I stole this from Grant Peterson (here is the link to his post).
I love my RB-1, I liked Grant's book, and I frequently find that I like the way Grant's mind works. So I thought I'd post it here to help spread the love:
"calling all….
Here’s a letter I got a couple of days ago.Grant,
We live in a small world. I have a request - but I need to explain,
so bear with me. My mother is in a nursing home. I visit her every day
and in the course of my visits have come to know some of the other
residents and I regularly visit with a number of them. I met a new
resident in the hall some weeks back and we have been greeting one
another and exchanging a few words. I could tell from his skin color
that he was a cancer patient, and I have since learned that he is. He
is very sick, Stage 4 prostate cancer. Two weeks or so ago I saw him in
the hall and he was wearing a MUSA shirt, but he was tired and we didn’t
talk. Last week he was riding a recumbent in the parking lot with his
son watching - wearing MUSA pants. I asked him about the pants and he
told me he was an old Bridgestone fan. He wasn’t feeling well, but as I
was walking away his sister rode up to visit on a beautiful RB2 that he
had bought for her. Tonight he showed me his trike that he has stashed
on the 2nd floor of the nursing home. He rides it for therapy. The
short(er) story is that he and most of his family members ride
Bridgestones from your era. His name is Nick
Cassell, and he has one of each Bridgestone model, I understand he
locally raced an RB1. I talked with him tonight. He remains a big fan of
yours, back problems have kept him from buying a Riv, he has been on
recumbents for some time, but enjoys the MUSA gear and admires the Riv
bikes. He said he has chatted with you in the past. I want to get him
something for his room and thought a big Riv pennant would be nice. If I
buy one will you write a “best wishes …’ or something and sign it? I
know he would appreciate it.
Bob
Robert C. Barr
——-
The pennant is easy, the pennant—done. What would you do?
Can we/you do more? Nick has Stage Four prostate cancer. It has spread
around, and there is no Stage Five, and I think thre’s no recovery,
which rules out get well cards and “You’re in my prayers.”
What does it not rule out? — from
strangers—us here, although we have spoken, it has been years; and you
out there. Don’t go away—-in a minute or so I’m going to offer up a
good, easy idea that any of you reading this can pull off without a
chance of offending, with no awkwardness, with no even dread-of-doing.
I recently finished Mortality, the book Christopher
Hitchens wrote while he was dying of esophageal cancer. On page 18, and
then 37-43 or so, he gives advice on how to talk to people who are dying
of cancer. You will either be that person, or will know people on that
bike and will find the tips useful.
I think — rather than think already longer than the already two
hours I’ve given this What can we do? question — it comes down to this.
Draw a simple bicycle, a one-try/first shot-at-it bicycle. Do it on a
Genuine Postcard and use a Genuine Stamp and sign your name and
city/state and mail it to:
Hooverwood Hospital
7001 Hoover Road
Indianapolis, IN 46260 -4169
attn: Nick Cassell
Postcards, he can flip through or put on the wall. Postcards are so
great, stamps look so good, and this one’s easy. Nick will know he
registers and matters and is being thought about by kind strangers, and
that can’t be a bad thing. If you have children, what a good project
(this, suggested by a customer whose kids sent him cards),"
I already sent a postcard to Nick. It was an image of a beautiful ribbon of dirt where the Winds meet the Great Basin-- a classic piece of the Divide. I drew a picture of a bike with fat tires and a saddleback winding down a road with mountains in the distance.
ReplyDeleteI am now a very big fan of postcards. There are two on my desk with your address on them, as we speak. One for "little" and one for big.
nicholas
done.
ReplyDeleterad.
thanks for posting.