Ron’s Theory Of Relativity (Go ahead click on it, you know you’re curious!)

It’s said that Einstein thought of his theory of relativity while riding a bike. Guess what? I thought of my theory of relativity on a bike, too! How cool is that? Mine’s a lot simpler without all the mathematical formulas and stuff. Ready? Wait for it . . . Wait for it . . . Okay, here it is:

“The Longer You Ride, The Stronger You Ride”

That’s it. Complete. The whole nutshell. The whole Enchilada. Okay, Okay, Okay. Here’s how it works . . .  

In 1996 I was surprised to see the parent of one of my choir kids on a bike at a concert we did on the bay front. We were about six miles from his house and I asked incredulously, “Did you ride your bike down here?” I was a bit amazed. I looked down at my middle age spread that was slowly developing and asked Roger (the biking parent), all kinds of questions. The next week I went out and bought a bike. 

Fast forward 14 years and 27,000 miles later . . .

It’s all relative don’t you see? For cyclists reading this, you totally get it. The rest of you will just have to believe me. If I ride 12 miles and I’m exhausted, but the next time out I ride 15 miles, then the 12 miles doesn’t seem nearly so far. And if I ride 20 miles the next time, the 12 mile distance becomes even easier.

When I first ride out to Coronado Island from my house after not riding for a while, I get pretty tired. From my driveway to the tip of the island is 40.26 miles roundtrip. After I’ve done that a couple of times it gets easier and I lengthen the distance and ride to La Jolla. 50 miles roundtrip. Then I go from my home further up the coast to Del Mar. 70 miles roundtrip. Ultimately I ride along the coast to Carlsbad. 100 miles roundtrip. Now you’re either getting tired reading this, or incredulous, or you’re already starting to feel the effect of Ron’s Theory Of Relativity as your mind expands.

Each time I add distance, the old distance which seemed so far at the time, becomes easier. If I’m riding 100 miles its not unusual to think to myself, “Wow, that 50 miles just flew by!” But if I’m on a 50 mile ride. Then the mindset shifts and at the end of 50 miles I’m thinking, “Whew! That was a long way!” See your mind automatically works out Ron’s Theory Of Relativity each time you ride.

Or each time you do anything else in your life. Say you’re raising money for a bike ride. That first $500 may seem like a bunch to get together, but once that’s under your belt, the next $500 comes easier. And the next  . . . you get it. Remember Roger and the 12 mile bike trip? That seems easy now doesn’t it? That’s my theory of relativity and I’m stickin’ to it. I’ve applied it in so many areas of my life.

If I’m rehearsing my choir and we’ve got 150 pages of music to learn, that seems insurmountable at that first rehearsal. But then five rehearsals later and we’re on page 108, and the insurmountable becomes surmountable. The unthinkable becomes thinkable. The undoable becomes doable. The unsingable becomes singable, ad infinitum. Ad infinitum  . . . see that’s my theory kicking in!

We used to travel a lot with our high school show choirs. We went to 17 countries on 4 continents over the years. We performed at all four Disney properties (at that time), around the world. I remember my 25^th year directing at that school. (Talk about Ron’s Theory Of Relativity. When you’re in year one. It seems like a really long year. But by year 25, you really have no idea where the time went!)  Anyway, it was the beginning of the school year and I went to the copy room to make some copies. A bright perky young teacher asked me what my goals and objectives were for the year. (Only a bright, perky, young teacher would use language like that!) I told her that my choir had performed at three of the four Disney properties around the world and this year we were going to perform at the fourth property in Japan. She looked at me with puzzled wide eyes. Her jaw gaped open. She sighed and looked back down at the copier and muttered something about her plan was to get her kids ready to pass the next chapter test.

My theory of choir directing was that the more performances we did, the higher the comfort level of the performers and consequently their excellence as performers would also rise. By the end of the first semester we had done more performances than most choirs did in a year. So when the choir festival competitions came around in the second semester, we had a tremendous advantage over other choirs. The more you perform the better you perform. The longer you ride the stronger you ride. It’s that simple. Yeah, that’s it folks . . . the secret to my choir’s success over the 25 years I spent directing choirs at one local high school. 444 awards later, not only my mind, but the minds of the kids, the parents, the school, the community, the other choirs, even the festival judges, had all reset themselves. The expectations were high. Ron’s Theory Of Relativity had kicked into high gear.

So let’s bring this full circle. Let’s get back to putting in the miles. With my choirs some years we went to great lengths, (see what I did there?), to make Ron’s Theory Of Relativity a reality for our students. We traveled. At first it was from San Diego to Los Angeles. Then we went to Reno, Nevada. Winning that competition set us up to go to the world’s largest festival in The Netherlands, and the world’s best known festival in Montreaux, Switzerland. See how the mind expands? You haven’t even been on the trips, but just reading about it you can see the possibilities. And when we returned from two weeks overseas, the choir was unbeatable!

The trips were always a highlight. The choir would bond together on a trip in ways that they never would by going to the elementary school down the street to do an assembly. We transcended being an ensemble, being a team, to being a family. Oh we still did those local elementary school and women’s club shows too, that’s what created the measuring stick for that theory of relativity thing. That’s what gave us perspective. But the longer trips, the longer measuring sticks, those were life changing. Those created the memories of a lifetime. Those put our show choir on the map. (See what I did there?) The doors that were opened to us through music were truly amazing. And we’re not just talking about “Magic Kingdom” doors here. Performing in all those Disney properties; performing in the Sydney Opera House; performing on the same stage as Duke Ellington; performing twice in the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; being the first high school show choir from the United States to perform in the People’s Republic Of China. Seeing the Coliseum, Performing in the glowworm caves in New Zealand, Performing in the rain on the streets of Paris, Performing in the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Seeing the Great Wall Of China. We’re talking about Holland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Wales, Scotland, England, Italy, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and of course all over the U.S.A. Always huge memories . . . the longer the trip the stronger the troupe. The longer you ride, the stronger you ride.

I’m guessing you’ve experienced Ron’s Theory Of Relativity while reading this. Maybe just because of the length of this piece, or maybe your mind has expanded as the miles I’ve mentioned have expanded. Some miles on bikes, some on buses . . . it’s all relative.  

I believe our ultimate relativity experience is the time we spend on this mortal coil, versus the totality of our eternal life. The life we live on this side of eternity, however long it may seem, is infinitely small when compared to the limitless sky of an eternal life. How are you spending life on earth? Do you see your life as Teilhard De Chardin saw life . . . "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Do you start each day asking how you can be the biggest blessing to someone else? Try that for a week. Your sense of relativity, importance, significance, purpose, and meaning will all expand. I guarantee it.