Can intimidation cement our place in the world?

Mothers of the world – have you ever wanted a day off? I can hear the answer even before the question is out of my keyboard. “Just a little break!” I hear you saying. One day not so long ago I had that chance. I gassed up my little car and headed for the coastal mountains of California to drive through the park with all the old growth trees. It was a beautiful spring day, cool breezes, distant views of the ocean. As I cruised along suddenly the pavement ended and the road was now just packed dirt – the trees were larger than ever and the silence was palpable. I slowed my pace and just quietly ambled along, thanking Heaven for this blissful solitude. But this was not to last forever!

As I came around a sharp bend in the road I was dismayed to see a large group of people right on the road itself. Getting closer, it was obvious that they were on motorbikes and they were blocking the road. In fact, it was a line of about 12 motorcycles, each one with a rider, spaced evenly across the road, facing me and effectively blocking my passage! It had to be me they were blocking – there was no car, no person anywhere else. Heart pounding, I inched up toward this group. They were not park patrols or cops! They were seated on huge motorbikes and they all wore black leather motorcycle jackets, some of them even wore black leather chaps, they all had impressive biker leather boots and gloves, bandannas tied on their heads and they were wearing biker goggles, the kind that keep you from seeing their eyes. They were immobile, silent, and facing me. How could I know their intent! Their facade was inscrutable!

Fear fought with curiosity! There was no way to know what they were going to do. There was no escape short of abandoning the car and making a dash into the woods. But in my heart I knew they could be armed. Stories of the escapades of the Hell’s Angels flooded into my fevered brain. Stories of teenagers going to the beach with their girlfriends and having the bikers steal their girls and their food and drink. Stories of the aggressive stance these biker clubs took in many other ways, activities that were outside of the law. They often created fear just with their black leather outfits and their in-your-face attitude.

At this point I had to pick an action – the bikers were challenging me to it. I reminded myself that I was just a mom out for a drive, I hadn’t done anything to anyone and I deserved (rightly or wrongly) to live. I left the windows rolled down, stepped on the accelerator and slowly drove right toward the middle of the line, right toward the bikers. The line held firm until I was just a few yards away, then one by one the bikers peeled away toward the side of the road and I passed them and continued on unobstructed!