I recovered from my hangover thanks to the passage of time, a weekend trip to the Stillaguamish River, and a conversation with the group moderators. We discussed the inherent tension of this phenomenon: someone makes up their mind to give something away and their expectations are set, either ex nihilo or from prior experience. Unfortunately, people tend to forget that the notion of getting stuff for nothing might attract a different kind of person than what you might find at Westlake Mall. Not that we’re all beggars, but one of the reasons for doing this is to reduce the impact of consumerism on the whole system: fewer car trips, thoroughly used up products or multiple uses of a product.
Anyway, my latest adventure has revolved around getting some bikes for a school bike safety program. I put up a WANTED listing for bikes and/or parts. Lo and behold, I now have 9 bikes, complete, and we have a line on a “truckload” of more of them. They’re not the latest thing from Trek or Specialized but they are good deal better than nothing: for some, it will be their first experience with a bike.
I’ve always wanted to be a philanthropist, but I never had — or just assumed it took — loads of money. There are other ways to get there, it seems.