It isn't about the cars, and it never was.
For those of you who've had the good fortune to wander a car show with our namesake and de-facto president, Duane, you may have noticed that he does it a little bit different.
Duane skips the cars that most people to stop and gawk at. He wanders right by the quarter-million dollar Porsches, and the million-plus Paganis and Mclarens.
I'm not even sure he can tell the latter two apart.
He walks right by those cars, and he finds a car that he really appreciates. He finds a car which is unique, interesting, probably way too low, and oftentimes unidentifiable by everyone gawking a few parking spots down.
And then, he almost invariably does one of two things:
He either lays on the ground to look at the suspension and find out what tricks were used to make sand hard to drive over;
Or he starts up a conversation with the owner of the car, and talks to them. Genuinely interested in their build. Genuinely interested in their aesthetic, functional, and whimsical decisions. Genuinely curious. Earnest.
By god, if we could capture the attitude he brings to those conversations and sell it, we'd all be rich. And the world would be a much better place.
I don't mean to deify my father. Well, OK, maybe I do a little bit. My father is a good person, and I think that's worthy of deification. Or at least appreciation.
I'm not sure what Cam & Zeke were thinking when they coined "Everybody Knows Duane", but I've been paying attention these last few years, and I think I understand the magic.
I wish I had the powers of prose to lead you on a expository narrative of my thesis, whereby you arrive at the same realization that I have.
But I don't. So I'll just say it straight out.
It is your responsibility to look for the beauty, wonder, and creativity in the world and in each person.
It is not the worlds responsibility to convince you of its virtue.
And if it is not virtuous? If it is vile, dishonest, or hateful?
We all have the obligation to not propagate, spread, or otherwise support such things.
EKD is a club. And clubs are, by nature, exclusive. So far EKD has been exclusive on the basis of whether or not you know Duane. It's in the name.
But this is evolving.
EKD is not a club for cars. It's a club for people. It's a club for people who support one another. Who look for the beauty in one another, our unique creativity, and humanity.
Do you show up like Duane when you wander a car show? Are you curious?
Do you show up like that in life?
This isn't a call for radical inclusion. You don't have to like everything. You shouldn't like everything.
It's a call for intentionality. Be intentional in how you live, how you show up for your community, how you look at the world, and how you treat your fellow humans.
My own intention in life is to surround myself with people that are wonderful, uplifting, intelligent, creative, kind, and proactive. My intention is to be that kind of person in turn.
Do you seek out, validate, and uplift the virtues of the world?
We all know Duane because we are all known by Duane.
We know Duane because he took some interest in us, in our creativity. We know Duane because he showed up for us; to help us lower our car or fix our fender, or simply because he made us feel welcome and seen.
We know one another for those same reasons. We know one another because we've taken the time and put in the effort. We've been curious about one another's lives & ambitions, and we've done what we can to help one another thrive.
Those are the sorts of relationships that make the world wonderful, and those are the sorts of relationships we will be choosing.
Miles
We have enormous power to make life wonderful, and there is nothing we enjoy doing more than exercising that power. - Marshall Rosenburg (link)
