I got up early today all pumped for a morning ride. Chilly mornings and bike rides go well together given that the appropriate layers are put on. Not in numbers but texture-wise. So I did. Double gloves included, having learned my lesson from a previous ride. There were quite a few commuting cars on the road but I didn’t mind them. Their zooming past is part of that morning music that I listen to as soon as I hop on my bike.
I biked along sleepy-looking houses and through crowded intersections until I got to roll on the road that slithers along the ocean shore, a most favourite part of my ride. The ocean was a rather metallic blue, streaked with ribbons of white water. Beautiful, but it made me think of cold as in COLD. My fingertips agreed. It felt like I had pain thimbles growing on my thumbs. It hurts quite a bit, I must admit, but usually the thrill of the ride takes the some of that edge of. What luck! And then I saw him. Just getting out of his sleeping bag, a homeless guy who spent yet another night behind one of the concession stands was rubbing his hands. I tried to imagine what his nights were like. I was heading home to a hot shower, warm breakfast and hot tea. Cold morning or not, I had nothing to complain about but be grateful that I have a bike to ride on fast enough that my fingertips get awfully cold – my choice after all!, time to go for that ride, enough layers to put on. That I have eyes to see places and people and a mind to understand that gratitude is a word that should be a permanent fixture in the heart and not just make a temporary appearance on the lips.
Most of all, that I have the luxury to think of cold weather as a fun challenge to add to my training routine as opposed to a real, often times life-threatening adversity that winter is for many unfortunate people out there. And for those of you saying, well, everybody has a choice, homeless people included, I’d say let’s decide that we judge after trying to help. And only then. If we still feel like it, that is… Ain’t gratitude something?
Share your thoughts?