Riding a Bike

There is an old expression used in remembering how to do something: "It's like riding a bike." The implication here is that once one learns how to do a particular thing, they never forget. The "thing" can be most anything ranging from swimming and making toast to doing jumping jacks or actually riding a bike. I recognize there is comfort in this axiom. It feels good to think that once we learn how to do something we never have to relearn it. No question about it, the thought that one or anything stays in our head forever does bring with it a certain peace of mind that is hard to match. There is, after all, a certain level of security that comes in believing some deposits will forever remain in our intellectual bank.


At the risk of sounding like a killjoy, however, I am not sure if this true. Let's look at communication. Making a connection with another person, for example, is not something one can do once and then never have to worry about again. Communication is nothing if not fluid. There is little guarantee a particular act of communicating that might succeed one day will achieve a similar result the next. The reason for this is the reality of ever-changing variables that have a direct impact on both the sender and receiver of a communication message. Thus, when it comes to two people connecting, each encounter represents a new start. This is what makes communication such a challenge.


I mention the old quote about riding a bike as this is something - after over six decades of living - I just recently learned how to do. While I am far from perfect, I, at least, have the ability to remain atop a bike, keep it moving, and not fall off. The steps needed to make those things happen will never change. But I would not begin comparing it to the act of communication because the steps to make that work do, in fact, change from encounter to encounter.