Forest Call #3: Bike Pilgrimage From Boston To Boulder

Forest Call's #1 and #2 were wonderful. And we had #3 this past Saturday. If there is any indication of what's to come, I encourage any of you within the CF ecosystem to join. We had folks on the call from SF to Boston, DC to Toronto to NYC ...

Nipun spoke about inter-connectedness, as he shared a story of an individual who came to a recent Wednesday who said he was in Copanhagen, Denmark riding a bike and met a random stranger on the side of the street. Of all the things they ended up having in common, attending a "Wednesday" happened to be one of them. Then Nipun stepped it up and tagged this individual with what exactly what he has wanted for some time.

Manisha shared a very poignant story about an experience on the train: "A 5 or 6 year old boy with big blue eyes and a hard blue construction hat was crying because he accidentally stepped on his toy that morning. His Dad was wiping his tears away, telling him it's okay because it was an accident, and eventually the little guy told his dad why he was really sad: he wanted to recycle the broken toy! He started to tell his dad about how the whole city would be covered with garbage if we just threw everything away and explained the merits of recycling, with a few tears still running down his little cheeks. His Dad apologized to him and the boy felt better -- he even asked his Dad if he could buy him a new, bigger toy (kids are awfully smart!). Everybody in hearing distance was smiling at this child's great thoughtfulness and the beautiful father-son dynamic."

Bela shared her thoughts on creative service, of a recent NY Times story of a Kenyan woman who was able to change her life and circumstance through the power of micro-lending.

Our super star 14 year old Sohinee, enlightened us on her definition of service which involved understanding that by helping others we are helping ourselves and by helping ourselves we help others - what struck me most was the fact that she tried to push out previous definitions she has heard from others (including persons older or more experienced) - her definition reminded me of a well known quote by Flora Edwards: "In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us."

Arathi told us about a recent "Wednesdays on Sundays" in Boston where someone brought their mother. That particular Sunday held significance as it was 9/11 which gave reason for a different type of reflection. After meditating, this mother was inspired to think of ground zero and destruction in a different way that turns a sad thought to a positive learning moment. She said: everday should be a ground zero within ourselves, we need to work to destroy our egos - actively pursuing the destruction and removal of impurities and negativities within us on a daily basis and starting from the ground up every day."

Folks - this was just the 1st fifteen minutes!!!

So the main portion of our call was dedicated to Aarthi who was our featured "speaker" this week as she was going to share stories from her journey this past summer doing a bike ride halfway across America from Boston to Boulder, Colorado with the conscious purpose of doing daily random acts of kindness along the way. She only shared a few stories but each was incredibly powerful and moving. The stories and personal insights covered a variety of themes from redefining you sense of community, the importance of who you walk "the path" with, her inspiration for such a journey, differences in perspective when you focus on the process/journey rather than outcome/result, etc. For example, part of her inspiration to do the trip in addition to Nipun and Guri's Pilgrimage Across India was a quote shared by one of her gradate school professors earlier in the school year by a famous Jewish religous leader in the past: "Hillel the Elder" (a famous Jewish religious leader): “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”  She spoke of the "Paralyis of Analysis" - how analyzing something will often deter or prevent us from doing something. Or a lesson she learned from a Zen Monk she came across who told her: "Arathi - You are a human being, not a human doing."

Thanks to advances in modern technology, you can hear the full audio clip of her share/story.

Want more? Here is a video interview of Arathi and her journey friend from The Urban Farming Guys whose "Farmin' in the Hood" video was featured on KarmaTube recently, while passing through Kansas City. (They start sharing about 2 min. 15 seconds into it, and show the bike and ride off into the sunset starting around 6:45) 

Still hungry? Here are a collection of blog posts from this past summer entitled "Pedaling Kindness: Boston to Boulder."