When I bought my first car I adopted the habit of naming certain things that are close to me. My car's name became the desired name for my first kid, Cale; my computer's name became Sebastian (which I've decided to name all of my computers in my life); my hockey stick's name became Lucius; and my bike's name became Alexis. The bike, which was a BMX bike, was beautiful, smooth, powerful, and very flexible.
The more serious I became about biking, though, the more I realized that I needed to upgrade from a BMX bike. Almost every kid starts out on a BMX bike. They're easy to ride, good enough to off-road on, and they have a "cool" appeal because you can easily do tricks on a BMX bike. As I got older biking was less about riding around and doing tricks and looking cool and more about enjoying nature while getting some good exercise. Because BMX bikes only have one gear, riding long distances or at moderately high speeds can be rather difficult, so I couldn't really enjoy all that much of nature. Believe it or not, I only bought my current road-bike about 7 months ago in September. My love of nature has only been a recent maturation, thus I was only recently compelled to get a more suitable bike for my extensive riding.
Since I got the bike (I don't like to say that I 'bought' the bike, because I'm a little weird and like to think that it has a personality of its own) I've struggled with naming it. Many people would say it makes sense to name the bike a girl, because I'm a guy, but then those same people think I should name my car a girl and I clearly haven't done that. But I wanted to, because I named my previous bike Alexis, and that is just too beautiful a name to give up on. Plus, I had used all my favorite boy's names already with Cale, Sebastian, and Lucius. Decisions decisions.
In the end, I decided that I should stop using names that I simply think sound cool and name the bike that would help me reduce my carbon footprint something meaningful. I started thinking about the people who have most inspired me in life. I thought of Dorothy (for Dorothy Day); Will (for William Wilberforce); Wesley (for John Wesley); Artie, and Jess (for my best friends); Biko (for Stephen Biko); and Soren (for Soren Aabye Kierkegaard). All these names had a certain ring to them, as well as plenty of meaning for me, and some have a ton of meaning for all the world. Eventually, though, I landed on naming my bike, "Cato."
Now, Wilberforce, Wesley, Biko, Day, and Kierkegaard all have had major influence on the spiritual and political argument for freedom and equal rights and dignity to all, and so would have had lots to say in terms of my current mission on behalf of the 27 million slaves in the world today. To be honest, I chose Cato partly because I thought it had the best sound to it.
But Cato carries a lot of meaning as well. You've probably been reading this post wondering, "Why is he telling me about his bike's name?" Well, my dear readers, the life of Cato the Younger bears a lot of weight on our current situation staring down the terrible and widespread ill of human trafficking. Cato was a Roman statesman in the time of Julius Caesar. Even from the early age of 4, Cato was known for his stubbornness. Never in his life did Cato accept an argument simply because it sounded nice, and never in his life did he accept something for his own personal benefit. Cato lived simply and righteously, always fighting for the republic of Rome, the rights of the people, against the corruption of the Roman government. When Julius Caesar and his famous Triumvirate (you don't need to know what the Triumvirate was, I won't be quizzing you) started to gain a monopoly of power over the Roman Empire, Cato risked his political career and his well-being to argue against the influence of Caesar. We know the end of the story. We know that Caesar crossed the Rubicon and seized ultimate control of the Roman government. That fact alone could help you guess what happened to Cato: not long after Caesar took control of Rome, Cato died in opposition to Caesar. From my Christian perspective it is unfortunate that Cato committed suicide. According to tradition, though, he took his own life not out of despair but as one final dagger thrust into Caesar's pride and power, making sure that Julius Caesar did not have the opportunity to gain more fame by killing the great Cato.
Throughout the ages, Romans looked to Cato as the model for upholding the republic. As the Roman Senate lost more and more control and the Emperor used the empire as his own playground, some few upright senators tried to use Cato's example to return the empire to its roots. Those of us looking back on Cato's engagement in Roman politics might still be disillusioned, because he did not consider equal rights to include women. "Sure," we might say, "he took it upon himself to bring to trial all those who were contributing to the corruption of the government, all those who exploited others for personal gain, and all those who lived a licentious life, but he didn't fight for equal rights for women or the people that Rome conquered." I have nothing to say to that. To some extent all the people we look up to from the past have this crime against their name. Hopefully we can focus on why Cato should still be a model for our lives.
At a time when everyone preferred to bribe Caesar to save their own lives, Cato railed against Caesar for destroying Rome's republican virtues. At a time when most people viewed government positions as opportunities to exploit the people and live in obscene luxury, Cato lived only with the simple necessities and brought just about the entire government to trial. I think Cato is a perfect example for us here and now. Human trafficking seems to be so widespread, so established, and so profitable, that there's really no hope in eradicating it from our midst. Yet, Cato continued to fight for what was right no matter what the costs, no matter how tall and steep the mountain he had to climb.
In his early years, as still a teenager, Cato witnessed the dictator-model for Caesar, Sulla, executing noble Romans who opposed him. Sulla had essentially done what Caesar would later do, he had taken total control of Rome. In order to gain total control Sulla had to kill all the powerful people that opposed him. As Cato stood witnessing this, he wondered why no one had killed Sulla, the dictator. Cato's tutor responded, "They all fear him more than they hate him." Cato's response, which will stay with me all my days, was, "Give me a sword, that I might free my country from slavery." The tutor had to remove Cato from the scene, fearing that Cato actually would take up a sword and attempt to kill Sulla.
As a teenager, Cato had no hope to single-handedly fight his way through to Sulla and kill him. Actually, no matter what age he was, no one could think to do that alone. Yet Cato so hated the thought of his republican country, founded on the ideal of democracy and the people's rights, could be yoked to the chains of slavery that he was willing to fight to the death, if for no other outcome than to be martyr. I am a pacifist and do not condone such behavior, but the attitude is one that we need to regain. We should not be afraid to stand up to the evil forces of our society that seem to be too powerful to conquer. We should not be afraid to live differently than the people around us and instead choose a harder yet more righteous, more peaceful, more justice-filled, more loving life. We have the opportunity to take up our metaphorical swords to free our country from slavery. We should not back down simply because the task seems too great.
Preparing for this bike trip, I've heard a lot of people say something along the lines of, "John, this is great what you're doing, but don't you think it's too much? Couldn't you bike across just half the country? Or maybe just a couple of cities? And do you really think that what you are doing will help any? Is this really the best way to fight against human trafficking? You shouldn't take on such a huge project, and you certainly shouldn't take on so much responsibility." I suppose all I can say to those people is that I am honored to ride as far as I can on the back of Cato. I'm not afraid to die, if it comes to that (and please God it doesn't!), because anything bad that may happen to me will happen with Cato as my advocate. If people choose to look down on my efforts as not worthwhile, not meaningful, not powerful enough; if people choose to not donate much more than the casual $20 they can find in their overflowing wallet, I will not despair, I will not give up hope, I will not stop because the wheels of Cato will carry me forward, revolution by revolution.
Human trafficking too big of an issue for one person's efforts to make a difference? Not with the memory of Cato coming with me into battle to free God's people from slavery.
No comments:
Post a Comment