Tuesday, July 17, 2001
Not the Fourth Day. I took a long break.
So, there is the 500+ mile bike ride from St. Paul through the wilderness of Wisconsin to the friendly confines of Northside Chicago. Happy. This is the 4th year that I have participated in one form or another. And I must say that I am dog tired. It kicked my arse. Our closing ceremony was Saturday...we worked through yesterday afternoon. Dinner was at Grace, a swanky place downtown. Very yummy. The desserts blew my mind.
Anyway, the thing that was most remarkable about this year's event was how everyone managed to take care of each other. One of my co-workers told a story of when he was a boyscout. He had to tred water for 10 minutes to participate in a canoe trip. About half way through he bagan to struggle. The scout leader encouraged him to keep tredding. The struggle became too much for David. So, his leader simply gave him his finger to hold onto. He completed the test.
At first I thought that the Scout leader was a sadistic bastard, then David described it this way: The leader gave him all he needed to succede. He did not take over. He did not take ownership from David. He helped him.
When was the last time someone helped you like that?
The AIDSRide was like that for me this year. Just when you think you are going to go under, someone would give you just what you needed to cary on. Incredible. Just incredible.
So, does this have a Christian correlation? Does it need to? I think that I tend to seperate the sacred from the secular. I would like to live a life where there is no seperation. Where all things are sacred...without flasely spiritualizing things that have no need of that burden.
The Ride, however, is begging for that burden. It wants the responsibility. But does it deserve it? Are the leaders of the organization prepared to leave their egos behind and allow the spirit to move? I like the idea of a company that has a conscience. A great thing. But I worry, perhaps unnecessarily, that the company will begin to claim the good spirit and emotion as it's accomplishment. It may till the soil, but the spirit of the people who attend and the work of the Spirit are what accomplishes this great thing.
Bless Pallotta Teamworks for providing places to begin to see this side of themselves. But God help Pallotta Teamworks to maintain some corporate humility.
