Cycling along the mansions and mangroves....Not a bad ride.
A Road Less Traveled
It’s pretty difficult to “experience poverty” while cycling from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton to Miami on Florida State Road A1A. Let’s face it: Ferraris on this stretch were about as common as the combines we saw in Kansas. Pretty amazing considering we rolled through Kansas during wheat harvest.
Here’s what I can say: When you’re on a bike, you’ve got time to think.
I’m certainly not complaining about our ride over those three days. Florida State Road A1A was a beautiful stretch of road we were able to cycle. Gated mansions with well-manicured lawns and spectacular ocean views. It’s an area so few are able to experience. I say that not as a criticism of the residents; God bless them for their success. I’m just stating a fact that very few will ever acheive that kind of wealth in their lifetime. And that’s OK.
But here is what’s not OK: 40 million Americans living in poverty. One out of every four children born in the U.S.A. is born into poverty….That’s correct: 25% of all kids right here in America.
Our goal should be to build community wealth. Yes, it would be great to live in a nation where anyone can be successful and have the opportunity to earn the kind of living to have that oceanfront property. But I also want to live in a nation that does not forget its less fortunate. So can we do both? The answer is “OF COURSE WE CAN!” But first, we need to change some of our tactics if we want to move forward together.
Class warfare is a shameful exercise. And yet candidates, elected officials, and so-called social commentators on both sides inject it into our public discourse that further divides us as a nation. Singer/songwriter Amos Lee offers these simple lyrics: “Don’t wanna blame the rich for what they’ve got….Don’t point a finger at the poor for what they have not….“
We do not help the poor by tearing down or cursing the wealthy and successful. That solves nothing. Neither does the forced redistribution of wealth. Additionally, our nation’s economy does not grow when we saddle the entrepreneurial spirit with unnecessary and/or burdensome taxation and regulation. President Lincoln once opined, “You cannot help the employee if you’re hurting the employer.” Makes sense to me.
It must be said that we do not grow as a nation — we are not ”wealthy” – when we forget the vulnerable. To leave the poor to “fend for themselves” is a poverty in and of itself.
With mid-term elections on the horizon and so much at stake, keep a watchful eye and an open ear to what is being said and done. Don’t accept ”soak-the-rich” rhetoric as a meaningful solution. But also demand accountability. What are we going to do to help our unemployed and uninsured? Can we have free-market solutions to helping the poor? Certainly. Do we need goverment facilitation? Probably. Are faith-based organizations necessary to help those on the margins of our economy? Without a doubt.
You see what happens when you’ve got a little bit of time on your bike?
– JC
Up Next: Melted Hearts in Miami
