What’s my ‘wave’? A double-decker bicycle rack

Double-decker bike racks at Southern Oregon University

Each month, my church uses “Soul Matters” study guides that promote small-group reflection. Each study guide poses questions for reflection, centered around one theme. For the theme of “Prophecy,” one of the questions asked, “What’s your wave?”

The study guide cites Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker stating, “It is a mistake to see [the prophet] as an isolated, heroic individual. It is better to see him/her as the crest of a wave.”

In answer, my “wave” is a double-decker bicycle rack, filled to capacity, in an empty auto-parking lot. The future I work toward, through advocacy and own-life choices, is one in which people only drive when it is absolutely necessary, when no other alternatives are available, or when driving forms an essential component of that person’s occupation.

In every other instance, people would take buses or trains, or engage in “active” or “people-powered” transportation: walking, rolling, pushing, cycling, etc.

To offer response to another question posed by the study guide: Getting people out of their cars is the issue I risk “being driven into the desert” for — by pointing out drivers’ culpability in issues like “Standing Rock” or global-warming rates.

Activists like those at Standing Rock must put their safety on the line because our oil use demands it. With our purchases at the pump, we make projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline viable — if not at Standing Rock, then somewhere else because our addiction to oil demands it. And we create nearly 1 pound of CO2 emissions for every mile we drive.