National Bike to School day was yesterday (or as I like to call it, Wednesday). I got a picture on my way out yesterday, but this morning’s sunrise was too pretty to not do a retake.

Unfortunately, only a handful out of about 1,000 students where I teach are able to walk to school in this part of town, and only 2 or 3 actually do. None to my knowledge ride a bike. The school is surrounded by neighborhoods on all sides, but apparently the developers expected everyone out here to pile into cars in order to get anywhere, even if it’s just a few blocks away. Despite plenty of space for better design, the neighborhoods are bottlenecked and there are no cut-through paths for people on foot or bikes.

Or to better illustrate my frustration, the city I moved from was very car-centric, but on the other hand our local elementary school looked like this outside daily:

 

But it’s bike month, and if anything, bike month is about hope. Hope that we can remember the joy of riding as a kid, and work to make our towns and communities places where our children and grandchildren can experience that same magic.

 

“There’s the way things are. There’s also the way things could be.
Thankfully, there’s also you.”
~ Kid President