Some days you just have to wonder what it is that goes through some peoples' minds.
The City of Yorkton recently experimented with a plan to help local folks increase their physical activity and therefore improve general fitness levels while at the same time helping to curb noxious emissions into the atmosphere emitted by internal combustion vehicles, that is, most motor vehicles. A positive spin off might have included a financial saving to participants in lower fuel costs.
The plan, put into practise briefly a couple of summers ago, was to provide free bicycles to Yorkton residents to use whenever they needed or felt the urge to use them.
The city took unclaimed bicycles held at the city compound, painted them yellow and placed them at several convenient locations around the city. The idea was that anyone who needed a bicycle could simply go to any of these locations, help themselves to a bicycle, ride it to the desired destination and drop it off at the closest storage area for someone else to use.
A great idea, one would think. Many large urban centres around the world have implemented similar plans to try to lessen air pollution, decrease traffic congestion and help with fitness levels.
However, it seems the Robbie Burns observation that "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry," (with apologies to Burns for the loose translation) appears to be quite accurate.
Like always, a few ignorant clods had to ruin things for everyone else in the community. In this instance two main types of deviants seemed to emerge from the local ooze.
The first group, the light fingered crowd, felt they needed to personally own the bicycles in question, whether for their own use or for financial gain. They missed the obvious - the bicycles were FREE, and owned by everyone, including them. They were, in fact stealing from themselves.
The second and hopefully small group of socially challenged individuals appeared to delight in trashing the bicycles beyond repair so that no one could enjoy the benefits of the program. Again, whose bicycles were they destroying? Simply put, their own. However, that simple concept eluded these folks. As a result, the average citizen, you and I, pay the price of the folly of a small destructive element.
On the other hand, that element may not, in fact, be all that's small across the country. Just consider what happened in Vancouver after the Canucks were defeated in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. Take a look at the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in London, Ontario recently. Maybe the inmates are indeed running the asylum. Maybe we need to take it back lest we become the inmates ourselves.
