Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Allie's 8th Day

I've been wondering what has been happening with Allie from Oceanside, who had recently embarked on an journey to pull a rickshaw from Oceanside CA. to Las Vegas Nevada. I'd followed the updates on his website but after day 7 there had been no entries for a couple of days.
It seems that after just 8 days Allie has had to end his journey. He has met with some of the hostility that pedestrians and cyclists are often confronted with when they try to use the roadways of the worlds.
You can read about Allies experience in the Palm Springs area by clicking Here.

I was sad to read of his experience but not surprised. I was not surprised to read of the hostility towards him or of the attitude of the police. Those guys probably had no idea what Allie was doing out there maybe they just saw an easy target and had what they consider to be fun? Maybe the police acted out of concern for Allie or maybe they didn't want the drama of protecting him from rednecks. Maybe sometimes it seems the only people we meet on the road are philistines and vandals. It must be near impossible for an enlightened soul to survive in this sort of company. How long can a man survive in that kind of environment? Who knows? I don't know. It seems to me that when people cease to care for one another it doesn't take long before personal suffering becomes unbearable.

Thanks Allie for being man enough to bear yourself to the world and to give it a go. You are an inspiration. We don't need martyrs just some people who can set a good example and you have done that in an exceptional way. I will look forward to reading your reflections on this journey, if you ever feel like writing about it.

Interesting post on Jetsettersblog about a rickshaw pullers bank project in India
Click Here.

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