I can ride my bike with no handlebars

I'm naughty. I didnt write. I know.
But onwards and upwards. To the blog!


Ok. Was listening to the song entitled 'Handlebars' by the flowbots.. and i was thinking.. hey i like this song.. for one, but also.. wow a song that actually means something for once.

Lyrics
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
-
Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
[...]
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
[...]
-
Look at me
Look at me
[...]
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to the gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make a computer survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
-
Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone
-
And I can split the atoms of a molecule
-
Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die from exasperation
Have'em all healed from their lacerations
Or have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like 'em
And I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
-
Because I can guide a missile by satellite
-
And I can hit a target through a telescope
-
And I can end the planet in a holocaust In a holocaust
-
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars...



Ok..
so it basically starts of with the childishness that is attempting to ride ones bike without holding on to ones handlebars. At the time it would seem like a bit of childish fun, a silly game that they'll eventually 'grow out of'. Then the song continues.. the task that they can do with ease growing in severity until the final verse ' i can end the planet in a holocaust..'. But what i love about it is how it proves once you let one thing slip, then its just human nature to continue pushing the boundaries. How, letting your son get away with hitting his sister aged 4, putting it down to a bit of childish silliness, would lead to him becoming an abuser in the future. Ok, an extreme example, but still. It perfectly encaptures the arrogance of the average 8 or 9 year old, fancying themselves to be all grown up, and big enough to be above the laws laid down by his mother.
Its to do with pride, the hubris so commonly found in modern life. I think it shows how as we've started to understand how the world works better we've started to gain power over it, to be able to exploit it for our own uses. Now that we understand more (how to split the atoms of a molecule for example), just like the 8 year old, we think we're above its laws, we think that we can mess with the earth and its just going to let us, i guess.
Its about sin, the overwhelming sense of power and ownership that we have now, that causes us to think that we have power over the earth, and that its our right to 'play God'. We didn't think about the possible consequences of riding with no handlebars, just as now we don't think about the possible consequences of using our 'weapons of mass destruction'. We developed these things, but for what? What was the point of pushing the boundaries of science that far, that in under an hour the entire planet could be wiped out. Wouldn't it have been better if we'd respected the world, let nature run its course without feeling the need to interfere. In the end pride, the same pride that leads one to boast about being able to ride a bike without handlebars, leads to the destruction of the world. Has pride taken us too far?
I think its easy to take the song at face value, the catchy lyrics, the nice rhythm. Its way too easy to overlook what lies underneath, lyrics that tell of one of the seven deadly sins and what this humans are capable of under its influence.


xoxo