Social Pressure

       I started riding bikes years ago because I wanted to work a little recreation into a very busy sedentary schedule.  The benefits and interests have evolved exponentially, but a  bit of existential independence is necessary to learn to enjoy it.  When I was discussing this with a young high school class I asked them to provide reasons for choosing a bicycle over a car, they listed 8 or 9 good reasons involving the environment, money and exercise. After that I asked why they would choose a car, they had no answer.  When I suggested social acceptance, they stared at me blankly.  I didn't bother to explain that the auto industry and advertising industry has, for over 70 years been convincing us that the automobile is our social denominator.  Most people, including cyclists, place so much social value in their cars that they dread being without them.  Really, do people think anybody is looking at them as they drive to Walgreen's?  No, they are just another moving obstacle in somebody's way.

      The real problem with cars in the city is that drivers never really understand where they live.  Oh they can find their house alright, most of the time, if they haven't been drinking, I assume.  But it's like living in a dot to dot drawing.  They get to their destination without any realization of the community they have passed.  Encased in their portable environment they travel from home, to work, to club meeting, to dinner to home dot-to-dot-to-dot-to dot-to dot-to dot without more contact to the outside world than their radio station might provide, if they're listening.  Rarely seeing anything beyond the taillights of another car, they never see or smell a rose garden they pass, or enjoy the freshness after a passing storm.