RESPECT AND THE REBEL* The singular word most often associated with Lynn was RESPECT. Among the women, the awe—the RELIEF-- of being able to share SPACE and share SECRETS with a man whose respect was so magnanimous, that you could sit, unthreatened, in the intimacy of his office, his workshop, or even his arms, without fear of personal trespass in such close proximity. Without fear of violation. In other words, TO TRUST A MAN. ..Indeed, the men who knew him owe him for that—for giving us women HOPE that our men would be capable of such honor, such respect, such grace. Such TRUST. The Men spoke of the respect Lynn gave them, leading by example rather than try to drill or give advice, learning to be a man with character and self-esteem , becoming the man who UNDERSTOOD THE MOTORCYCLE; WHO RODE THE MOTORCYCLE , not just buying one—WORTHY of the machine. (And LET US NOT FORGET, THAT is because Lynn also had a RESPECT FOR THE MACHINE.) But the RESPECT I associate with Lynn was that he taught me to respect HIM. He taught me that YES, we were friends, but HE TOO had certain needs and a protocol that I had to respect, such as NOT texting him in the middle of the night, and not even until 10 AM. Like most people, he needed to sleep. Or like NOT CALLING HIM AT 8 AM as he had a business to run that included Other People’s Bikes. Not trying to suggest ways to “help” him because I “thought” I knew how to search online better than most people, or I thought maybe I knew something about bikes... It was LYNN who taught me to shut up and respect the years of knowledge he had, as a business man and indeed as a businessman whose friends were all bikers too, and like everyone before me, I HAD TO LEARN to respect HIM. This was a lesson I learned with great frustration, and anger, and impatience, so much so that I thought he was just a cranky ol’ man who didn’t like me, and didn’t have patience for me (or for my “import bike”)… Yeah, at the time, I THOUGHT THAT. WOW. You could say I was so wrong. You could say this was the greatest lesson anyone could ask for. RESPECT for others gives you respect for yourself. I love you, Lynn. Thank you for not giving up on me. RESPECT-FULLY, bacpac *This is a contribution from me as Perry Nelson mentioned writing about RESPECT during the Memorial. I wrote this in response to that, as I did not share at the podium that day. Stretch Steve Eacret gave us the Men’s lesson, and Sibbie Sibbi Edwards paraphrased for the women, I believe.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 22:53:10 +0000
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