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‘Bikes Not Bombs’ …How teen volunteers are fueling global change · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

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[Speaker 0] You're listening to the Hidden Likeness on America
0:12
[Speaker 0] Out Loud Talk Radio. I'm your host, Jimmy
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[Speaker 0] Hinton. Welcome to a new week. We have
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[Speaker 0] an inspiring story to kick us off this
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[Speaker 0] week. There's a very recent story about a
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[Speaker 0] group of teenagers in Boston who are refurbishing
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[Speaker 0] bicycles to help people in their community and
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[Speaker 0] overseas. Now, you might remember that I did
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[Speaker 0] a story on a similar organization that refurbishes
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[Speaker 0] bicycles, but this is not the same organization.
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[Speaker 0] This is a different one and I think
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[Speaker 0] it's really cool that people across America are
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[Speaker 0] doing this kind of thing. And it just
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[Speaker 0] shows that in a time that, seems really
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[Speaker 0] divisive and, like, people are are just failing,
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[Speaker 0] and our government's failing, and the government's shut
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[Speaker 0] down. You know, there's all kinds of things
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[Speaker 0] going on. Just so much negative news. It's
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[Speaker 0] inspiring to know that young people are stepping
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[Speaker 0] up. They're stepping up to the plate, and
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[Speaker 0] they're making a difference in the lives of
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[Speaker 0] other people. And I know, there's such a
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[Speaker 0] frustration on so many levels, and I know
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[Speaker 0] that people get frustrated with young people. I
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[Speaker 0] talk about this very often. You know, there's
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[Speaker 0] this idea that young people don't wanna work
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[Speaker 0] and they're entitled. And we see things like
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[Speaker 0] what happened in New York City, with the
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[Speaker 0] with the mayor race. And the vast majority
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[Speaker 0] of people who voted for Mamdani were young
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[Speaker 0] people. And I just you know, some of
1:44
[Speaker 0] these things make us just wanna pull our
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[Speaker 0] hair out. And it's like, what what are
1:50
[Speaker 0] you thinking? Socialism does not work. And maybe
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[Speaker 0] it's one of those things they're gonna have
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[Speaker 0] to find out the hard way, but there
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[Speaker 0] are so many examples of socialism that just
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[Speaker 0] that that not working. It's just there's no
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[Speaker 0] excuse for it. So, you know, those are
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[Speaker 0] the kinds of frustrating things that we face
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[Speaker 0] that, yeah, I get the the anti Trump
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[Speaker 0] sentiment, but, you know, when that's what people
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[Speaker 0] run on and then they start talking about
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[Speaker 0] giving free stuff to people and the government's
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[Speaker 0] gonna take care of you, you should always
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[Speaker 0] run from that. I mean, it it it
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[Speaker 0] never never never never never works, and it
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[Speaker 0] never will. I remember Rush Limbaugh calling the,
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[Speaker 0] the Affordable Care Act. He called that the
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[Speaker 0] biggest tax hike on the American people in
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[Speaker 0] the history of taxes. And, here we are.
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[Speaker 0] And, you know, people people are living it.
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[Speaker 0] They're feeling the pain from it. And yet,
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[Speaker 0] you know, Obama promised people all the free
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[Speaker 0] stuff. You know, you, you know, their distribution
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[Speaker 0] of wealth. We're gonna take from the rich
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[Speaker 0] and give it to the poor. Well, it
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[Speaker 0] doesn't work. It doesn't work that way. When
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[Speaker 0] you when you get government involved, it doesn't
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[Speaker 0] work. So all that to say, it's inspiring
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[Speaker 0] to see when there are young people doing
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[Speaker 0] things where they volunteer their time, and they're
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[Speaker 0] making a huge difference in the lives of
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[Speaker 0] other people. So, here's an article. This is
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[Speaker 0] on, Good Good Good. So, yeah, they they
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[Speaker 0] like good stories. Good. Good. Good. They have
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[Speaker 0] a story about the Boston based nonprofit called
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[Speaker 0] Bikes Not Bombs. And, they're using the bicycle
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[Speaker 0] as a vehicle for social change. So this
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[Speaker 0] started as a group of passionate cyclists in
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[Speaker 0] nineteen eighty four. So going back a little
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[Speaker 0] ways and, providing aid bicycles to people in
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[Speaker 0] the global south. And now it has a
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[Speaker 0] double sided mission, bolstering international aid while building
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[Speaker 0] economic resilience among marginalized youth in Boston. And
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[Speaker 0] so the idea is that they build bikes
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[Speaker 0] and they refurbish these bikes and, they give
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[Speaker 0] them away to marginalized youth. And they're trying
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[Speaker 0] to get them to to get transportation for
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[Speaker 0] work. They're trying to reduce emissions. And, you
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[Speaker 0] know, that's another lie too here in America
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[Speaker 0] is that everybody has to have a car.
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[Speaker 0] And you look at part of the problem
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[Speaker 0] that's going on right now, and and, by
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[Speaker 0] the way, I will talk about this later
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[Speaker 0] this week, but there is a massive layoff
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[Speaker 0] that's happening. I've been talking about this for
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[Speaker 0] a long time. I've been talking about how
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[Speaker 0] Mike Rowe has been sounding this alarm for
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[Speaker 0] a very long time that AI is gonna
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[Speaker 0] eliminate tens, if not hundreds of thousands of
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[Speaker 0] jobs. Well, the time is now here. It's
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[Speaker 0] happening. And people are being let off because
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[Speaker 0] they're being replaced with AI. And now, of
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[Speaker 0] course, that's not all the people who are
5:22
[Speaker 0] being laid off, but a large portion of
5:25
[Speaker 0] the people who are being laid off right
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[Speaker 0] now in America is because their jobs are
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[Speaker 0] replaceable. They're replaceable with AI, and it's putting
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[Speaker 0] people in a in a pretty tough position.
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[Speaker 0] At the same time, as micro instead, it's
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[Speaker 0] positioning people to be able to migrate to
5:47
[Speaker 0] where there are incredible job opportunities that can't
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[Speaker 0] be replaced by AI. They're AI proof. And
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[Speaker 0] that's your manual labor jobs. There are seven
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[Speaker 0] million over seven million, positions. We have able-bodied
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[Speaker 0] men in America who are not working and
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[Speaker 0] not doing these positions. Good good jobs. Electricians.
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[Speaker 0] I just saw another news brief on the
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[Speaker 0] desperate need for electricians. And these are, you
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[Speaker 0] know, the the more demand there is, the
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[Speaker 0] higher the pay is. Now you're talking really
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[Speaker 0] good pay, really good benefits, and, it's people
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[Speaker 0] are just not taking these jobs. So we
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[Speaker 0] need electricians in America because we have all
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[Speaker 0] these data centers that are they're going up,
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[Speaker 0] or at least they're proposed to go up.
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[Speaker 0] So they they have to have electricians. They
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[Speaker 0] can't find them. They cannot find electricians. So
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[Speaker 0] there are jobs out there, and that's the
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[Speaker 0] good news. But at any rate, you know,
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[Speaker 0] we'll talk about that later on this week.
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[Speaker 0] But it's this idea, this notion, this lie
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[Speaker 0] that we all have to have not only
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[Speaker 0] transportation, but reliable transportation. And we have to
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[Speaker 0] have the newest best car. We have to
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[Speaker 0] have a fifty, sixty, seventy thousand dollar car
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[Speaker 0] because I need, quote, reliable transportation. That's just
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[Speaker 0] not true. Yeah. There there are people in
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[Speaker 0] cities who never own vehicles, and I think
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[Speaker 0] it's brilliant. I think it's smart. Financially, what
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[Speaker 0] a smart thing to do. You know, unless
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[Speaker 0] you absolutely have to have one. You know,
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[Speaker 0] like, clearly people out in rural communities and
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[Speaker 0] farmers and you know there are millions of
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[Speaker 0] people who have to have cars my family
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[Speaker 0] we have to have cars I mean we're
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[Speaker 0] in the middle of nowhere but we don't
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[Speaker 0] have to have the newest and nicest and
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[Speaker 0] most expensive car so even the people who
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[Speaker 0] do have cars you can be really wise
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[Speaker 0] about it But this organization, Bikes Not Bombs,
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[Speaker 0] that that's part of their mission is to
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[Speaker 0] reduce the global footprint, from carbon emissions and
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[Speaker 0] to provide transportation for people to get to
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[Speaker 0] and from work. To be able to get
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[Speaker 0] people who are marginalized to get jobs, that's
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[Speaker 0] a big problem for marginalized communities. Transportation is
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[Speaker 0] one of the leading reasons why marginalized people
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[Speaker 0] have a hard time finding jobs they don't
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[Speaker 0] have transportation And if you can't afford a
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[Speaker 0] bike, you can't get to work. And you
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[Speaker 0] can find all kinds of videos. There are
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[Speaker 0] tons of videos where people are walking to
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[Speaker 0] their job. I'm I mean, walking miles and
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[Speaker 0] miles to their job. You know, they might
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[Speaker 0] walk five miles one way. You know, ten
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[Speaker 0] miles of of walking every single day. Why?
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[Speaker 0] Because they can't afford a bicycle. You know,
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[Speaker 0] things are things are very tight. And, you
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[Speaker 0] know, you could find a probably find a
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[Speaker 0] cheap run down bike, but, bikes are not
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[Speaker 0] cheap. They're not cheap anymore. So this organization
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[Speaker 0] gives them away. And I think it's absolutely
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[Speaker 0] fantastic. I think it's great that they're, they're
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[Speaker 0] not only recruiting youth, but they're recruiting marginalized
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[Speaker 0] youth. They're part of part of the people
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[Speaker 0] building these bikes, refurbishing the bikes. So the
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[Speaker 0] Bikes Not Bombs shop is full of teen
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[Speaker 0] mechanics in a ten week program, learning how
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[Speaker 0] to care for and operate a used bike,
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[Speaker 0] which they get to keep upon graduating. So,
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[Speaker 0] that's pretty cool too. You go through a
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[Speaker 0] ten week program, and I like this idea.
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[Speaker 0] I I really, really, really am attracted to
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[Speaker 0] this idea of having people have a little
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[Speaker 0] bit of skin in the game. You know,
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[Speaker 0] we're so used to just giving handouts to
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[Speaker 0] people. And you see what happens with that.
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[Speaker 0] President Obama was king of that. Just the
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[Speaker 0] constant handouts to people. And, the Obama phone.
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[Speaker 0] People literal like, people jokingly called them the
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[Speaker 0] Obama phone, and then it eventually just got
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[Speaker 0] that that name got adopted, and president Obama
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[Speaker 0] was even using it. Like, it was meant
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[Speaker 0] to be a a a dig, and it
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[Speaker 0] ended up becoming this, like, it was a
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[Speaker 0] thing. And people are getting angry, and they're
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[Speaker 0] like, I want my Obama phone. You know,
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[Speaker 0] those socialist policies where you just give and
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[Speaker 0] give and give and give, it deincentivizes people
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[Speaker 0] to work. It takes away every single incentive
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[Speaker 0] for people to work. And I know. I
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[Speaker 0] trust me. I know this. As a pastor,
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[Speaker 0] I see it all the time. And I'm
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[Speaker 0] all for helping people. That's why I'm doing
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[Speaker 0] the show. It's about an organization that helps
11:38
[Speaker 0] people. I'm a hundred percent for helping people.
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[Speaker 0] When people when people are in need, I
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[Speaker 0] think the best thing to do is not
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[Speaker 0] judge, and you help them out to the
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[Speaker 0] best of your ability. With that said, it
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[Speaker 0] doesn't help people if all you're doing is
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[Speaker 0] giving them a handout and you're not requiring
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[Speaker 0] anything of them. Because what that does is
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[Speaker 0] it creates dependency, and it creates the sense
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[Speaker 0] of entitlement where people demand. They they absolutely
12:15
[Speaker 0] demand that you give them. I literally had
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[Speaker 0] a guy call the church before, and he
12:18
[Speaker 0] said, you either give me food or I'm
12:21
[Speaker 0] gonna come in the church, and I'm gonna
12:23
[Speaker 0] shoot up the place. I'm not kidding you.
12:28
[Speaker 0] And, my next phone call was to our
12:31
[Speaker 0] local police to report him and to trespass
12:35
[Speaker 0] him. Now, we we got an order against
12:39
[Speaker 0] him that he was not able to step
12:40
[Speaker 0] foot on church property, and he was literally
12:43
[Speaker 0] a next door neighbor. He used to walk
12:46
[Speaker 0] in my office like he owned the place.
12:48
[Speaker 0] You know, and he ended up going to
12:50
[Speaker 0] prison. He was violent. That's why he went
12:55
[Speaker 0] to prison. And, you know, it was the
12:58
[Speaker 0] domestic violence situation. But, you know, it it's
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[Speaker 0] that sense of entitlement. Like, what do you
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[Speaker 0] mean you're you're not gonna help me? You
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[Speaker 0] know, and you explain it and you're like,
13:10
[Speaker 0] well, we're we're out of money. Like, at
13:15
[Speaker 0] our church, we have a we have a
13:16
[Speaker 0] benevolence program. We have a benevolence budget. And,
13:21
[Speaker 0] once that budget is exhausted, we don't have
13:24
[Speaker 0] any more money to give. And, that's just
13:28
[Speaker 0] kind of how it works. But, the government
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[Speaker 0] doesn't operate that way. The governments, that they're
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[Speaker 0] like, oh, no. You know, we'll just go
13:33
[Speaker 0] to the printer machine and we'll just print
13:35
[Speaker 0] more. It's why we're thirty eight trillion dollars
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[Speaker 0] in debt. We're bankrupt. Our nation is utterly
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[Speaker 0] bankrupt. Like, bankrupt. All these people like Mandani
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[Speaker 0] or whatever his name is to want to
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[Speaker 0] give out free money. Oh, the government's gonna
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[Speaker 0] give they're gonna give free, you know, free
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[Speaker 0] groceries, free bus rides, free rent. No. They're
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[Speaker 0] not. We are out of money. We're bankrupt.
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[Speaker 0] This nation is bankrupt. Now, it's it's gonna
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[Speaker 0] start falling apart at the seams really, really
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[Speaker 0] quickly. So, you know, this idea of handing
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[Speaker 0] out free things to people, it does not
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[Speaker 0] work and Bikes Not Bombs gets that. They
14:33
[Speaker 0] understand that. They require something of the people
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[Speaker 0] who they give bikes to. You want a
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[Speaker 0] free bike? Great. We'll give you one. But
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[Speaker 0] you have to go through a ten week
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[Speaker 0] program to learn how to care for and
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[Speaker 0] operate a used bike, which is incredible to
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[Speaker 0] me because then they learn, mechanical skills. They
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[Speaker 0] learn how to wrench on the bikes. They
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[Speaker 0] they learn how to take care of things.
15:04
[Speaker 0] You know, that's something that a lot of
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[Speaker 0] a lot of people living in poverty don't
15:07
[Speaker 0] they don't understand that. And it's not that
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[Speaker 0] they're dumb people. You know, they're they're they're
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[Speaker 0] not. It's that they've never been taught that
15:18
[Speaker 0] if you take care of something, it'll last
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[Speaker 0] forever. You know, I've talked about this before.
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[Speaker 0] Like, literally every one of our cars, If
15:29
[Speaker 0] we don't get a if we don't get
15:31
[Speaker 0] three hundred thousand miles out of a car,
15:36
[Speaker 0] it's a it's a miracle. I think we've
15:38
[Speaker 0] had one car that we didn't get over
15:40
[Speaker 0] three hundred thousand. We had one car. We
15:42
[Speaker 0] had over four hundred thousand miles on it
15:45
[Speaker 0] until it finally, it just started to rust
15:48
[Speaker 0] out. We take care of our equipment. My
15:50
[Speaker 0] wife and I, we just we've always had
15:52
[Speaker 0] that mentality that if you take care of
15:55
[Speaker 0] something, if you nurture it, if you treat
15:58
[Speaker 0] it well, if you don't beat the living
16:00
[Speaker 0] guts out of a vehicle, it'll last a
16:03
[Speaker 0] really long time. Now, you have to get
16:06
[Speaker 0] a brand that's reliable. We're very, very particular
16:09
[Speaker 0] about what we get. We buy everything used.
16:15
[Speaker 0] We pay cash for our cars. And that's
16:19
[Speaker 0] just kind of our philosophy. You know, you
16:21
[Speaker 0] don't have to to spend fifty thousand dollars
16:25
[Speaker 0] on a car to get fifteen years out
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[Speaker 0] of it. You know, I'd I'm driving right
16:32
[Speaker 0] now. One of our main vehicles. We only
16:36
[Speaker 0] have two. So I guess they're both our
16:38
[Speaker 0] main vehicles. But our one vehicle, is what?
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[Speaker 0] Fifteen years old? Over two hundred thousand miles?
16:47
[Speaker 0] I have no intentions of getting rid of
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[Speaker 0] it. So we take care of things, and
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[Speaker 0] that's what Bikes Not Bombs teaches people to
16:53
[Speaker 0] do. We're coming up on a break. Be
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[Speaker 0] So bikes, Bikes Not Bombs. It's a bike
20:13
[Speaker 0] shop, and nonprofit organization in the Boston area,
20:18
[Speaker 0] and they have refurbished eighty thousand bikes. Wow.
20:26
[Speaker 0] Eighty thousand bicycles to help people in their
20:30
[Speaker 0] community and abroad. That's really incredible. And think
20:36
[Speaker 0] of how many people. If each bike represents
20:40
[Speaker 0] an individual, that means they've helped eighty thousand
20:44
[Speaker 0] people. And that's really cool. And if you
20:49
[Speaker 0] think about bikes, I mean, we do it
20:51
[Speaker 0] all the time. It's, you know, I'm not
20:54
[Speaker 0] ashamed to say it. It's just it it's
20:56
[Speaker 0] a pain to get rid of bicycles. So
20:59
[Speaker 0] for all of our bikes, we've done this
21:02
[Speaker 0] for every single one of them. Whenever we
21:06
[Speaker 0] have, run our course with the bicycle, we
21:10
[Speaker 0] put it out to the curb and we
21:11
[Speaker 0] put a free sign on it. And they're
21:14
[Speaker 0] in decent shape. You know, I I actually,
21:18
[Speaker 0] I don't put junk out to the curb
21:20
[Speaker 0] unless I put a sign that says scrap,
21:22
[Speaker 0] which I've done periodically. People love their scrap
21:26
[Speaker 0] metal. But for our bicycles, what I'll do
21:30
[Speaker 0] is I'll kinda fix them up a little
21:33
[Speaker 0] bit. And, you know, if the if the
21:36
[Speaker 0] gears are out of adjustment, I'll adjust the
21:38
[Speaker 0] the gears and adjust the brakes and those
21:40
[Speaker 0] sorts of things because I don't I don't
21:43
[Speaker 0] wanna give a pile of garbage to somebody.
21:46
[Speaker 0] And I love giving them away because, it
21:49
[Speaker 0] just helps somebody out. Right? And, our our
21:55
[Speaker 0] neighborhood we we have a really decent neighborhood,
21:57
[Speaker 0] and we've got little kids. And I figured,
22:01
[Speaker 0] somebody can somebody can get a a free
22:03
[Speaker 0] bike for their kid. So, you know, for
22:07
[Speaker 0] something like that, it's fine to give it
22:09
[Speaker 0] away. You know? And I don't wanna sound,
22:14
[Speaker 0] like I'm a hypocrite here because I was
22:16
[Speaker 0] saying, you know, when you give things away,
22:18
[Speaker 0] you should ask for a little bit of
22:20
[Speaker 0] skin in the game. But we're not talking
22:23
[Speaker 0] about people living in poverty. I I just
22:25
[Speaker 0] give them out to people in our neighborhoods.
22:27
[Speaker 0] We love doing that because we know that
22:30
[Speaker 0] that bike is gonna be used, and it's
22:32
[Speaker 0] it's gonna stay in service. And there's no
22:34
[Speaker 0] reason to junk something just because you don't
22:38
[Speaker 0] want it anymore or because it has a
22:41
[Speaker 0] couple things wrong with it. So, you know,
22:44
[Speaker 0] this America really needs to figure this out,
22:49
[Speaker 0] because we are really brainwashed to think that
22:52
[Speaker 0] once something starts to decline even a little
22:56
[Speaker 0] bit, we gotta get a brand new one.
23:00
[Speaker 0] Yeah. Think about that. We do it with
23:03
[Speaker 0] everything. I I I've seen so many people
23:08
[Speaker 0] personally. I've seen countless people, friends, family members
23:14
[Speaker 0] who they've they've bought, Yeah. Oh, well, let's
23:17
[Speaker 0] use bicycles since that's what we're talking about.
23:21
[Speaker 0] They'll buy a bicycle, a brand new bicycle,
23:26
[Speaker 0] when they have one that's like new because
23:29
[Speaker 0] they'll say, well, it you know, it's got
23:32
[Speaker 0] low tires or it's got bulb tires. And
23:37
[Speaker 0] I'm like, you don't know a tire a
23:40
[Speaker 0] new tire costs, like, ten dollars and it
23:44
[Speaker 0] takes fifteen minutes to put on. But people
23:49
[Speaker 0] would rather spend a hundred and fifty to
23:52
[Speaker 0] two hundred and fifty dollars on on a
23:54
[Speaker 0] new bicycle than deal with the time that
23:58
[Speaker 0] it takes to to put a tire on.
24:01
[Speaker 0] And it blows my mind. I just I
24:03
[Speaker 0] can't wrap my mind around that that kind
24:05
[Speaker 0] of mindset. But, no. Whatever. If people have
24:10
[Speaker 0] moldy money in their in their wallets that
24:12
[Speaker 0] they wanna they wanna get rid of the,
24:15
[Speaker 0] moldy money, then by all means. But there
24:18
[Speaker 0] are people who throw like, I've seen bikes
24:21
[Speaker 0] in dumpsters. Like, perfectly good bicycles I've seen
24:25
[Speaker 0] in dumpsters before. And I'm like, no. No.
24:29
[Speaker 0] No. Like, it's actually painful. It's so painful
24:34
[Speaker 0] to see that. You know, we're a throwaway
24:37
[Speaker 0] society because we've been we've been so conditioned
24:42
[Speaker 0] to think that we need the biggest and
24:44
[Speaker 0] newest and best and most expensive and, you
24:47
[Speaker 0] know, the most amount of gadgets on on
24:49
[Speaker 0] something that we can possibly imagine or else
24:53
[Speaker 0] it's, you know, it's junk. And that's just
24:58
[Speaker 0] not true. And the same is true for
25:02
[Speaker 0] bicycles. You know, maybe especially bicycles. Because these
25:08
[Speaker 0] frames last forever. If the frame's not bent
25:12
[Speaker 0] or rusted out or whatever, these frames last
25:15
[Speaker 0] forever. And, you can strip a bike down.
25:18
[Speaker 0] Like, you can replace the wheels for fairly
25:21
[Speaker 0] cheap. I mean, virtually everything. The cables. They're
25:25
[Speaker 0] cheap. The brake pads. Super cheap. Tires. Inner
25:32
[Speaker 0] tubes. Cheap. You know, you can repair these
25:37
[Speaker 0] bikes for not a lot of money. And
25:42
[Speaker 0] that's exactly what this organization is doing. And
25:44
[Speaker 0] I I just I can't I still can't
25:47
[Speaker 0] wrap my mind around this this notion that
25:51
[Speaker 0] we've been told, you know, we've been told
25:54
[Speaker 0] by by politicians and by the media and
25:57
[Speaker 0] by companies and by the algorithms, you know,
26:02
[Speaker 0] you have to have the best and the
26:05
[Speaker 0] latest and the most, you know, the newest,
26:09
[Speaker 0] up to date thing or or virtually you're
26:13
[Speaker 0] you're a loser. And I just I think
26:17
[Speaker 0] it's insanity. And I've probably mentioned this before,
26:21
[Speaker 0] but my my wife and my daughter, they
26:25
[Speaker 0] get ninety five percent of their clothes at
26:28
[Speaker 0] a secondhand store. I mean, for cheap. They'll
26:34
[Speaker 0] get brand new shoes that are, I mean,
26:37
[Speaker 0] like, slightly used. And again, it's just it's
26:41
[Speaker 0] it's this idea that people just give stuff
26:43
[Speaker 0] away because they don't like them or it
26:47
[Speaker 0] was the wrong color or whatever. And instead
26:50
[Speaker 0] of returning them, they'll just give them away
26:52
[Speaker 0] to to these secondhand stores. Salvation Army, Goodwill,
26:57
[Speaker 0] we have a a local brand that's, you
27:00
[Speaker 0] know, a secondhand store that's excellent. And, yeah,
27:06
[Speaker 0] people just give this stuff away. Brand new
27:08
[Speaker 0] clothes still have tags on them. Like, the
27:12
[Speaker 0] original tags. So anyway, my wife and daughter,
27:17
[Speaker 0] they get all of their almost all of
27:19
[Speaker 0] their clothes from the secondhand store. And, I
27:23
[Speaker 0] mean, they bought shoes for two dollars. They
27:26
[Speaker 0] get pairs of jeans for a dollar fifty.
27:30
[Speaker 0] You know, like, brand new. And I love
27:34
[Speaker 0] it. You know, I I I love this
27:37
[Speaker 0] idea of saving money. I'm just I'm a
27:41
[Speaker 0] staver through and through and so this organization,
27:44
[Speaker 0] really spoke to me because, man, bikes are
27:47
[Speaker 0] getting so expensive. It's absolutely outrageous and now
27:50
[Speaker 0] the ebikes are all the craze. If you
27:52
[Speaker 0] don't have an ebike, you're, you know, you're
27:55
[Speaker 0] kind of living in the dark ages. And
27:59
[Speaker 0] I just I don't get it. I don't
28:01
[Speaker 0] get the craze. I mean, they're cool. Don't
28:03
[Speaker 0] get me wrong. I'd love to have an
28:05
[Speaker 0] ebike, but I just can't imagine dropping a
28:07
[Speaker 0] thousand dollars on a on a bike when
28:10
[Speaker 0] I have a perfectly good bicycle. So and
28:15
[Speaker 0] mine's old. Like, we run our bikes just
28:17
[Speaker 0] like our cars. You know, we we got
28:22
[Speaker 0] three hundred plus thousand miles out of our
28:23
[Speaker 0] cars, and our bicycles are no different. It's
28:27
[Speaker 0] I mean, we run those things till we
28:31
[Speaker 0] can't run them anymore then and then we
28:32
[Speaker 0] give them away. You know, we'll fix them
28:35
[Speaker 0] up a little bit and give them away
28:37
[Speaker 0] and still let them run. So, yeah. It's,
28:42
[Speaker 0] it's cool that this organization is getting people
28:46
[Speaker 0] to, you know, if if they want a
28:48
[Speaker 0] bike, they got to put some skin in
28:50
[Speaker 0] the game. They have to spend ten weeks.
28:54
[Speaker 0] It's a ten week program. Learning how to
28:57
[Speaker 0] care for and operate a used bike. Then,
29:01
[Speaker 0] they get to keep the bike upon graduation.
29:05
[Speaker 0] And, then, they have the opportunity to work
29:07
[Speaker 0] in the shop. So about two hundred young
29:12
[Speaker 0] people repair and refurbish thousands of bikes every
29:16
[Speaker 0] year. That's really cool. I mean, that's actually
29:24
[Speaker 0] incredible. Two hundred young people working in the
29:29
[Speaker 0] shop. And it sounds like they they get
29:34
[Speaker 0] paid like it's an actual job. Even though
29:37
[Speaker 0] it's nonprofit, nonprofits can pay people. My wife
29:41
[Speaker 0] works for a nonprofit. They have them on
29:45
[Speaker 0] the payroll. It's it's really cool. It just
29:47
[Speaker 0] provides so much opportunity and such a learning
29:50
[Speaker 0] opportunity for people. So, over the last four
29:53
[Speaker 0] decades, they estimate that they shipped over eighty
29:58
[Speaker 0] thousand bikes to developing countries, in addition to
30:03
[Speaker 0] secondhand bikes sold to local cyclists directly out
30:06
[Speaker 0] of the shop. They also opened up self
30:10
[Speaker 0] supporting bike shops in places like Nicaragua, Haiti,
30:15
[Speaker 0] the Dominican Republic, El Salvador. Then they train
30:20
[Speaker 0] local technicians to build resilience and sustainability in
30:24
[Speaker 0] themselves. And it's much like the other organization
30:28
[Speaker 0] that I did a show on several months
30:29
[Speaker 0] back. You know, this idea of of training
30:33
[Speaker 0] people in other countries. And I know that
30:37
[Speaker 0] doesn't sound like a big deal to us,
30:38
[Speaker 0] and we're like, oh, what's the big deal?
30:39
[Speaker 0] So you train somebody in another country. Great.
30:43
[Speaker 0] Well, for these people, it becomes an absolute
30:45
[Speaker 0] lifeline. That's how they feed their families. Now
30:50
[Speaker 0] I've visited Haiti several times. Do you know
30:55
[Speaker 0] what that would do for somebody? To have
30:58
[Speaker 0] that kind of a skill set? To have
31:00
[Speaker 0] an organization for the United States bring them
31:04
[Speaker 0] bikes over. Help them set up their own
31:06
[Speaker 0] bike shop. Teach them how to wrench on
31:08
[Speaker 0] the bikes. And, they start their own repair
31:11
[Speaker 0] shop. They can repair and sell bikes and
31:15
[Speaker 0] replicate this model over in Haiti. I'm telling
31:19
[Speaker 0] you, that family would be supported for generations.
31:25
[Speaker 0] People would absolutely claw their way to this
31:28
[Speaker 0] kind of an opportunity. And it might not
31:32
[Speaker 0] sound like much for us. More like, yeah.
31:34
[Speaker 0] You know, it's a little little tiny bike
31:36
[Speaker 0] shop on a street corner. So what? Well,
31:40
[Speaker 0] to the Haitian, it's not a tiny little
31:42
[Speaker 0] bike shop on the corner. That's an opportunity
31:47
[Speaker 0] to bring in generational I don't wanna use
31:50
[Speaker 0] the word wealth because it's they're they're not
31:52
[Speaker 0] wealthy. But to support their family, to feed
31:55
[Speaker 0] their family, to put food on the table
31:58
[Speaker 0] of their family, and it it it employs
32:01
[Speaker 0] other people. You know, people in poor countries
32:05
[Speaker 0] are really resourceful. And they find the ability
32:10
[Speaker 0] to, to employ other people and to pull
32:14
[Speaker 0] other people into the circle. And it's, it's
32:17
[Speaker 0] really, really, really important. And, by the way,
32:22
[Speaker 0] bicycles are absolutely needed. In these countries, it's,
32:30
[Speaker 0] it's just a lack of infrastructure. It's actually
32:34
[Speaker 0] really, really, really painful to see how bad
32:37
[Speaker 0] it is. I mean, we have it really,
32:39
[Speaker 0] really good here in the United States. We
32:43
[Speaker 0] are very blessed. And it's when I hear
32:47
[Speaker 0] people complain and they talk about how bad
32:49
[Speaker 0] it is, and we complain because our roads
32:51
[Speaker 0] have potholes in them, you know, go visit
32:57
[Speaker 0] one of these other countries, and then come
32:59
[Speaker 0] back and tell me how bad it is
33:01
[Speaker 0] here in America. You know, these roads are
33:05
[Speaker 0] they're dirt roads. Everything's separated by miles and
33:08
[Speaker 0] miles and miles. They have to walk to
33:11
[Speaker 0] to get everything. You know, if they want
33:13
[Speaker 0] their food, they have to go into the
33:15
[Speaker 0] into the city, into the market. If they
33:18
[Speaker 0] want water, even when they have wells, they
33:21
[Speaker 0] still have to go to the wells. They
33:24
[Speaker 0] don't have taps at their houses. They have
33:28
[Speaker 0] to travel to get everything, literally everything. That
33:34
[Speaker 0] that's all they do is travel. So when
33:37
[Speaker 0] you can provide bicycles for people, it's a
33:40
[Speaker 0] godsend. It's an absolute godsend to people in
33:44
[Speaker 0] these poor countries. They can't afford cars. You
33:50
[Speaker 0] know, the vast majority of people, they can't
33:52
[Speaker 0] afford cars. They can't afford, motorcycles. You know,
34:00
[Speaker 0] our church bought a motorcycle for, for somebody.
34:03
[Speaker 0] We gifted a brand new motorcycle for somebody
34:07
[Speaker 0] in Haiti, and, you know, he uses it
34:10
[Speaker 0] for, just for so much good. And it
34:14
[Speaker 0] wasn't even a question. I mean, we we
34:16
[Speaker 0] raised the money pretty much immediately and, let
34:21
[Speaker 0] him pick out the particular motorcycle that he
34:24
[Speaker 0] wanted. And I'm talking it was like a
34:27
[Speaker 0] two thousand dollar motorcycle. And that motorcycle absolutely
34:33
[Speaker 0] changed his life. He sent pictures of, taking
34:41
[Speaker 0] people to the hospital where he'll have, you
34:45
[Speaker 0] know, six deep on the motorcycle. That's how
34:49
[Speaker 0] they roll. They don't they don't take one
34:52
[Speaker 0] or two passengers. I mean, they they line
34:54
[Speaker 0] them up. But he does runs to the
34:58
[Speaker 0] hospital constantly. And he sends me messages. I'm
35:01
[Speaker 0] good friends with him, and he said, you
35:02
[Speaker 0] know, you you guys, your church has saved
35:06
[Speaker 0] so many lives by getting this motorcycle. And,
35:12
[Speaker 0] you know, it's those things that we don't
35:13
[Speaker 0] think about here while we're buying the fifty,
35:16
[Speaker 0] sixty, eighty thousand dollar cars. You know, the
35:20
[Speaker 0] average car payment in America is what? Like,
35:23
[Speaker 0] seven hundred and six dollars or something like
35:25
[Speaker 0] that. You know, it's absolute insanity. The repossession
35:31
[Speaker 0] rate for cars is spiking right now. It's
35:35
[Speaker 0] the highest that it's been in in years.
35:39
[Speaker 0] You know, because we're told we have to
35:40
[Speaker 0] have everything brand new. We have to we
35:42
[Speaker 0] have to spend spend spend spend spend or,
35:46
[Speaker 0] or else. And it's just not true. We've
35:50
[Speaker 0] gotta stop falling for these stupid traps. You
35:55
[Speaker 0] know, we're so conditioned to be consumers that
36:00
[Speaker 0] when we see organizations like this, like the
36:02
[Speaker 0] bike shop, it's it's it's actually shocking to
36:07
[Speaker 0] us. We're like, wait. Why would you, why
36:10
[Speaker 0] would you re, refurbish bikes? Why not just
36:14
[Speaker 0] buy brand new bikes? You know, that's the
36:16
[Speaker 0] mentality that we're in, folks. Like, people are
36:20
[Speaker 0] actually shocked. They're like, oh my goodness. Why
36:24
[Speaker 0] why don't you just buy new bikes? Can
36:27
[Speaker 0] you imagine the cost of eighty thousand bikes?
36:32
[Speaker 0] But they get these bikes for free. People
36:34
[Speaker 0] donate the bikes and I think that says
36:37
[Speaker 0] a lot about America too. You know, as
36:39
[Speaker 0] spoiled as we are, as programmed as people
36:43
[Speaker 0] are to just spend and blow money, they're
36:46
[Speaker 0] still really generous. And we can't take that
36:50
[Speaker 0] away from people. I can't under or or
36:54
[Speaker 0] sorry. I can't overstate that people here in
36:57
[Speaker 0] America are extremely generous. They're so, so generous.
37:04
[Speaker 0] And, you know, people get a bad rap.
37:07
[Speaker 0] And, I don't know. Any anytime we see
37:11
[Speaker 0] a need, people just step up to the
37:13
[Speaker 0] plate. I mean, this has been proven time
37:17
[Speaker 0] and time and time again. When somebody gets
37:21
[Speaker 0] sick, when a kid gets cancer, when somebody
37:25
[Speaker 0] somebody in the community is struggling, people step
37:28
[Speaker 0] up. They raise funds. They reach deep into
37:33
[Speaker 0] their pockets and they give. So, you know,
37:35
[Speaker 0] I'm I'm not pointing the finger here. I
37:38
[Speaker 0] don't want you to mishear me. You know,
37:41
[Speaker 0] we are a consumeristic society, but we're a
37:46
[Speaker 0] society full of good people with good hearts.
37:50
[Speaker 0] And, this is a case in point that
37:53
[Speaker 0] this organization is just so wonderful, and what
37:56
[Speaker 0] they're doing to to change people's lives is
37:58
[Speaker 0] absolutely incredible, and it's inspiring. We're coming up
38:01
[Speaker 0] on another break. All of our shows do
38:03
[Speaker 0] go to podcast the next day after the
38:05
[Speaker 0] broadcast is heard on Talk Radio. You can
38:08
[Speaker 0] find them on your favorite podcast app. Be
38:10
[Speaker 0] sure to subscribe, rate the show, share it,
38:13
[Speaker 0] and when we come back, we'll talk more
38:15
[Speaker 0] about bikes, not bombs. We'll be right back,
38:18
[Speaker 0] folks.
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40:03
[Speaker 0] Alright. Bikes, not bombs. What a cool organization.
40:07
[Speaker 0] They have fixed up eighty thousand plus bicycles
40:12
[Speaker 0] to help people in the community of Boston
40:15
[Speaker 0] and abroad, and I just think it's a
40:18
[Speaker 0] really cool organization. I I like what they
40:21
[Speaker 0] stand for. And, you're probably wondering about the,
40:24
[Speaker 0] why are they called bikes and not bombs?
40:28
[Speaker 0] Kind of an odd name. Not something you
40:30
[Speaker 0] want to shout out in the middle of
40:32
[Speaker 0] a movie theater. Definitely not in an airport.
40:36
[Speaker 0] So why the name? Why the name? Well,
40:40
[Speaker 0] we'll get into that. Welcome back. This is
40:44
[Speaker 0] such a positive story, and we need more
40:47
[Speaker 0] of this kind of stuff. We need, hope
40:50
[Speaker 0] for this nation. We need to know that
40:52
[Speaker 0] our young people are making a difference in
40:54
[Speaker 0] the world. And quite frankly, young people need
40:57
[Speaker 0] to know that other young people are making
40:59
[Speaker 0] a difference in the world because we're living
41:02
[Speaker 0] in a time where people really want us
41:05
[Speaker 0] to be divided. They really want us to
41:07
[Speaker 0] lose hope. People want us to feel like
41:11
[Speaker 0] we're stuck at our jobs, that everything that
41:13
[Speaker 0] we do is a dead end. They wanna
41:16
[Speaker 0] keep us, I think, enslaved to, to debt.
41:21
[Speaker 0] I really truly genuinely a hundred percent believe
41:24
[Speaker 0] that. That the government, especially wants us to
41:29
[Speaker 0] remain in debt. They want people to have
41:34
[Speaker 0] to work to generate taxes and to feel
41:39
[Speaker 0] hopeless. That's how a lot of people get
41:43
[Speaker 0] votes. I'd say the majority of politicians get
41:46
[Speaker 0] votes by baiting people into fear. You know,
41:50
[Speaker 0] it's fear driven votes, and that's why you
41:55
[Speaker 0] hear all the all the rhetoric. In fact,
41:58
[Speaker 0] Nancy Pelosi, Princess Pelosi, who just retired, she
42:02
[Speaker 0] said that she believes that Donald Trump is
42:05
[Speaker 0] the most dangerous person on the planet. And
42:09
[Speaker 0] the person who was doing the interview said,
42:12
[Speaker 0] wait. That's a pretty radical statement. You know,
42:16
[Speaker 0] like, even the left surprises their own sometimes.
42:20
[Speaker 0] And he said, do you really do you
42:23
[Speaker 0] really wanna stand by that statement that Donald
42:26
[Speaker 0] Trump is the most dangerous person on the
42:28
[Speaker 0] planet? She didn't even hesitate. She said, yes.
42:31
[Speaker 0] Absolutely. I don't take that statement back. I
42:34
[Speaker 0] stand by that statement. I mean, this is
42:39
[Speaker 0] this is what's happening in politics. It's this
42:43
[Speaker 0] notion that, you know, like, there's always a
42:45
[Speaker 0] boogeyman. There's always somebody who's evil, vile, corrupt.
42:49
[Speaker 0] That's why they use the very emotionally charged
42:52
[Speaker 0] language, Hitler, Nazi, whatever a phobe, homophobe, transphobe,
42:59
[Speaker 0] on and on and on it goes. And
43:01
[Speaker 0] they make people they just they they kind
43:05
[Speaker 0] of erode people's self worth. And by people,
43:10
[Speaker 0] I mean us, the citizens, the great citizens
43:13
[Speaker 0] of this great nation. They point fingers, and
43:18
[Speaker 0] it's always the the elitists who look down
43:22
[Speaker 0] the, the bridge of their nose at people.
43:26
[Speaker 0] And they talk about how bad people are,
43:28
[Speaker 0] how evil they are, how wicked they are,
43:30
[Speaker 0] how awful they are, how stupid and uneducated
43:33
[Speaker 0] they are, and on and on and on.
43:37
[Speaker 0] And and so that's why I highlight stories
43:39
[Speaker 0] like this because we need to realize that
43:43
[Speaker 0] people are more united than than what they
43:46
[Speaker 0] make us out to be here in America.
43:49
[Speaker 0] And that young people are doing really incredible
43:53
[Speaker 0] things. So, here we go. Here's a statement
43:59
[Speaker 0] from Sarah Gonzalez. That's the organization's donation coordinator.
44:04
[Speaker 0] She said, our roots are in shipping bikes
44:07
[Speaker 0] across the world. I like the simplicity of
44:10
[Speaker 0] that. It's like, you know, people are trying
44:14
[Speaker 0] to drag out like this deep profound meaning
44:18
[Speaker 0] behind this. And she's like, yep. Our roots
44:20
[Speaker 0] are in shipping bikes across the world. Pretty
44:23
[Speaker 0] simple. Right? It's a pretty simple mission. The
44:31
[Speaker 0] goal in the United States and abroad is
44:34
[Speaker 0] to provide people with a means of transportation
44:37
[Speaker 0] without reliance on fossil fuels, which are a
44:43
[Speaker 0] large contributing factor to global conflict. Thus, the
44:49
[Speaker 0] not bombs part of the organization's mission. Isn't
44:53
[Speaker 0] that fascinating? If you think about it, if
44:57
[Speaker 0] you think about fossil fuels and how entire
45:02
[Speaker 0] wars are waged literally over fossil fuels. I
45:07
[Speaker 0] mean, it's happening right now. This is a
45:11
[Speaker 0] hundred percent what's happening in Haiti. We're seeing
45:14
[Speaker 0] it in right? Russia, Ukraine, all these countries
45:20
[Speaker 0] that have Venezuela, all these countries that have
45:22
[Speaker 0] oil, and wars are literally being waged for
45:28
[Speaker 0] oil. I mean, it sounds insane to us,
45:31
[Speaker 0] but if you look at the value of
45:34
[Speaker 0] of fossil fuels, you know, it kinda makes
45:37
[Speaker 0] sense. It makes sense that evil people, they're
45:40
[Speaker 0] gonna fight over that. They're gonna wage war.
45:42
[Speaker 0] They're gonna try to try to change, a
45:46
[Speaker 0] a nation's boundaries, right, to claim the fossil
45:49
[Speaker 0] fuels. Look at what happened in Saudi Arabia.
45:53
[Speaker 0] I mean, on and on and on. We
45:54
[Speaker 0] could give many examples of this. So they're
45:58
[Speaker 0] absolutely right. You know, if if you're dependent
46:01
[Speaker 0] on fossil fuels, if we're contributing to fossil
46:06
[Speaker 0] fuels, it contributes to global conflict. Yeah. How
46:13
[Speaker 0] about the here's one, the gulf of america
46:19
[Speaker 0] do you know president trump didn't change that
46:22
[Speaker 0] name because he had a beef with the
46:24
[Speaker 0] name gulf of mexico He changed the name.
46:29
[Speaker 0] It was a very, very strategic move to
46:34
[Speaker 0] claim rights to the oil that's in the
46:36
[Speaker 0] Gulf. There is a lot of oil under
46:38
[Speaker 0] the Gulf of America. And so by changing
46:42
[Speaker 0] the name, he essentially was, finding loopholes to
46:48
[Speaker 0] be able to tap all that oil. We've
46:51
[Speaker 0] not been able to tap that oil, I
46:52
[Speaker 0] mean, truly tap that oil for forever. And,
46:59
[Speaker 0] it's causing all kinds of geopolitical tension. Right?
47:05
[Speaker 0] So when you eliminate the need for fossil
47:07
[Speaker 0] fuels and I know it's not, you know,
47:10
[Speaker 0] eighty thousand bikes isn't gonna eliminate fossil fuels.
47:14
[Speaker 0] And I'm not I'm not making the argument
47:16
[Speaker 0] that we should eliminate fossil fuels. So I
47:19
[Speaker 0] just I wanna put that on record. You
47:21
[Speaker 0] know? I'm not I'm not saying that we
47:23
[Speaker 0] need to eliminate fossil fuels. Not at all.
47:28
[Speaker 0] But it's just kind of it's kind of
47:30
[Speaker 0] interesting that their mission is we're allowing people
47:34
[Speaker 0] to not be reliant on cars, on fossil
47:37
[Speaker 0] fuels. They can ride their bike to work,
47:40
[Speaker 0] or they can ride their bike to get
47:43
[Speaker 0] their water or to go to the market
47:45
[Speaker 0] and buy their food. And, that's pretty cool.
47:51
[Speaker 0] So, Miss Gonzales, Sarah Gonzales, the organization's donation
47:59
[Speaker 0] coordinator also said this. Excuse me. As we've
48:03
[Speaker 0] evolved, some of our members say the not
48:06
[Speaker 0] bombs aspect has given way to become a
48:08
[Speaker 0] tool of cultivating opportunities. Bikes can be a
48:12
[Speaker 0] tool of prosperity in developing areas. Again, that's
48:17
[Speaker 0] exactly what I've been saying for the first
48:19
[Speaker 0] part of the show. I I was saying
48:21
[Speaker 0] in developing nations, bicycles absolutely become a way
48:26
[Speaker 0] of cultivating opportunities, of starting businesses, of enabling
48:32
[Speaker 0] people, and I don't mean that in a
48:34
[Speaker 0] negative sense, enabling people to prosper, to use
48:40
[Speaker 0] the bikes to run medical supplies, to run,
48:46
[Speaker 0] you know, have bikes to run food supplies,
48:51
[Speaker 0] to run water. Yeah. You can retrofit bikes
48:55
[Speaker 0] to do a lot of pretty cool things.
48:58
[Speaker 0] And if you've ever been to a very
49:00
[Speaker 0] poor country, you know exactly what I'm talking
49:04
[Speaker 0] about. I mean, they load these things down.
49:08
[Speaker 0] They absolutely load the bikes down, and they
49:13
[Speaker 0] can they can run parts. They can, run.
49:17
[Speaker 0] Say you have somebody who sells blankets. They
49:20
[Speaker 0] make and produce blankets. Well, they need a
49:22
[Speaker 0] they need a way to transport the blankets
49:26
[Speaker 0] to get them in and out of the
49:27
[Speaker 0] marketplace every day. Well, you can do that
49:30
[Speaker 0] by bicycle. You know, it's the things that
49:34
[Speaker 0] we don't think about in America because we
49:36
[Speaker 0] don't have to think about them. But for
49:39
[Speaker 0] other people, I mean, these are an absolute
49:43
[Speaker 0] lifesaver, And it leads to prosperity for people.
49:52
[Speaker 0] So it's really cool. And just to have
49:53
[Speaker 0] that awareness, the very fact that we're talking
49:55
[Speaker 0] about this right now shows how important it
49:57
[Speaker 0] is. And it shows that we need to
50:00
[Speaker 0] have an awareness. We have to be aware
50:03
[Speaker 0] that other countries rely on on on bicycles.
50:06
[Speaker 0] It's not just a leisurely you know, here
50:08
[Speaker 0] in America, it's so different. Some people do
50:11
[Speaker 0] use it, you know, especially in inner cities
50:14
[Speaker 0] and urban areas. There are people who use
50:16
[Speaker 0] bicycles absolutely a hundred percent. They use bicycles
50:19
[Speaker 0] to get to and from work. That's an
50:22
[Speaker 0] absolute lifeline for them. But the majority of
50:26
[Speaker 0] Americans, for the for the majority of Americans,
50:31
[Speaker 0] bicycles are it's a leisurely thing. You know,
50:36
[Speaker 0] we have I mean, we're probably not unlike
50:38
[Speaker 0] a lot of other Americans. We have a
50:40
[Speaker 0] whole garage full of bicycles. We have more
50:45
[Speaker 0] bicycles than we have people in in our
50:47
[Speaker 0] family. Between my my wife and kids, we
50:52
[Speaker 0] have more bicycles than we have people. We
50:56
[Speaker 0] have extra bicycles. You know, and part of
51:00
[Speaker 0] that's, to be honest, it's not because we
51:03
[Speaker 0] just buy bicycles and store them for the
51:06
[Speaker 0] fun of it. It's because our kids have
51:08
[Speaker 0] outgrown bikes and we haven't gotten rid of
51:11
[Speaker 0] them yet. We haven't put our, free sign
51:14
[Speaker 0] on the bikes yet. But most Americans, you
51:17
[Speaker 0] know, we have tons of bicycles. And it's
51:22
[Speaker 0] it's just for leisure. It's for fun. So
51:27
[Speaker 0] for other people, we need to realize this
51:29
[Speaker 0] is an absolute lifeline and a pathway to
51:32
[Speaker 0] prosperity. Without bikes, they're so limited in what
51:38
[Speaker 0] they can do. Just absolutely a hundred percent
51:41
[Speaker 0] limited. So, I'll, I'll read the rest of
51:47
[Speaker 0] this article here because it's just interesting to
51:49
[Speaker 0] me. Back home, Bikes Not Bombs hosts communal
51:53
[Speaker 0] rides, safety seminars, fundraisers, and an annual three
51:59
[Speaker 0] day youth bike summit for young mechanics, activists,
52:03
[Speaker 0] and cyclists interested in making a difference. Can
52:07
[Speaker 0] we just stop there and say, that's pretty
52:09
[Speaker 0] cool? Like, think about the organization, and they're
52:17
[Speaker 0] getting people excited about the mission. I think
52:21
[Speaker 0] that's what's missing in a lot of America.
52:23
[Speaker 0] That's what's missing certainly in the protest culture.
52:28
[Speaker 0] Right? The protest culture is all about how
52:30
[Speaker 0] do we point out mistakes? How do we
52:32
[Speaker 0] how do we get angry? How do we
52:34
[Speaker 0] get mad? How do we force people to
52:36
[Speaker 0] to make decisions to make our lives easier?
52:41
[Speaker 0] You know, when you're protesting, you're not doing.
52:45
[Speaker 0] And, again, I'm not against protesting. There's a
52:48
[Speaker 0] time and a place for it. And it
52:53
[Speaker 0] always, one hundred percent of the time, needs
52:55
[Speaker 0] to be peaceful. I will never applaud protesting
53:01
[Speaker 0] that's not peaceful. You know, this idea that
53:04
[Speaker 0] we need to get violent, that we need
53:06
[Speaker 0] to burn things down, burn property, and, you
53:09
[Speaker 0] know, to make a statement or whatever. I
53:11
[Speaker 0] think it's total, utter bullcrap. It's nonsense. So
53:18
[Speaker 0] I think a more effective way to do
53:21
[Speaker 0] things to make a difference in the world
53:23
[Speaker 0] is to raise awareness, to do things like
53:26
[Speaker 0] this. You know, they could protest the wars.
53:30
[Speaker 0] They could stand on the street corner, and
53:32
[Speaker 0] they could make their signs, and they could
53:33
[Speaker 0] get their kids involved, and they, you know,
53:35
[Speaker 0] they could be activists and whatever, but that's
53:40
[Speaker 0] not what they're doing. They do communal rides.
53:45
[Speaker 0] Bikes Not Bombs hosts communal rides, safety seminars,
53:49
[Speaker 0] fundraisers, and an annual three day youth bike
53:52
[Speaker 0] summit for young mechanics, activists, and cyclists interested
53:58
[Speaker 0] in making a difference. Antonio Venus Reeves, who
54:05
[Speaker 0] first brought a bike to the shop for
54:07
[Speaker 0] repair ten years ago and now works as
54:09
[Speaker 0] an associate, said, it's like my second home.
54:13
[Speaker 0] I'm always learning something every day. So, yeah.
54:18
[Speaker 0] Cool stuff going on. And, I just wanted
54:22
[Speaker 0] to paint a different picture and, you know,
54:23
[Speaker 0] get away from from the political stuff that's
54:28
[Speaker 0] happening right now in America. Because I I
54:31
[Speaker 0] think tensions are running high and, you know,
54:35
[Speaker 0] as we see our government act like a
54:37
[Speaker 0] bunch of babies, People are yelling at each
54:41
[Speaker 0] other. They're they're they're holding out with this
54:44
[Speaker 0] government shutdown. Neither side seems to be budging.
54:48
[Speaker 0] I just think we need some good news.
54:52
[Speaker 0] We need to know that there are some
54:53
[Speaker 0] normal people out there who are making a
54:55
[Speaker 0] difference in the world, and boy, are they
54:57
[Speaker 0] making a difference. You know, over and over
55:01
[Speaker 0] and over again, we point out these stories
55:04
[Speaker 0] that show all it takes is one person
55:06
[Speaker 0] to have the hidden likeness. One person with
55:09
[Speaker 0] a vision. One person with a mission. One
55:11
[Speaker 0] person with an idea. And they just start
55:15
[Speaker 0] to do it. They try it. And it
55:18
[Speaker 0] could fail. Yeah. And it's not the end
55:21
[Speaker 0] of the world. So what? You try an
55:25
[Speaker 0] idea and and and it fails. What's the
55:27
[Speaker 0] worst thing that can happen? You know, something
55:31
[Speaker 0] doesn't work out. Not the end of the
55:33
[Speaker 0] world. And I think that's what's cool, and
55:37
[Speaker 0] that's what's exciting is people are willing to
55:39
[Speaker 0] try new things. And, some things stick. And
55:42
[Speaker 0] this is something and since nineteen eighty four,
55:46
[Speaker 0] since nineteen eighty four, this this organization has
55:50
[Speaker 0] been around. And look at the difference that
55:53
[Speaker 0] they've made in the world and continue to
55:56
[Speaker 0] make. You know, it just shows that we
56:00
[Speaker 0] don't have to get caught up in all
56:02
[Speaker 0] the all the tech stuff and ever, you
56:04
[Speaker 0] know, a lot of people are like, oh,
56:05
[Speaker 0] if you're if you don't get on board
56:07
[Speaker 0] with AI, you're you're gonna be left in
56:09
[Speaker 0] the dust and, you're not you're not ever
56:12
[Speaker 0] gonna be able to to excel in life.
56:16
[Speaker 0] And that's just not true. There are plenty
56:20
[Speaker 0] of opportunities. There are plenty of ways to
56:23
[Speaker 0] to serve people in your community. Plenty of
56:26
[Speaker 0] ways to get involved with working with your
56:29
[Speaker 0] hands. Making a difference in the life of
56:33
[Speaker 0] of people in Haiti. And, what are all
56:37
[Speaker 0] the countries? Haiti, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua.
56:46
[Speaker 0] There are ways that you and I can
56:49
[Speaker 0] roll up our sleeves and do the American
56:52
[Speaker 0] thing and just volunteer our time. And that,
56:57
[Speaker 0] folks, is the hidden lightness. That's why we
57:01
[Speaker 0] do this show, to inspire people to do
57:03
[Speaker 0] good for other people. I promise when you
57:06
[Speaker 0] do that, it will change your world. You
57:10
[Speaker 0] can find more out about my show and
57:11
[Speaker 0] get all the latest podcast if you go
57:13
[Speaker 0] to the menu navigation bar at america out
57:15
[Speaker 0] loud dot news under our shows or schedule.
57:19
[Speaker 0] You'll be in the know. Be sure to
57:22
[Speaker 0] subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Check out
57:24
[Speaker 0] the store. Visit america out loud dot news.
57:28
[Speaker 0] Browse the store. Trust me. There is a
57:31
[Speaker 0] hidden lightness that shines inside of all of
57:33
[Speaker 0] this. When there's so much darkness that envelops
57:35
[Speaker 0] the world, remember that it doesn't take much
57:37
[Speaker 0] light to expose that darkness and to ultimately
57:39
[Speaker 0] inspire other people. Join me in being a