knows it.

I get real tired of people telling me that either they aren’t threatened or they can’t do anything about it. I'll just sit over here on the Service Road of Life and watch all of these unthinkable things happen. But when it comes to motorcycling, I'll pick my fights.

One other thing, as the summer riding season wears on, just be sure to keep your head about you. Expect the unexpected. Last week in Illinois I was rudely reminded of the dangers by an old Bronco II that decided to enter my lane from a driveway on my right as I rode along a two-lane highway. Thinking I could just go around him in the oncoming lane, imagine my surprise when he kept sliding left to get to another driveway across the road. I was on the left shoulder before I cleared him and he stuck his fist out the window cursing at the idiot biker using ‘his’ road. So, be safe out there and be a good ambassador. We are what the public perceives us to be.

Until later, just ride….