When I attended a three-day motorcycle riding education workshop, three truths were drummed into me.
First, most motorcycle accidents not involving being hit by someone who did not see you are self-inflicted events. Specifically, the rider takes a corner too quickly. Entering the turn too fast is a sure formula for losing control and being in the crash which follows.
Second, to ensure you do not enter to quickly, repeat and follow the phrase slow, roll, and go. Come into the corner slowly, roll through the apex, and when you can see the exit, go. Admittedly, it is good to start with slow entries. With knowledge of yourself and the bike, there is a clear comfort zone which emerges. If in doubt, come in slow. Rolling through the apex is the easy part. Knowing when to go links to the third truth.
Third, your path always follows your eyes. See a motorcycle racer in a corner in slow motion and watch where he is looking, always to the exit. Once he can see the exit, go go go, always follows.
With time, the advice of slow, roll, and go has extended itself into other ways of understanding what I am doing. The application which hit home recently is one around me heroes. The lessons I have taken away include the following.
Be slow in making another into a hero. Carry the psalmist’s warning in your back pocket, “Those who make and trust them become like them.” (Psalm 135.18)
Roll in and through experience to understand the values and principles in action. Words are nice. The “but” is the hard true in how actions reveal one’s true heart.
When one sees the heart and soul and is lifted towards compassion, kindness, and care in the process, let the relationship go. With Divinity one can be assured it is a god worth following. With fellow beings, it is always good to remember we are all human. My heroes have flaws and weaknesses. In Divinity, each is, along with you and me, whole.
Slow, roll, and go go go!
