This is whatever's left over. It's just the Spare Change :-)
Now onto the topic at hand:
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be part of a social movement, to literally be swept up in a sea of excitement and people? I always wondered. Up until this week the closest I've come to being a part of a movement is either in being a part of a movement in a remote way (i.e. a global movement that really has no physical ties) or watching a movement take place (i.e. watching athletes bear the Olympic Torch on their way through the crowded streets of Vietnam).
But this week, I was smack dab in the middle of it. In the middle of an entire mass of people. A parade if you will. But it wasn't your traditional parade:
1) Everyone was on bikes, or at the very least wheeled contraptions (there were a couple of roller skaters who apparently didn't get the memo)
2) The streets weren't blocked off for us, we blocked them ourselves.
For nearly an hour I joined 300+ bicyclists as we road around Boston @ 6:00pm on a Friday evening. We would stop at a light, and then as soon as it turned green we as a mass would move--taking up every lane.
What about the cars you ask?
O they were there. But the "long-time" critical mass-ers simply stood directly in front of them. Smiling at the clearly pissed drivers. The cars were given two options, sit or hit a bicyclist, who has a legal right to be on the road.
It was like the human version of Moses and the red sea. Just instead of God moving the waters to the side, it was cyclists, who kept the cars at bay while we walked safely through. (I don't really know if an army of Pharaoh-like soldiers were behind us...but it is a possibility).
In that moment, riding with 300 people I felt both so alive and so minuscule. I knew that if I left the pack, no one would notice. In a school of fish, one or two fish get left behind all the time--that's the nature of the school. However, being caught up in the middle of it is like you are part of a greater whole-a working part flexing society's muscle. Even the cops supported the ride, when we went by one he was simply sitting on the trunk of his car with his camera.
Critical mass happens the last Friday of every month in cities all over the world. While theoretically it's supposed to raise awareness about bicyclists, and encourage the use of bicycles as a means of transportation in especially urban environments, this goal is only minimally accomplished. People walking on the street would shout, "Why are you riding?" The only two responses I ever heard were "Because it's Friday!" and "Critical Mass." Which both resulted in the questioner moving from a face of inquiry to a face of perplexion. There was so much wasted potential in that moment-a time to tell the inquirers what we were doing, why were doing it. But that never crossed anyone else's mind, at least enough to do it. Instead the social movement dropped the adjective and was simply the movement of people. People were there not for a particular cause, but because it was Friday. We had the opportunity to not only be noticed, but to be heard too, and yet we blew it. What if 300 people took over the streets of Boston not just because they could, but for a larger transparent purpose? What if at the dinner table Dad doesn't ask, "Did you see that group of bikers today?" But instead he says, "Did you see that group of bikers supporting environmental awareness, campaigning against green house emissions?"
We as individuals have the capacity to change the world, especially in large groups. Single bikers pass through Boston all day every day, people don't often take notice. But have him bring his 300 friends, and they will. But those groups can only bring about social change if they decide before they are riding what they're ALL riding for.
