So Long, Jim
A hummingbird buzzes past my head; the whir of its wings alerting me to its presence while a yellow and black butterfly flitters among the hanging flower baskets that surround me.
I've been enjoying my time spent riding lately as much as I have in several years. Last week's rides were a good mix of mountain biking, gravel, and road riding. Sometimes I marvel at the ability of something so simple as a bicycle to give me as much joy as it does. I was riding with a group of friends last summer when one of them commented that I could probably be 1 to 1.5 mph faster if I bought a new road bike (my bike is a 16-year-old custom-fit Serotta). Pete's a fast rider and he's likely right but I wonder if he's maybe missing the point a little. Sure, speed is fun but it's not the only metric. My trusty blue Serotta Ti still gets the job done!
Le Tour de France finished yesterday on the Champs-Élysées in Paris with the outcome having been determined more than a week earlier in the Alps when Jonas Vingegaard gained nearly 3 minutes on race leader and favorite Tadej Pogačar on the day's final climb up Col du Granon to don the yellow jersey, never coming close to relinquishing it. At least 17 riders had to withdraw due to positive Covid tests during the 3-week race.
Several former co-workers have passed away in the last few years with many of them not yet reaching the age of 60. Sadly, I can't say that I was surprised by many of their deaths as alcohol played a major role. News 10 days ago of Jim Niemann's passing was much different. To say I was stunned is an understatement. Jim, Leslee, and their daughter Lucy were enjoying life to its fullest when Jim suffered a cardiac incident while the 3 of them were out on their boat. I didn't know Jim as well as I would like to have but I knew him well enough to know that he was a standup guy with many varied loves/interests from family to photography to soccer to golf to playing his guitar and spending time at their lake home. My heart and my continual prayers go out to Leslee and Lucy for strength in managing their grief and moving on without Jim in their lives.
Last Thursday's January 6th House select committee investigating the assault on our nation's Capitol and on our democracy presented a damning portrayal of a defeated president inciting an armed mob to storm the Capitol in an attempt to upend the counting of electoral votes that would seal his defeat. How any president, no matter how broken a man, could sit back and watch the carnage unfold and encourage it with tweets is more than I can begin to understand. I'm still waiting for just one family member or friend to admit that they were wrong in ever supporting such a con man and such a criminal.
The biggest takeaway for me during the most recent January 6th hearing was how Trump waited until it was clear that his attempted coup would fail before he finally relented and recorded a video telling his rioters that he loved them and that it was time for them to go home. For more than 3 hours he made no attempt to try and quell the uprising that he started which resulted in the loss of several lives. I can't imagine he's spent any time at all thinking about those lives lost due to his sociopathic actions.
And yet many of you still support him.
Why?
That's all I've got.
Comments