Those who Shrug

One thing that seems to be consistent wherever I go on the bike (and I have now been through ten countries) is the eternal attraction to almost everyone of a loaded up motorbike.
Sitting outside the hotel in Granada last night while having dinner, I was not wearing any recognizable motorbike gear and was therefore, just another tourist. My bike was parked nearby on the street. I watched people as they walked by and they pretty much all at least give the bike a good long look as they pass, and very often they stop and give the machine a walk around as well. It doesn't´t matter if they are tourists or locals, men or women, old or young - they almost all take a good long look.
What is it about the bike? Its dirty and scratched and heavy. Its not a particularly attractive machine as far as aesthetics go, and anyone with a little imagination can see that it is far from a comfortable way to travel around the place in anything but perfect weather conditions. Then of course there is the extreme limitation of stuff you can carry with you and the dangers of traveling so "naked".

So my guess is that the "attraction" is the dream of freedom that the bike symbolizes. It seems that almost everyone feels trapped and longs for the "freedom of the highway". A place where there is no one to burden you with responsibilities and you have no commitments to anything other than the whim of your own desires. People are envious of the riders ability to apparently just shrug off these burdens of life and they always offer up words of wonder and encouragement.

So then the question becomes, "If it is so attractive then why don´t more people do it?"
It seems to me that the answer is largely a question of fear... What will happen if they were to shrug? ....
But I can not judge people for their choices to shrug or not to shrug - There are far too many complexities in each of our lives for anyone else to see or judge. Believe me I know how trapped a person can feel and I know it took outside events to change and give me the opportunity to "take this ride".. But what I can say is that if my journey is in any way motivating for other people and if I can help others to find the will to face a little more of their fears and step out of their comfort zones just a bit, then I have done a good thing.

I too have plenty of my own fears and they play around in my mind constantly, But I´m getting better at recognizing them and I try to challenge them when I can. Some of them are still very big and I don´t have the courage for those battles yet, But others I can deal with and I become a better and stronger person every time I manage to make a choice that is in denial of fear. Little by little I am becoming more free :)

That freedom that we all want isn´t on the highway... its in the mind... and it is freedom from fear... and it can be done!