Aren’t we all driven by the same quest, happiness? Aren’t we one in that?

“One love, one heart, one destiny.” (Bob Marley)

Biking our boardwalk is one of the most valuable assets for all who live in or near Long Beach, NY.

But, since many people were speeding on e-bikes as if it were a wooden motocross, our city cracked down. And well they should have. So, now, no electric bikes are permitted.

Even those bikes whose electric power only assists pedaling.

I came across a man whose life has been changed by a pedal-assist electric vehicle. He’s proud to share his name, Michael Moore. Michael is so incensed by this unfairness that he has given me permission to use his name in this essay.

I first met Michael on the New York Avenue on the boards last fall. He told me he was delighted that he could now traverse the entire length of our 2.1-mile boardwalk. Michael used to ride a standard two-wheel bike, but he couldn’t handle one anymore. He’s 66 and has had two hips replaced.

Michael lives just east of Neptune Boulevard in Long Beach, where he moved from Merrick five years ago. He tried walking our boards but could only make it to Long Beach Rd, about four blocks.

So, when he saw a used three-wheeled electric bike, he bought it, installed a new battery, and off he went. He said it’s changed his life.

However, he is now concerned about being pulled over by the Long Beach police. He doesn’t want a ticket, but he does want to continue enjoying his retirement years biking the boards of Long Beach.

Although the bike will move slowly without pedaling, he makes sure he’s pedaling when he sees the police. He said it’s listed as a mobility device, not an e-bike, but he is still concerned.

Michael is loving retirement life.

He loves this American life.

He said, “The thing is, you don’t realize the stuff around you. I’ve been having a little self-realization over the last year or so, getting to know myself a lot better and coming in contact with really great people and just being myself.”

He said, “I went to Ireland and I found my heritage. I stood in my grandfather’s home after 30 years of searching.” Michael said, “Donegal, Ireland, is by the sea. And my relatives said, ‘That’s why you ended up in Long Beach, because you were drawn to the sea.'”

Michael said, “I got a drum in Ireland and I learned how to play it during COVID. And I would walk out to the boardwalk and play it.”

With the trike, Michael said, “I have my drum (in the rear basket), but I really haven’t stopped to play it in a long time because I’ve been getting so much from what I can see now that I’m mobile. It’s wonderful.”

Michael believes in abiding by our laws. Many years ago, he had planned to get married and wanted to be a New York City cop, but he knew his eyesight wasn’t good enough. So he thought he could get by as a court officer.

He said, “Maybe (their eye test) wouldn’t be as bad as the cops.” He said he thought, “Maybe I could sneak in.”

But when he took the test, he failed.

He said after failing the test, “I went to the losers bench.” There, he sat with tears welling in his eyes. He said, “I was getting married in eighteen months.”

He said he handed his eye exam card to an official at the site. However, the man stated that the numbers had not been transposed correctly. He said the man tore up the card and said that he’d have to retake the test.

Michael said the nurse wiped his tears and had him look into the test machine again. He said the machine was related to seeing “quadrants.”

In retaking the test, he said, “At one point, I told the nurse, ‘Upper right,’ and she said, ‘Correct.’ Then she said, ‘Now number two.’ I said upper left. The nurse said, ‘What did you say?’ And I said, ‘Hmmm, upper right,’ and she said, ‘Correct.’ She told him, “You passed.” And I said, “Holy crap, crap, crap, crap.”

He got the job.

He said he can say this all now because the statute of limitations has run out. He said, (They) “Can’t take my pension from me, I hope, but that made my career. I was able to get married.” He said, “I raised two beautiful girls.

Michael said, “You know, that one little act of kindness changed a life.”

I think those test examiners saw themselves in Michael’s situation, and acted on it

“Breaking rules isn’t bad when what you’re doing is more important than the rule itself.” Kim Harrison

Michael worked for twenty-five years as a court officer in Mineola, NY. Then, ten more years in the NYC Office of Court Administration.

Michael’s eyes filled with tears on that long-ago day, but his eyes—filled the bill—in 35 years of service.

Michael is enjoying life now. He said, “None of us is beyond being sad or feeling crappy. You know, I just recently came to this realization that I ain’t wasting time anymore.”

Michael said, “Now, for the first time in five years, I can see the whole vista of Long Beach, and it’s just so much fun—and so freeing.”

Michael said, “We all put costumes on and do what we have to do to get what we have to get.” He said, “But all those things are in our minds, and the beauty of nature, the skies, the birds, the waves, that’s all going to be there, whatever we do.

He said, “We create our own hell, and then we choose to live in it, until we free ourselves from it. When you look at nature, it settles us.”

This past June Michael pointed and asked me to look down at the boardwalk’s converging lines, all the way to its vanishing point. I asked him to point again for my camera. He did it with that magnificent Michael smile.

Michael said, “Look at that; it’s a painting.’ It’s a painting every day.” He said, “I ride down there and all I do is smile; I smile the entire way.”

After meeting Michael, I’ve learned he’s a passionate American who just loves being alive. He is more fully present in a day than many of us are in our entire lives.

Sure, we need rules and laws. We need job standards, too. But maybe once in a while, it’s okay to bend a rule.

When I became a cop, you had to be 5’8″, and luckily I was 5’9″.

In later years, that height demand was eliminated; there is no height requirement today. But how many good people would have been fantastic NYC cops were it not for that height rule? Maybe eyesight doesn’t need to be laser sharp either.

Perhaps our City by the Sea can see a way to grant some discretion—some grace—to Michael and all our other boardwalk Michaels.

Maybe, like those eye test examiners, we need to see ourselves in others’ pursuit of happiness, here at home, and around our tiny blue planet.

Bob Marley wasn’t an American citizen when he called for togetherness in singing, “Let’s get together and feel alright.” But we need to—get together—and feel alright.

Be well,

Leebythesea

See my darker side blog; Wherethesundontshine