my thoughts, too

Friend sent link to this wonderful video, Thoughts on My Bike by Andrea Dorfman, a film entry for the NY Bicycle Film Festival. Sometimes people are able to find words, images, that really strike a chord within me, that say exactly what I have often felt and thought – and this is definitely one of those.

Thoughts on My Bike by Andrea Dorfman (YouTube)

When I’m out in the city, riding my bike

My adrenalin rushes as I start to take flight.

The buildings lean over, the lights flash red and green,

The people jump out of nowhere, and the busses careen.

This is when answers fly into my head –

To the questions I ask while I’m lying in bed.

My mind glazes over, the world fades away,

The question that burns is: how did we get to today?

The world was once green, the sky gorgeous blue,

And now it’s surrounded in a grey-ish brown hue.

The ice caps are melting, the earth’s heating up;

We can’t go on like this.  We need to just … stop.

We’re killing our earth with out factories and our cars.

Some say if it dies, we’ll have to move to Mars.

Where we’ll live in a bubble, zooming around the Sun

Looking out from a giant car – made for everyone.

Back on earth, the newspapers, the radios, the internet –

Tell us that businesses are sick; they’re not quite dead yet.

If the government steps in and helps bail them out,

And we all shop again …“We’ll survive,” they shout.

Car companies got the worst of the crash,

Their sales are way down and they just don’t have the cash

To keep people hired.  So unless we buy cars,

The economy will collapse.  So it’s that – or move to Mars?

OK, I’m confused.  I thought we were trying to save the planet we love

From heading straight to the grave.

I may not be an economist, a politician or a logician

But there’s absolutely no sense in this solution.

So remember: I’m riding my bike when these thoughts come to me

And I happen to be choking on exhaust in a traffic jamboree,

When the answer comes to me, blindsiding my mind,

I’m almost knocked off my bike with the force of this find.

If car companies want to survive, they must keep up with the times

So they’re not left in the dust.  I propose that they find

Their own sense of self-worth by inventing a new car

That’s a friend to the earth.

But there’s something we can do too.

We can go outside

And experience the world not from a car,

But from a bike ride.

Let’s dust off our bikes,

Put our wheels to the ground;

Let’s take to the streets,

Let’s make our hearts pound.

When you’re riding your bike through the city you’ll see

The lipstick smiles and the birds high up in that tree.

You’ll smell the frankfurters frying and the hot coffee brewing

You’ll feel the mist on your face as the storm starts a’stewing.

Biking will make you feel alive.  It’ll make your heart sing.

It’ll make you want to do absolutely every single thing

You can do to make sure the earth you love is free

From the fate of horrible human catastrophe.

If feeling alive isn’t enough, I’ll tell you right now

You’ll also receive a gift that will unfurl you brow.

It’s the answer to your puzzle that keeps you up all night long.

The ending to your story.  The words to your song.