Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Bicycle for Lent

For Lent I've given up on driving a car. Ha ha ha. That's not especially a huge sacrifice since I don't normally drive anyway. Perhaps transportational cycling year-round is, in fact, the bigger, more meaningful sacrifice than the tokens that are usually offered up during this season.

Peter Dula went to teach theology at a Christian College in the Middle East. At a lecture about his time in Iraq, he spoke of Iraqi hatred of Americans, about expatriate kidnappings, the horrors of watching the neighbors children being kidnapped, of seeing churches exploding in the night. The ethics class he spoke to asked what the right response should be. Should they picket the White House? Should they write letters?

Dula's response: "Ride a bike."

Read more about Peter Dula and biking as Lenten practice. Via Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute. See related: Lent, bicycle, Iraq, Christian

4 comments:

Tim Jackson said...

THAT is a very strong message... wow!

Frostbike said...

Woody Guthrie had "This machine kills fascists" painted on his guitar. I've always thought it would be cool to paint that on a bike.

Anonymous said...

Not to copy Tim, but...WOW is right. Spring is coming for most of us - let's get on our bikes!

Unknown said...

I'm now cycle commuting, rain or shine! Of course I really don't have a choice right now, my van blew up!