After six months on the road, the walking and biking have come to an end. We are both excited to get more involved in our own local communities (DC area for Josh and Toledo for Conor) and will continue to blog about these new experiences.
We are hoping to put our journey into a book about the many experiences and interactions with so many aspects of American culture into a book. If you wish to share about how The Contagious Love Experiment has affected you, positively or negatively, or just any memories you have if we came to visit your town, then we would be appreciative if you share your thoughts below.
From coast to coast and in between, we have been filled with gratefulness, refreshment, and inspiration. There is so much work being done to build community, bring people together, examine society, and examine ourselves and though we don’t know exactly what’s in store for the future, we are excited and hopeful for it.
Many thanks!
Josh and Conor
Hi Josh and Conor,
Congratulations on your amazing journey
What hit me when you spoke at Coffee Strong in Tacoma, WA, was that if Jesus was walking around in the flesh today, He wouldn’t be walking; He would have been riding a bike with you guys. In your youthful vulnerability, I heard Him speaking from ‘the mouths of babes” and it sounded sooooooo good ! I was transfixed by your heartbreaking honesty and your 180 degree transformation.
Hearing and seeing you made it crystal clear to me that a 90 degree, or even 120 degree ‘conversion’ is never going to be enough. The experience put a blinding light on my own attitudes and actions, showing in painful detail where I cut corners in accepting, understanding and loving my ‘enemies’; where I cut myself slack in clutching anger, righteous or not.
Now I know, without a doubt, that the only way to operate in this world is with a smile and and a hand extended to all. And to forgive when it is slapped away, and understand when hate is returned. You have paid the price for this lesson in the tragedies that taught you and in the courage that moved you out into the world, facing the unknown with FAITH in the Ground of Goodness. What you are sharing is priceless.
I’ll be seeking to be ever open to the trust, peace, love and understanding offered in each moment, just waiting for me to stop to enjoy. And also open to the true direction my ‘journey’ is going.
Thanks, from me and the many that you are touching. Now to the next step – “paying it forward’
OX
Nancy
Federal Way, WA
By: Nancy on November 18, 2009
at 1:03 am
The book idea is great. Do it.
I’ve been following your adventure since the time Conor joined. My experience meeting Conor at Bonnaroo was an experience that reaffirmed something that I have long known but forgotten until recently–that we are in a very literal sense truly all one and that compassion and gratitude shared are the path to divinity. It was a profound experience that has affected me deeply and I am certain that the two of you have profoundly affected people and our planet in as very many ways that can be imagined, even if they can’t be readily “known.”
I noted Josh’s use of the phrase “ripple effect” in his response to Gary’s comment on Nov. 16 and that strikes me as the essence of the creative mission that we are all on–spreading love and sharing compassion are acts of ripple-making that recognize that positive emotion doesn’t involve a desire to withhold and is therefore inherently CONTAGIOUS and needs only to be spread to grow and gather strength. Every negative emotion requires a concentration of focus and, to me, seems to be an ego-based reaction based in a desire to hold onto a preconceived notion of outcome (maintaining the status quo, or seeking to force another person to react in a certain way). Trying to force a particular outcome in spite of the infinite creative power possessed by human beings with free will is like trying to keep the pond from rippling.
Its been a pleasure following your journey and it is my sincere hope that you continue to share the love with as many people as you can.
Eddie
By: Eddie Kaye on November 20, 2009
at 5:41 pm
It was so fun to host the two of you after having done some riding and being hosted myself. I felt inspired by how you WERE the message when your talk was met with a lot of leftover anger from past pain.
The way Conor just got up and gave him a hug and Josh carefully and respectfully attempted to understand but also separate a message of nonviolence from one of violent “self-defense”. It was contagious love on turbo and I was glad to be a witness.
The cool dark riding with the colors reflecting off the water on the way home, discussing what would be next. It is here! The end and the beginning. Maybe continue to see each day as the new journey it is, keep riding, and ask for support and what you need because people love to help in a cause that is bigger than them but intuitively part of them.
Many blessings and stay in touch, amigos!
TAD
By: TAD on November 26, 2009
at 4:42 am
When I first read about your story and your project, I was fascinated by the narrative of your upbringing. How your family and school taught history and religion and current events. For a person brought up in a liberal household, these were new and alien thoughts to me, and you helped me to understand how a good Christian could think joining the army and going to Iraq was a good thing to do after 9-11. We liberals and conservatives need to talk more, to hear these stories.
And to listen to your doubts, your justifications, your journey from patriot to realist to pacifism was so tortured, so honest, so sad. I am sure most of us can relate to the way we hear things, the way we see things and the many many times we have ‘let something go’ because it was easier or because everyone else was doing it or because the authorities must know what they are doing.
And then I was amazed at your wisdom – how much you have figured out in your few years. How the war seems to have taught you things that I am still trying to figure out after many more years on this earth.
And to read about your encounters with those who criticized or disagreed with you. How you always managed to listen to them, to find some common ground, to learn, and, for a moment, to teach.
Needless to say your determination, your sacrifice, your discipline are amazing. And if you ever think that you are just one of many people advocating for peace and love and perhaps have not had much affect, remember that is what it will take – many people thinking about what you said, many people acting for peace, many people seeing love as the answer. Inspiring others to do something,off , touching lives, touching hearts. These ripples will spread and with enough of them we will have a tidal wave of peace.
And I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Conor during the New England part of your trip, but I can tell from the stories you both wrote that he is an exceptional young man as well.
And my friends who heard you, who were brought to tears, who were awed by your wisdom, their hearts have been touched too. Your daily stories inspired me and helped me to keep up the good fight, especially on days where I felt discouraged.
I look forward to hearing from and about you in the future – there will be days when I need inspiration. And if I can be of any help, please ask. If you are in the area or I am in your area, I hope we can meet again and find ways to build on your message that love is the answer.
By: Carol Coakley on November 30, 2009
at 12:12 pm
Josh and Conor -
It was great to get together in St. Louis for lunch during your journey.
I think my favorite part of our conversation over some delicious Dewey’s pizza (a St. Louis fav and all of our first times trying it!) was our conversation about talking. As a Communication major, I am very much interested in how people communicate their thoughts and feelings. I think one of the hardest things about talking to war veterans is not knowing what to ask or what is “appropriate” to ask. There is an obvious tension within some conversations because people who have not been in a military setting do not know what types of questions to ask about a soldier’s experience. Should I ask about the soldier feeling lonely? Or about their experience shooting people? Or their favorite care packages they received? On the other hand, a veteran might be frustrated because he/she does not know how to bring up their experiences to a person who has no experience with war. What stories or anecdotes will best describe his/her experience? Or what seems like “too much” info and would bore the other person? This tension on both sides reminded me of a Communication theory known as Relational Dialectics in which there is a tension between disclosure and privacy of information. I talked with Conor and Josh about this because, to me, this is one reason why soldiers have trouble returning from their time serving the army. They do not have good communication outlets that know what questions to ask to get the veterans to talk.
Josh and Conor and I also talked about the reporters that had interviewed them and how sometimes the reporters would frame their questions to try and get specific answers from the two. I thought this was an interesting discussion as well since journalism really shouldn’t be pre-written or bias, but reporters often have a story already formed in their heads (and I’m saying this as a former journalist myself!).
I felt very fortunate to have lunch with these two individuals and I look forward to seeing their story touch more people!
Candace Potter
Student, Saint Louis University
By: Candace Potter on January 7, 2010
at 12:27 am
do you think there is a continuation of the bike hike in europe or even eastern europe?
i want to ride there, and need some people to ride shotgun, and this could be a good plan to get more publicity and even understanding.
By: bob d on April 17, 2010
at 7:41 am