As a participant in Neil Kramer’s Great Interview Experiment, I’ve had the great pleasure to meet Alix over at Peace Scooter. If you have never read through her blog, she chronicles her incredible scooter rides to literally “ put peace on the map.” During her travels she asked those she met “What does peace mean to you?” A lot of the times the answers were surprising! But I’ll let her tell you about that… (My questions are in italics)
The obvious question: Why ride a Scooter for peace? What did you hope to accomplish by doing this? Do you feel like you accomplished what you set out to do?
I chose the scooter to promote transportation alternatives and draw a direct connection between peace and our use of resources. If our dependency on resources has anything to do with why we are at war, then it seems proactive for Americans/global citizen to reduce their dependency on those resources. The environmental and economical benefits of a scooter are really appealing to mainstream America. Not everyone is going to bike, walk, use a bio-fuel powered vehicle, or take public transportation.
It cost under $1,000 to complete 22,000 miles, about a quarter of what one would spend doing this in a car. That’s just gas price. The CO2 output on a scooter is also just a quarter compared to that of a vehicle getting 20 mpg’s; 5,380.1 on the scooter vs. 21,512.04.
Making decisions to save yourself some money, create less wear and tear on our roads, and creating less pollution seemed like good reasons to take the scooter. And they are fun! You can’t imagine how great it is to go from watching the scenery to being a part of it. The scooter allowed for many more interactions with people and for cultural experiences out on the backroads.
The scooter craze had not officially hit America when I started this trip.
In your travels, and on your website, you ask people to define peace. What is your definition? What is your favorite definition submitted?
I was inspired to take this trip after seeing a John Lennon quote, “If a billion people were thinking about Peace, there would be Peace in our world.”
Several quick, jumbled thoughts instantly came to me.
What if people don’t know how to think about Peace? Peace is often associated with hippies, pacifists, idealists and anti-war activists. If Peace is only associated with those concepts, it will be impossible to create the necessary critical mass.
Many people share similar needs and have completely different strategies to achieve them. Can I travel and find a common ground outside of political/religious/cultural divisiveness? If a word is so controversial, it must be worth exploring!
And then I was on the road 40 days later.
The project will keep going until the website hosts one million definitions of Peace. I encourage people to read what is there, and also to leave one.
I don’t have a favorite, although people were also signing my scooter, and my host in Beaumont, TX wrote, “May you lack no good thing.”
I thought that was a great wisdom to share with people, because Peace occurs when people are not lacking–for goods, happiness, leadership, or safety. I always say, “point two fingers, not one,” to indicate that we have to take accountability for our role in the things we do not like.
Now that your trips are behind you, and you are reflecting, has hearing everyone else’s definition of Peace enhanced or altered yours?
Wow, yes, I am still reflecting, that’s for sure. The trip changed a lot of things for me, although not my definition of Peace. Peace is many things. One personal definition is “Peace is how you take care of yourself, your community, and your environment.”
Meeting so many people on the road only confirmed that what was originally considered an idealistic view that we have more in common than we think, is actually true.
What were the biggest challenges of your trip? (Emotional, physical, financial etc)
Let’s face it, a 22,000 mile trip is not cheap. While I saved an extreme amount of gas money, there were other costs. You don’t drive a car with a helmet, armored jacket, armored pants, rainsuit and gloves. Then there are the expenses of eating, sleeping and caffeinating.
I took out a small loan to cover starting costs. Fortunately, I had some sponsors help with the gear and scooter. I wrote Genuine Scooter Company and told them about my plans. WIthin the week the owner decided to give me a scooter and help with repairs along the way. This allowed me to upgrade from a 50cc, top speed 35mph, to a 125cc, top speed 65mph. (although I cruised around 55mph)
The company however, wound up supporting many in other ways–by putting me in touch with the scooter community. Thanks to the far flung, but tight knit community, I had places to stay in almost every state.
The physical part was hard, sure. I rode 8-12 hours a day, on a little vibrating machine that felt every nuance in the road. I saw it as an opportunity to work on my posture. It was also HOT the first time around, especially riding in full gear during 90-100 degree weather. Sometimes it was simply annoying–packing and loading up 3 months of gear into two little bags and then painstakingly securing them to the scooter. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I would show up at a total stranger’s house, exhausted. I always worried about that, about still being present with them even though I wanted to just go to sleep!
But all of that slips away when you ride, when you see our beautiful country, when a stranger opens their house to you, when a person with opposing beliefs defines Peace.
I had to take some precautions traveling alone as a woman, many times on back roads, but it wasn’t that challenging.
People will try to instill fear in you though, and I found out that it simply isn’t as scary a world as people think.
Probably, the biggest challenge was uniting with other liberal organizations. The biggest disappointment I had the whole time was the failure of liberal organizations to team up with me and offer support. I was very idealistic that those working for Peace are willing to work within coalitions. I found that the movement itself is very disenfranchised and run by a few key players who don’t play well with others.
You mention on your website that you just wanted to start non-judgmental conversations about peace. Did you experience any resistance getting those conversations started? Why do you think people were resistant?
Oh, people were surprisingly supportive, even in very conservative climates. My approach, from the beginning, was to be inclusive. I didn’t tell anyone they were wrong or try to change people’s minds-and that makes a difference in the dialog. I simply asked, “What does Peace mean to you.” Of course, there were responses that I didn’t politically agree with, but my role was to facilitate a common ground, and steer us away from an often divisive political framework. I played a beautiful role of “midwiving” people’s thoughts about Peace. Often they were more personal with me, I believe, because there was no threat, no judgement, and because I was leaving the next day.
There is something liberating about sharing your personal stories with a passing stranger-you don’t get that uncomfortable “morning after” feeling.
Sometimes just holding a space to listen to people allows them to listen to themselves-and that will create a life change.
I found, unfortunately, that the hardest conversations were with people my age, whose apathy and mistrust have made them quite jaded. Although, they were often super excited and thought the trip was cool, it was harder for them to delve into the deep conversations.
I never once felt that my life was in danger, by grace, I felt protected and welcomed almost every place I visited. Even in conservative areas people would stop me and offer donations and encouragement. A lot of conservatives also said they don’t approve of the war and although they voted for George W. Bush, they wouldn’t do it again
It took patience and persistence to demonstrate that at a core level, we all have similar wants, needs, and fears.
People are resistant for many reasons; because they believe what they’ve been taught, they recite things without thought, fear of loosing approval, fear of being wrong, fear of the unknown. And honestly, because they fear that terrorists are lurking around every corner. It was interesting to see how a majority of Americans don’t agree with Bush, are embarrassed by his leadership, and yet believe we had to go into Iraq because our way of life was threatened. Propaganda to enforce the governments war agenda takes very deep root in our psyche–and I’m not just speaking of Americans.
Both presidential candidates are making peace promises as they campaign. What is your impression of the politics of peace now during election season?
Well, it’s been interesting to come home and catch up on all the politics. I’m guest blogging on theartofthepossible.net, and a lot of my opinions can be found over there. Dennis Kucinich was the only true Peace candidate, and he dropped out.
Right now both McCain and Obama want to appeal to a vast majority of people. McCain is a dangerous guy, because he thinks only someone who has been to war can lead us to Peace.
I respect Obama for saying that once he is elected, we can’t go back to watching TV, we have to work for change.
I found McCains political ad, “The Summer of Love,” vile and disgusting. First, he tried to steal Obama’s tagline about change, but then he capitalizes on our nation’s idea that to want peace is to not support the soldiers.
I am infuriated by this recurring implication that those involved in peaceful civic engagement do not share the same love of country as those who use weapons to fight for it. These antiquated ideas are still embedded deeply in the American consciousness and often interfere with our ability to apply new approaches to old problems. I see it in our leaders and I have seen it in thousands of my fellow countrymen-regardless of age.
What was the funniest/strangest/most spectacular thing that happened to you while you were on the road?
Well, people should go back and read the blogs from 2007/2008, because it’s hard to isolate just ONE thing out of 6 months on the road.
I think it’s pretty spectacular that I made it safely home after 22,000 miles on a scooter. The people who came out to ride with me in different states was really amazing. One guy came along for 1,300 miles and then turned back around–2,600 miles is pretty epic on these machines!
The Peace ride made it on CNN by a total fluke. My friend had just driven 1,500 miles in 2 days to meet me in Crawford, TX.
We splurged at a nice hotel to soak in the hot tub–we were in Waco, TX.
While I was checking in, I met a really nice lady–we joked around and then went our separate ways. She saw me loading up the scooter the next day and asked where I was headed. I said Crawford. She asked how come and I told her. Turns out that the President was in town and she worked for CNN White House Press.
Pretty random luck of the draw.
Volunteering at FellowShips was a strange experience. I was volunteering around the country, to demonstrate the importance of community action and was assigned to FellowShips. I had no idea exactly how religious the group was until I arrived. At first it was daunting. We listened to Christian rock and they made comments mostly prefaced by, “He says,” or “He knows.” But I had the most incredible day packing up supplies for disaster relief. There was an amazing amount of overlap in our beliefs about how things can improve in our world, and I’m not religious at all.
Trust me–there are many more tales of the road. I will publish a book about the trip in the next year.
Will there be a P.E.A.C.E Scooter in 2009?
No plans as of yet! However, there has been talk in a couple of years, about doing the route again, but with a group of people starting from different parts of the country and meeting in the middle. The routes will be put in a Wikipedia so that people can walk, bike, drive along the largest Peace sign created in history, and help keep it’s dream alive.
As a participant in Neil Kramer’s Great Interview Experiment, I’ve had the great pleasure to meet Alix over at Peace Scooter. If you have never read through her blog, she chronicles her incredible scooter rides to literally “ put peace on the map.” During her travels she asked those she met “What does peace mean to you?” A lot of the times the answers were surprising! But I’ll let her tell you about that… (My questions are in italics)
The obvious question: Why ride a Scooter for peace? What did you hope to accomplish by doing this? Do you feel like you accomplished what you set out to do?
I chose the scooter to promote transportation alternatives and draw a direct connection between peace and our use of resources. If our dependency on resources has anything to do with why we are at war, then it seems proactive for Americans/global citizen to reduce their dependency on those resources. The environmental and economical benefits of a scooter are really appealing to mainstream America. Not everyone is going to bike, walk, use a bio-fuel powered vehicle, or take public transportation.
It cost under $1,000 to complete 22,000 miles, about a quarter of what one would spend doing this in a car. That’s just gas price. The CO2 output on a scooter is also just a quarter compared to that of a vehicle getting 20 mpg’s; 5,380.1 on the scooter vs. 21,512.04.
Making decisions to save yourself some money, create less wear and tear on our roads, and creating less pollution seemed like good reasons to take the scooter. And they are fun! You can’t imagine how great it is to go from watching the scenery to being a part of it. The scooter allowed for many more interactions with people and for cultural experiences out on the backroads.
The scooter craze had not officially hit America when I started this trip.
In your travels, and on your website, you ask people to define peace. What is your definition? What is your favorite definition submitted?
I was inspired to take this trip after seeing a John Lennon quote, “If a billion people were thinking about Peace, there would be Peace in our world.”
Several quick, jumbled thoughts instantly came to me.
What if people don’t know how to think about Peace? Peace is often associated with hippies, pacifists, idealists and anti-war activists. If Peace is only associated with those concepts, it will be impossible to create the necessary critical mass.
Many people share similar needs and have completely different strategies to achieve them. Can I travel and find a common ground outside of political/religious/cultural divisiveness? If a word is so controversial, it must be worth exploring!
And then I was on the road 40 days later.
The project will keep going until the website hosts one million definitions of Peace. I encourage people to read what is there, and also to leave one.
I don’t have a favorite, although people were also signing my scooter, and my host in Beaumont, TX wrote, “May you lack no good thing.”
I thought that was a great wisdom to share with people, because Peace occurs when people are not lacking–for goods, happiness, leadership, or safety. I always say, “point two fingers, not one,” to indicate that we have to take accountability for our role in the things we do not like.
Now that your trips are behind you, and you are reflecting, has hearing everyone else’s definition of Peace enhanced or altered yours?
Wow, yes, I am still reflecting, that’s for sure. The trip changed a lot of things for me, although not my definition of Peace. Peace is many things. One personal definition is “Peace is how you take care of yourself, your community, and your environment.”
Meeting so many people on the road only confirmed that what was originally considered an idealistic view that we have more in common than we think, is actually true.
What were the biggest challenges of your trip? (Emotional, physical, financial etc)
Let’s face it, a 22,000 mile trip is not cheap. While I saved an extreme amount of gas money, there were other costs. You don’t drive a car with a helmet, armored jacket, armored pants, rainsuit and gloves. Then there are the expenses of eating, sleeping and caffeinating.
I took out a small loan to cover starting costs. Fortunately, I had some sponsors help with the gear and scooter. I wrote Genuine Scooter Company and told them about my plans. WIthin the week the owner decided to give me a scooter and help with repairs along the way. This allowed me to upgrade from a 50cc, top speed 35mph, to a 125cc, top speed 65mph. (although I cruised around 55mph)
The company however, wound up supporting many in other ways–by putting me in touch with the scooter community. Thanks to the far flung, but tight knit community, I had places to stay in almost every state.
The physical part was hard, sure. I rode 8-12 hours a day, on a little vibrating machine that felt every nuance in the road. I saw it as an opportunity to work on my posture. It was also HOT the first time around, especially riding in full gear during 90-100 degree weather. Sometimes it was simply annoying–packing and loading up 3 months of gear into two little bags and then painstakingly securing them to the scooter. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I would show up at a total stranger’s house, exhausted. I always worried about that, about still being present with them even though I wanted to just go to sleep!
But all of that slips away when you ride, when you see our beautiful country, when a stranger opens their house to you, when a person with opposing beliefs defines Peace.
I had to take some precautions traveling alone as a woman, many times on back roads, but it wasn’t that challenging.
People will try to instill fear in you though, and I found out that it simply isn’t as scary a world as people think.
Probably, the biggest challenge was uniting with other liberal organizations. The biggest disappointment I had the whole time was the failure of liberal organizations to team up with me and offer support. I was very idealistic that those working for Peace are willing to work within coalitions. I found that the movement itself is very disenfranchised and run by a few key players who don’t play well with others.
You mention on your website that you just wanted to start non-judgmental conversations about peace. Did you experience any resistance getting those conversations started? Why do you think people were resistant?
Oh, people were surprisingly supportive, even in very conservative climates. My approach, from the beginning, was to be inclusive. I didn’t tell anyone they were wrong or try to change people’s minds-and that makes a difference in the dialog. I simply asked, “What does Peace mean to you.” Of course, there were responses that I didn’t politically agree with, but my role was to facilitate a common ground, and steer us away from an often divisive political framework. I played a beautiful role of “midwiving” people’s thoughts about Peace. Often they were more personal with me, I believe, because there was no threat, no judgement, and because I was leaving the next day.
There is something liberating about sharing your personal stories with a passing stranger-you don’t get that uncomfortable “morning after” feeling.
Sometimes just holding a space to listen to people allows them to listen to themselves-and that will create a life change.
I found, unfortunately, that the hardest conversations were with people my age, whose apathy and mistrust have made them quite jaded. Although, they were often super excited and thought the trip was cool, it was harder for them to delve into the deep conversations.
I never once felt that my life was in danger, by grace, I felt protected and welcomed almost every place I visited. Even in conservative areas people would stop me and offer donations and encouragement. A lot of conservatives also said they don’t approve of the war and although they voted for George W. Bush, they wouldn’t do it again
It took patience and persistence to demonstrate that at a core level, we all have similar wants, needs, and fears.
People are resistant for many reasons; because they believe what they’ve been taught, they recite things without thought, fear of loosing approval, fear of being wrong, fear of the unknown. And honestly, because they fear that terrorists are lurking around every corner. It was interesting to see how a majority of Americans don’t agree with Bush, are embarrassed by his leadership, and yet believe we had to go into Iraq because our way of life was threatened. Propaganda to enforce the governments war agenda takes very deep root in our psyche–and I’m not just speaking of Americans.
Both presidential candidates are making peace promises as they campaign. What is your impression of the politics of peace now during election season?
Well, it’s been interesting to come home and catch up on all the politics. I’m guest blogging on theartofthepossible.net, and a lot of my opinions can be found over there. Dennis Kucinich was the only true Peace candidate, and he dropped out.
Right now both McCain and Obama want to appeal to a vast majority of people. McCain is a dangerous guy, because he thinks only someone who has been to war can lead us to Peace.
I respect Obama for saying that once he is elected, we can’t go back to watching TV, we have to work for change.
I found McCains political ad, “The Summer of Love,” vile and disgusting. First, he tried to steal Obama’s tagline about change, but then he capitalizes on our nation’s idea that to want peace is to not support the soldiers.
I am infuriated by this recurring implication that those involved in peaceful civic engagement do not share the same love of country as those who use weapons to fight for it. These antiquated ideas are still embedded deeply in the American consciousness and often interfere with our ability to apply new approaches to old problems. I see it in our leaders and I have seen it in thousands of my fellow countrymen-regardless of age.
What was the funniest/strangest/most spectacular thing that happened to you while you were on the road?
Well, people should go back and read the blogs from 2007/2008, because it’s hard to isolate just ONE thing out of 6 months on the road.
I think it’s pretty spectacular that I made it safely home after 22,000 miles on a scooter. The people who came out to ride with me in different states was really amazing. One guy came along for 1,300 miles and then turned back around–2,600 miles is pretty epic on these machines!
The Peace ride made it on CNN by a total fluke. My friend had just driven 1,500 miles in 2 days to meet me in Crawford, TX.
We splurged at a nice hotel to soak in the hot tub–we were in Waco, TX.
While I was checking in, I met a really nice lady–we joked around and then went our separate ways. She saw me loading up the scooter the next day and asked where I was headed. I said Crawford. She asked how come and I told her. Turns out that the President was in town and she worked for CNN White House Press.
Pretty random luck of the draw.
Volunteering at FellowShips was a strange experience. I was volunteering around the country, to demonstrate the importance of community action and was assigned to FellowShips. I had no idea exactly how religious the group was until I arrived. At first it was daunting. We listened to Christian rock and they made comments mostly prefaced by, “He says,” or “He knows.” But I had the most incredible day packing up supplies for disaster relief. There was an amazing amount of overlap in our beliefs about how things can improve in our world, and I’m not religious at all.
Trust me–there are many more tales of the road. I will publish a book about the trip in the next year.
Will there be a P.E.A.C.E Scooter in 2009?
No plans as of yet! However, there has been talk in a couple of years, about doing the route again, but with a group of people starting from different parts of the country and meeting in the middle. The routes will be put in a Wikipedia so that people can walk, bike, drive along the largest Peace sign created in history, and help keep it’s dream alive.