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March 19, 2005
Six Questions: An invitation
One of the people I most appreciated traveling with was Karalee Woody, our leader and organizer for the bike ride. The ride (which, by the way, raised nearly $100,000 for Kids First!) is Karalee's baby. She is the mover and the shaker behind it and the person responsible for coordinating the fearsome logistics of moving fifteen Spandexed Americans through rural north Vietnam. She does this as a volunteer board member for Kids First; she is not paid. Remarkable.
One of the things Karalee presented us with during the ride was a daily question: six of them; one for each day of cycling. The questions were designed to get us to think about our own priorities and our relationship to, and responsibilty toward, Vietnam and the rest of the world.
For me, the questions reflected the heart and soul of the reasons I wanted to do this trip in the first place. They also provided a context and a way to think about the overwhelming emotions and sensory overload of cycling through the country. Karalee captured some people's thoughts and responses on camera at the end of the ride but we, the riders, never really sat down to talk about them as a group.
Now that we're back and people are getting over their jet lag (wasn't that a bitch?)and are hopefully on the mend from digestive and respiratory problems, I'm curious: does anyone have any thoughts or perspectives on Karalee's questions that they'd like to share on the blog?
I plan to do some additional writing about this as well but would like to put the invitation out there for any of you who cycled with me. Actually I'd be interested in hearing responses from anyone who cares to contribute. All you have to do is hit the "comment" button and write away!
For those who have forgotten, here are the questions:
What do I take for granted? Why?
What do I really need in life? Why do I want what I don't need?
What are my global obligations to other people?
What are the limits to what I will do for other people?
How is Vietnam changing my life?
What are my personal responsibilities to the suffering people in the countries my government has chosen to destroy, and how do those responsibilities take action?
Posted by ed at March 19, 2005 04:26 PM