Brenda’s Blog – July 11, 2023
“Hey, you there in the cage!”
Driving south on Interstate 75 in Florida I was part of the parade of slowly moving vehicles occupied by snowbirds trading snow blowers for golf clubs.
A billboard caught my eye – it was an enormous Harley Davidson ad with giant letters, “Hey, there, you in the cage!” The image of a powerful motorcycle ridden by a joyful middle ager made me laugh. Their marketing department knew the audience and impeccably timed the placement.
Although I will never cruise down the highway atop two wheels and listening to the trademarked Harley roar, I can identity with living in a cage. Don’t we all live within boundaries of our own making? We make choices throughout life which defines the size and scope of our cages.
When young we can look around, decide we aren’t happy with the box, and make changes. The older we get the fewer our options and the more permanent is our cage. Therefore, what we think and do makes a difference. My Dad used to say when we are young we write our plans and see the consequences in pencil. There is an eraser. At some point in our lives the pencil is traded for a pen. No eraser and much more permanent implications.
So, as I laughed at the Harley Davidson marketing department’s genius reach out on that Florida interstate I did have to think about what decisions I was making and what my cage was going to be.