Sneaky Things

Ace checked his daily email messages and happily noticed one that he gets regularly from his best friend from childhood. They have been corresponding for years which keeps their friendship close though they live 1200 miles apart. They share the events of the day, usually sprinkled with a reference to their childhood or inside jokes that they once had. In today's email, his friend was telling him the tale of his work day and some funny things that had happened. He mentioned waiting for the boss to leave before getting some work done in an unorthodox way and added, "I love doing sneaky things sometimes." Ace laughed in agreement. He finished reading and then headed out the door to take a ride. The sun was bright and the summer air was still cool after the night rains. He threw his leg over the saddle of the bike and fired it up. He rolled away.

Has he rode in and out of the shadows of the tree lined country roads he felt the temps change on his skin. He smiled with the thought of his friend's email and that old familiar feeling of enjoying some sneaky things. It was fun as a kid and it's still fun today. To Ace, it is a childlike quality that makes him feel alive. Then it occurred to him; this is why he likes riding his hawg so much. It's that feeling that you're getting away with something in a world of tight-asses and laws. It's riding in the wind while the cagers travel enveloped in their so-called safety engineered vehicles with their mandatory seat belts strapping them down. Sure, it's the feeling of freedom like a bird in flight, but it's also freedom from a tyrannical government. In this "land of the free, home of the brave", think of one thing you'd really like to do and then tell me how you would do it if there wasn't a law impeding you. For example, you want to go for a ride? Think of all of the laws that one must follow just to legally sit on a bike and twist the throttle and putt done a backroad. Helmets? Licenses? Where you can display the tag? Mirrors? Turn signals? Safety inspections? Exhaust emissions? Loud pipes? Speed limits? Get the idea? There is a law for everything to obstruct us from having the freedom to do the simplest things. Want to walk to the store? Better not J-walk. Want to listen to music? Not too loud! How do we not do sneaky things? We cannot function without continually crossing a myriad of invisible, government imposed lines and risk suffering the consequences. We are not a nation that honors civil liberties, we are a nation of laws. We believe politicians when they tell us that they will make changes for the better though we know in our hearts that they are all liars. That is doing a sneaky thing to yourself; how screwed up is that? So Ace will continue on enjoying the feeling of freedom that comes with riding. He will fight the daily fight to retain his independence and smile as, once in a while, he decides to do a sneaky thing.