Us, and Them

I was reading one of the motorcycle blogs I follow. It's someone who basically admits to being a "grumpy old man, stuck in his ways". He makes it clear that he doesn't mean for his words to be taken too far, that it's his opinions, and if you don't agree, that's fine. He'll probably still think he's right and you're wrong, but that's ok. That's life. He threw out some opinions about a brand or two of motorcycles. Got some flack. Turned out I owned one of the ones he dissed. Stung a little, but like good writing, it got me thinking.

It got me thinking about the things we own, and how we view them, what they mean or don't mean. I thought long and hard about which two wheels to make my own, researched it for a time, then made my choice and bought one. You start with the broad categories, like cruisers, sport bikes, standard bike, adventure bikes, off-road. Once you decide which one you want, or that would fit your needs, and that would fit your price range, you start looking at the brands. You have your regular Japanese companies. You have your American ones. You have a few European ones. In each case, it may vary from model to model where they're actually put together. Some are for the "regular joe" (or "Jane"), while others might seem be a bit more exotic. Maybe you want it to look a certain way. Maybe you want it to be easy to work on. Maybe power is the most important thing. Maybe you want a dealer in any major city. Maybe you want new, or maybe you want it to be used. Maybe you want as much horsepower as you can afford, or maybe that isn't your main criteria. Then you make your choice and buy it.

That's where it gets interesting to me. If I buy a Harley, to a lot of people this means something about me. If I buy a European bike, same thing. If I buy new or old means something. Maybe it's living in a country where capitalism is the economic system that makes our possessions mean more than if we didn't. But we become part of a group, maybe even a tribe. For me, not caring much about cars, I have a fairly reliable late 90's car. It does what I ask, doesn't need much work, and can be repaired by any mechanic who knows much at all. But I'm into motorcycles, so those same things don't mean the same. I have a bike some would call an exotic brand, that not every motorcycle shop would know how to work on, that is more expensive for parts, and more expensive than a similar bike by the non-exotic brands. But it added up to what I wanted. What does that tell you about me? Does that make me impractical? A hipster? Depends on who you ask. Could it also just mean that I'm someone who doesn't feel like I belong to any group, so I chose a bike that doesn't belong to too many people? Maybe.

But with some people, our possessions separate us, make us into "us, and them". I fall into the same sometimes, but try to resist it. I'll wave at any other biker or scooter-rider I see. Most are friendly. A few ignore me, and one or two have given me an angry look. Like I said, though, most are friendly. Most see the bigger tribe of motorcycles, while a few see only the small tribes of this brand or that brand.

It's hard for me not to generalize, though. Right now, there are people in some religious tribes who want to set up their own world, and the method is by eliminating all obstacles, i.e. anyone who isn't in their tribe. Their reasons are partly the crazy reasons of any standard madmen, but the rest of the world is not without their faults, not without a few mad things we've done to set up the world the way it is. It seems, sometimes, that we just naturally create or join groups. Maybe it's religion. Maybe it's politics. Maybe it's just the culture we think is best. Maybe it's what motorcycle you bought and ride. Something in our long journey from little furry animals to what we are now makes us most comfortable in groups - we are the children of generations and generations of people who gathered in groups to survive. Now, survival isn't the reason, but we group together just the same. It makes me a little sad, but then again I'm not much for groups. I think I wish there was a group for me, but have always felt I had to give up something dear to be in them. But each choice, in the eyes of some people, define who we are, or worse, simply reveal who we were all along.