A recent thread on the forum relating to Hitesh’s death in a motorcycle accident has brought on as many reminders for safe riding as prayers for peace to his departed soul and strength to his family to bear the loss. Death has an over-whelming inevitability about it. It’s frightening, mysterious, awfully horrendous and ineffable. And it is always at the end of the road for us, the ‘self-destruct’ switching itself on with our first breath after birth.
Every motorcyclist is acutely aware of living in close proximity of this murky abyss while he rides. And this very awareness prods him into riding ‘safe’. But do we or rather should we ride safe just to avoid death or injury, both to us and to others due to us? Is that all being a ‘safe’ rider is all about? It goes way beyond that. Motorcycling is replicating life at the edge for most of us who choose to ride and but it is also so for others who ride perforce. The very act of straddling the bike and riding it, for whatever reasons and prodded by whatever motivations, gets us those few fathoms closer to the abysm. So close in fact that the only way we can ensure not dropping over the edge is by a conscious choice. Leave it to circumstance, destiny, astrological remedies, the bus driver behind you or the car driver turning in from left and sooner or later, you get swallowed by the black hole.
The point I am trying to bring forth is that we need to ride safe not because we want to avoid pain or death. We need to ride safe because that’s what our duty is towards life itself. Life is a gift bestowed upon us by whatever powers that be. Call it God, the Almighty or the Supreme Being, we have been granted life and the rules for its safe-keeping are drilled into us every breathing and living moment. To retain and sustain life we need to respect it. We need to be responsible towards it. Forget those duties towards this gift and eventually it’s taken back from you and in all probability given over to someone better deserving of it. Be callous and uncaring, whether in ignorance or arrogance, and the breath of life shall escape those lips in a scream, silent or shrill.
Wearing protective gear, riding at speeds that remain restricted within the limitations of your own skills and your environment and keeping the motorcycle properly maintained are respectful offerings placed by the rider on the altar of life. And this pious respect for life, once imbued and absorbed, percolates to every avenue of living. You eat right; learn to know before leaping; become aware of the ego and its mischief and get infused with a calmness of the mind that remains ageless. In being born to our loved ones and being brought up by them, we become the ‘custodians of our life’ for life. And as its custodian or protector, it is our prime duty not to let any harm befall it. The Rossi’s and the Schumacher’s or the Edmund Hillary’s of the world appear to have scant regard for their lives, indulge as they do in sport or activity at levels that apparently overlap the realm of death. But it is not so. The extreme performance we see comes after years and years of dedicated and humble learning. Year after year of putting life ahead of skill and thrill. That is the lesson, the inspiration and the example they set for us.
Clichéd and abused, the phrase ‘life is precious’ is yet so relevant and true. Pledge within not to show disrespect to the force that keeps that spirit within you. Ride safe not to set an example or to avoid pain or to cheat death. Ride safe because that’s what you’re supposed to do, no second thoughts and no questions asked. Ride safe to assure life of your respect and devotion towards the gift. Ride safe for those who brought you to life and taught you to live. Ride safe as you are the divinity-appointed custodian of your own living self.
Read this on Hard Torque.