Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

At the beginning of May I’d just finished a rigorous five hour snowshoe adventure through the Hoosier Pass up to 13,000 feet and back with my friends at Savidge Adventures. We’d been high in the back country and hadn’t seen a soul. As we were coming back to our truck we saw eight Harleys and their accompanying leather and chain clad gang of bearded bikers ominously milling around. They looked tough from a distance in all black and it got me thinking, why do we make instant judgments about groups of people who are different than us based on appearance? We’re all a little quick to judge books by their covers.

The closer we got to the group, the more leather and chains we could see but as we got within earshot, one of them asked if I could take a photo of the group. That was my invitation and out came the banter—they wanted to know if I was Australian, if the could take a photo of me on one of their bikes, and we all had a good chuckle. Then I noticed they were all wearing the same “Bikers Against Child Abuse” badge. So I asked lots of questions, like if they’d been abused, and the amazing story of complete kindness they told was a lesson in never judging books by their covers. They offer a protective service to children who have been abused, and have a very clear mission:

Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) exists with the intent to create a safer environment for abused children. We exist as a body of Bikers to empower children to not feel afraid of the world in which they live. We stand ready to lend support to our wounded friends by involving them with an established, united organization. We work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children. We desire to send a clear message to all involved with the abused child that this child is part of our organization, and that we are prepared to lend our physical and emotional support to them by affiliation, and our physical presence. We stand at the ready to shield these children from further abuse.

I particularly enjoyed this: We do not condone the use of violence or physical force in any manner, however, if circumstances arise such that we are the only obstacle preventing a child from further abuse, we stand ready to be that obstacle.

Hoosier Daddy?

UNCOMMON SENSE OBSERVATIONS

• Never judge a book by its cover.
• Questions lead to amazing conversations.
• A smile opens the door to the most interesting insights.
• You can look mean and have a heart of gold.
• Have a clear mission with action included.
• Ask to ride the bike!