Paralyzed and now beaten - by his wife...

The news feeds are full of the tragic story of a famous motorcycle stunt rider named Eddie Kidd who has allegedly been being beaten by his wife Samantha.

The former stunt rider performed stunts in many films for many actors: Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights, Roger Moore and Michael Caine in Bullseye, Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye and Val Kilmer in Top Secret.

One of his most famous motorcycle stunts was in the 1979 film Hanover Street starring Harrison Ford. Doubling for Ford, he jumped a 120 feet railway cutting at 90 miles per hour in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.  Robbie Knievel challenged Kidd to a world title motorcycle 'jump off' competition in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993 and Kidd won.

In 1996, Kidd performed a pretty tame stunt at the Bulldog Bash Kidd - a jump of approximately 50 ft across a drag strip. There was a short landing area beyond the drag strip that consisted of an uphill incline leading to the edge of a steep embankment. He completed the jump and landed the bike upright on two wheels, but his chin struck the fuel tank and he was knocked unconscious. As a result, he was unable to prevent his bike from continuing up and over the 20 ft embankment edge. Kidd sustained serious head and pelvic injuries in the resulting fall. He spent three months in coma.

I can not imagine being paralyzed and victimized by the person who is supposed to be caring for you. Eddie and Samantha had dated for sometime back in 1988, in 2007 they met again and began a relationship so it's not like he wasn't already in a wheelchair and she didn't know what she was signing up for.

If the allegations are true and she really did beat the man - why, what made her do that?

It's all so very sad.

In other news:

Honda will field a team of three for the upcoming Dakar Rally.

Marc Coma will be sitting the Dakar out...

26 Angels Fund was launched by members of the Renegade Knights Firefighter Motorcycle Club of Fairfield County to support those affected by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.

If you like motorcycle movies check out the free offer from MCN-TV!

Boot Hill Saloon & Strip Club Choppers have inked a deal that will see the two companies working together for Daytona Bike Week 2013 - they are offering a whole ton of FREEBIES.

There are many other items in the news feeds that may affect your day or life as a rider, check it out at www.beltdrivebetty.com where our work is keeping You informed!

I leave you with a few funnies shared with me by friends on Facebook and via emails!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone - talk to you all again on Christmas Eve...

Belt Drive Betty

Editor & Rider

Trade Shows - are they worth it?

I have heard many complain about the cost of going to a motorcycle show as a spectator. By the time you pay $15 or so for parking, add another 14-15 for admission, buy an over priced burger or hot dog and a bottle of something to wash it down with, your pocket feels like a tornado went through it.

I agree that it is expensive to attend a motorcycle show, but think of being a vendor!

Depending on your business needs, your 10 x 10 booth can range from $275 for non profits to $1295 for a business that sells product. (Depending on the show)

Then if you need to add any extras to that booth you are going to pay!
These are the discounted rates for ordering 14 days BEFORE a show:

Electrical - depending on service need: $108- $331

Need internet access to run your booth? WIRELESS - 3 day event - $252.45/connection

Then there's parking - depending on the venue - vendors generally don't get a break and when they do they are pretty small. Fuel is another expense that has to be factored in to the cost of attending a trade show.

Let's talk show insurance - if you don't have a business liability policy, you will end up paying the show company provider and average of $130 per show for insurance!

You have to account for wages for employees and even if volunteers are helping you out - there is the cost of feeding people!

To attend one show for three days it can cost a small business anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000

Here in Canada, we all want and in most cases need a really good wage to keep body and soul together and so the costs of everything here are high.

It's a trade off, really.

When you look at that simple fact and then factor in that the show staff need to be paid, the entertainment needs to be paid not to mention venue rental, and the fact that the show needs to generate a profit it's no wonder booth prices are where they are at.

As vendors - be you a riding club, non profit or a business only you can decide if the expense is worth the return.

You need to make those decisions like every other business decision.
You need to have a plan and a goal. What do you want to see the show generate?
Is it 10 new members? Is it 500 units sold?  Is it awareness?

What intangible benefits are there? Are there other things like alliances you want to form that a trade show environment can offer?

Then you have to evaluate your costs:

Lets say you are a riding club, a booth costs $275 + $130 for insurance.  You have no wages because you all volunteer and every individual bears their own cost of support.

You set a goal of signing up 10 new members and forming an alliance with two riding clubs and three or four businesses.

At $405 for the booth alone, the cost of acquisition for 10 members is $40 each.
If you are successful in finding the two alliances from riding clubs that you were looking for and you signed up one business to support you the cost of acquisition goes down to $23 each.

This figure does not take into account the marketing materials, banners, business cards or anything else that it takes to run your booth.

If you include the intangible of branding your business or riding club into the benefits of attending, and the show you attend generates 30,000 visitors over the course of three days, and you can talk to 300 people a day...

If 1/3 of the people who attend the show walk by your booth then 10,000 people have seen your logo and perhaps your message if it is on your banner.

Trade Shows can prove to be a very valuable method of exposure for your group and business, but a lot of the value has to be determined by your goals, your budget and the show's ability to generate the kind of visitors you are hoping to attract.

Like every major decision in your riding club and or small business - only you can decide if attending a show makes sense or not!

Belt Drive Betty Media will have representation at all 5 Canadian motorcycle shows in January.

Lou DeVuono of the Heroes Highway Ride & Rally & Kick Stands Up on RealityRadio 101 will be manning our booths at both the Toronto International Super Show January 4-5-6 and again in Ottawa at the Ottawa International Show January 11-12-13

He will have our new line of teeshirts and subscription/renewals for the Busted Knuckle Chronicles available and - he will also have a card that offers you three Apps for your cell phone!
ALL ARE FREE!

The App GIVEAWAYS are:

The Canadian Motorcycle Events App - this app allows you to have and share event information from right across Canada on your phone and the information is broken down by province for ease of use!

The Busted Knuckle Chronicles App: This app is the scaled down version of our community newspaper!
It features information on the contributors to the newspaper, the feature stories from the paper, jokes, classifieds and my blog.

The third and final App is the Black Book of Rider Friendly Businesses:
It features the mobile version of our web based business directory, all of the touring maps that are in the printed version of the book, all of the businesses that partner on the touring maps, information on special services and discounts from our partners and information on the Canadian Riders Support network, the Never Ride Alone Program and our North American Toll Free support number.

I will be at the Calgary Motorcycle Show, January 4-5-6, the Edmonton Motorcycle Show, January 11-12-13 and the Vancouver Motorcycle Show, January 17-18-19-20.

I will have all of the same things avaialbe in our booth - our new tee shirt line, the Free App giveaways and more!

We are looking forward to seeing you out there in January!!!!!

I leave you with a few funnies shared with me by friends on Facebook and by email:

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

What do you remember?

Yesterday, someone who shall remain anonymous, wrote a comment on my blog post.

"With all due respect BDB, I couldn't give a damn about this individual.
Every story I have read so far mentions this killers name, but I have seen very little on the ones that were killed. In history we always remember the killers but never the victims, can anyone name Jack the Rippers victims, the Montreal massacre, Columbine, and the list goes on."

This person got me thinking about why we often do not hear a lot about who the victims are, sometimes for days.  I think that perhaps there are a couple of reasons why that is.

1) It takes a long time to gather information on the victims, there are so many and there are police protocols to consider.

2) One would hope, that in spite of a world that is hungry for details, journalists and news outlets have some degree of empathy to the pain the families must be feeling and exercise a small modicum of respect.

Anonymous says: "In history we always remember the killers but never the victims, can anyone name Jack the Rippers victims, the Montreal massacre, Columbine, and the list goes on."

Why is that? This person may be right you know. 
Do we as a society do tend to remember the perpetrator and not the victim? 

I could not recall the names of the shooters in Columbine, nor that of the victims, so I Google searched the information and found a page dedicated to all who were lost.
The site includes the who, what, where, how and why of journalism. (Columbine Massacre)
The site from what I gather, is run

I could not recall the name of the man in Oslo Norway who took 92 lives in a bombing and shooting at a youth camp or the names of the victims.  So, I Google searched. I found lots on the shooter/bomber - very little on those whose lives were taken.  

The Columbine Massacre site was compiled and is owned by Cyn Shepard - it is an independent site and in stark contrast to all of the other reports/ers on the various other mass shootings - balanced in approach without over sensationalizing or glorifying the killers.

For me personally, I either have Alzheimer's setting in or my mind just tends to block out the details in an effort to protect myself. I am not sure about the rest of you, what you remember from some of history's most notorious of violent crimes.

Do I remember Robert Picton AND his victims?
NO I remember Robert Picton. Why? because of the lengthy trial and investigation.

I barely remembered Clifford Olson, but I did remember that the parents of one child had started a non profit called "Victims of Violence" that had a motto "It shouldn't hurt to be a child"  Their web site appears to be down and I don't have the hours to devote to find their names, but Gary and Sharon Neufeldt (SP) comes to mind.

I all cases, I recalled that there had been brutally, cruel horrors perpetrated.
But the details, the who, what, when, where and why. Not really.

When I started Google searching, I realized that for those who do recall the names of the horrifiers but not the victims, there really is a reason why that happens.

The cruelty of these people is something that everyone tries to wrap their head around.
But the innocents - no matter their age - are not mentioned as often - very little can be known by those who'd rather grieve in private. And in too many cases the sheer number of victims becomes impossible to commit to memory. Certainly it does not appear that many journalists focus any of their energy on the victims in any meaningful way.

I am not a journalist - I have never gone to school to report on the issues.
I have no large team of people feeding me facts so to write anything thoughtful takes me hours to accomplish.

Am I interested in the victims of Sandy Hook, who they were as people?
Yes.

Am I willing to satisfy my desire to know their stories by violating their wishes to grieve privately?
NO.

So what am I left to do to numb the pain? To help me make sense of it? 

If you are me, with the background I have, you look at how someone came to be this way.
You look at what you can do to change things. You look for ways to feel less powerless.
You look for something joyful to hold on to.

Rich Boersma shared with me the link to an article called:"26 Moments That Restored Our Faith In Humanity This Year"

I takes millions of these small moments to help distance our minds from the abject horrors that invade our world at times.  They are out there, there are millions and millions of good people around the world who in their small way attempt to make the world a better, brighter place.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Is gun control the answer - I don't know but I doubt it.
Criminals the world over manage to get guns to use in their crimes regardless of bans.

Drunk drivers continue to drive in spite of bans.
How many times do you hear of drunk drivers driving without benefit of license?

Are better mental health programs the answer?

As long as there are people, the war between good and evil will rage on.
I leave you with this two Cherokee Legends to consider.

Two Wolves

A Cherokee Legend

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. 

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." 

Here is the same story, but it is called "Grandfather Tells" which is also known as "The Wolves Within"

An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story.

I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.

But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing.

Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."
So what are your thoughts on the thought provoking comments made by Anonymous?

I would love to hear yours - because I desperately want to believe that through thoughtful and respectful dialogue we can improve things...and I am always open to other ideas and ideals - I may not accept them as right for me, but I will always listen.

And, that is where my heart is at today...

Have a wonderful Monday
Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider
“Each time I perform an act of kindness, a part of me heals.” ― Lupi Ngcayisa

Healing broken minds...and devastated hearts

Like many, my heart has been wrenched by the shootings in Connecticut.

My mind has been struggling to make sense of it all - why did this happen?

There are so many people who are affected by what transpired at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
There are families who have been ripped apart, first responders and survivors who have to live with the horrors and images and the guilt of having survived.
Then there is a nation and a world that is shocked.

There are literally millions of people asking the question "Why?"

From everything I have read, 20-year-old Adam Peter Lanza, was a troubled young man.

He had a demanding mother, he was socially awkward, he was described by many as repressed, not connected. There are many speculating as to why that is. Reports are circulating that Adam was autistic, I suppose at some point we will learn more about this broken soul, in the meantime, I have some thoughts on this subject and it is my hopes that I can relieve my heartache some and maybe yours by sharing some conversation.

There is an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child.

Bullying happens not just at school, but at home too.

I was a child who was bullied by her mother.  My mother had very high expectations and zero patience. She was an alcoholic who liked no one, not even herself and pushed everyone who loved her, away.

Until the age of 12 my father was my hero, my knight in shining armour, my saviour. He used to take us kids out ski-dooing and tobogganing, for Sunday drives. When I hit 12, things changed - my father became my worst nightmare.

So here I was, with a mother who liked to beat on me physically and mentally, who spoke the cruelest of words and had no tolerance for mistakes or tardiness on one side of me, and a father who treated me like a wife - physically and mentally. No one was protecting me, I was a pawn in my parent's chess game.

In school, I was socially awkward, I had all of these horrible secrets living inside of me.
I felt dirty, unlovable, broken.

No one at school asked me any questions or reached out to me. Not even those I looked to for friendship. In fact, I was bullied and taunted by the "cool" people and even those I called friend, people who did things to me no human being should have to suffer.

Our parish priest never reached out, neither did my teachers.

I had to look after my two brothers and my sister, I cooked the family meals, did the majority of the housework and began working at a very early age to get out of the house.
Work became my salvation for many reasons - it helped me to see that other people lived differently - that things could be different.

At 17, I was on nerve pills and tranquillizers, there was a painful battle going on in my mind, I was so tormented, I wanted to save me and I wanted to help my siblings, but I felt powerless.  My doctors never asked why I was such a bundle of nerves - no one it seemed cared enough to ask.

Through lots of counselling and self exploration, I have come to a place of peace with all of those terrible things that people did to me. I have come to understand that the people who hurt me, were themselves hurt and broken. Too often the victim becomes the victimizer.
We become what we are taught.

Do I understand what motivated Ryan Lanza? In some ways, I believe I might.

You see, many times as a young woman I wanted to kill my mother - I wanted to kill my father - I  wanted to kill myself, I wanted the pain to stop, I wanted to quit feeling powerless.
I wanted someone to love me, to fix me so I could be loveable.

And so today, I think to myself, there but for the grace of God go I.  

My daughter once asked me how I became as "normal" as I am - this after a particularly brutal experience with my mother....

I told her that - "You never came with an instruction manual, and I was brought up being taught the wrong messages. All I could do as I raised you my girl, was to do something different than what had been done to me and to be honest with you when I felt I was wrong regarding my conduct and actions towards you."

Our systems in North America are broken, they always have been - they have been flawed right from the beginning if you ask me. We do not teach our children the real tools to living successfully.

We do not teach them that their thoughts are powerful, we do not teach them how to be of service to each other.

We have been taught and encouraged, to be selfish.
We have been taught to stay small in our thinking and our capacity to care - to be empathetic.
We have been encouraged to be self indulgent and self involved.

We give everything a label, we focus on illness and lack - the poor me syndrome abounds.
We wear dis- ease like an excuse to not expect better of ourselves - we have become martyrs to our circumstances and our feelings.

We fight against everything we dislike instead of working towards what we want.
We focus on the bad - more often than not.
And as a result the war on terror brings more terror, the war on drugs brings more drugs.

Thoughts are powerful things.  
Look around you, everything you see started with a thought, from the lightbulb that lights your room to the fan that cools you, someone had to think about the creation before it came to be.

Over the years there have been many great teachers who have imparted information on how to live a full, rewarding and abundant life.

The message is delivered differently but it is always the same:

"All that we are is a result of what we have thought." Buddha (563 BCE-483 BCE)

"What you resist persists". Carl Jung (1875-1961)

"The vibrations of mental forces are the finest and consequently the most powerful in existence".
Charles Haanel (1866-1949)

"Every thought of yours is a real thing - a force". Prentice Mulford (1834-1891)

Thoughts become things". Mike Dooley

”Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.”
Upanishads

”Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” – Napoleon Hill

Children Learn What They Live

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.
Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

How many of you are too busy earning a living and the toys you want to spend time with your children, guiding them, loving them - being patient - teaching and leading by example?

When was the last time you did something for someone just because you could, with no strings attached - no expectation of anything in return?

When was the last time you met someone who looked uncomfortable, sad, broken and you reached out your hand in empathy and caring to support them, to find out about them, to be kind to them?

I will never know how different my life could have been had someone, anyone reached out to me  - but I do know this - over the course of my life, whether they knew it or not, there have been people who shared the smallest tidbits of wisdom that somehow penetrated the cement that was building around my heart and mind - that created cracks in the fortress of protection I was building, that allowed me to see a different way...

This is the credo that has become my life...

“Each time I perform an act of kindness, a part of me heals.”
― Lupi Ngcayisa
Taking away guns is never going to stop tragedies like this one in Connecticut from happening. Punishing the many for the sins/crimes of the few NEVER works.
Just look around you and you know it is so.

So how do we heal hearts and minds and change things?

By becoming invested in being the change we want to see in the world.

If you want to see more love, you have to give it.
If you want to see more patience you have to give it.
If you want to see peace, you have to act from a place of peace.
If you want to see more kindness, you have to extend it.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Luke 6:31

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD .

In the wise words of Mother Theresa:
“The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”

And that's where my heart is today.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider