There's just no easy way to say this. My bicycle got stolen today. I'm heartbroken. Only because my father gave me that bicycle and he rode it to work for 30 years. In 2008 when he retired and gave me the bike I rebuilt it with custom made parts and rode the bike from Ohio to the Panama Canal.
Today I went out on a ride around town. I met a guy during the ride who was very friendly and we rode together for about 30 minutes. He told me he needed to stop by his house so we rode there and met his friend. We all chatted for about 10 minutes. His friend asked if he could sit on my bike to see how it felt. We were all cyclists with the gear and shoes and we were all laughing and i wanted to be polite. He sat on my bike and promptly rode off with it. Just like that. GONE. I stood there stunned. In shock really. A local guy came over who saw what was happening and called the police. The police showed up and when they found out that I had ridden that bike here from Ohio and that it was my dads and I was riding to help bring people clean water in Fiji he promised me he would shoot the perpetrator with his gun.
I told him I don't believe in violence and that God keeps track of these things in this world and that He distributes justice when He sees fit. Sometimes He distributes justice in this life and sometimes He distributes justice in the afterlife and that it's not my job to worry about such things because im not God. Besides we usually pray for God to distribute justice to others when we are the victim and pray for Him to give us mercy when we are the offender which seems a little shallow, immature, and self serving. I told Him that God keeps a good score of these things and it's just my job to try and be the best person I can. He looked at me completely cross eyed but I meant every word of it.
Another guy apologized and said it made him and his country look bad. I told him it didn't at all. I told him that good and bad people exist everywhere because we are all human beings. The nation-states we create are man made and just tend to perpetuate stereotypes. I told him that i thought the people in Medellin were wonderful and one guy who steals a bicycle doesn't change that. He to looked at me cross-eyed but I meant every word of that too.
So I spent the morning dealing with the police and philosophizing with the locals and now I'm just bummed. The only material thing is this world I value is gone...
I will try to discern what the next best step is.
Ride4water via Iphone4
