One of Ben & brother Chase's early mechanical efforts.
Some people call motorcycles a lifestyle or a hobby, while others call them status symbols. I called motorcycles a barrier. I am the daughter of a mechanic and a fanatic, Mark Deacon. I am the sister of a protege and a follower, Ben Deacon (14-year-old). I am the only member of my family who can't change my own oil. My parents spent a lifetime trying to convince me that Harley people were good people, but since I couldn't relate, and I was too busy trying to graduate from college, all I saw was drunk washed up old men and black leather.
I also found out that my little brother is having significant trouble in school, so much so that I am worried about his future.
If you were to gather around our dinner table you would hear words like cam shaft, Panhead and gear oil. To me this sounds like a foreign language. My brothers never wanted to hear about chaos theory or emotional contagion. They wanted to ask my dad about the cover bike on Easyriders. Of course, all of us were encouraged to go to school, but it would be dishonest to claim that it was the priority in our family. This dichotomy was never intentional, but none the less it existed. Education is my passion and mechanics is theirs. So when I found out that another member of my family was in danger of losing his education, I knew I had to help. As I tried to figure out what to do, I kept coming across the same quintessential problem; education isn't his passion, it's mine. No matter how many theories I try to impress upon him, this world will always be as foreign to him as black leather is to me. Each of us is in a separate world, looking for a bridge to cross.
Ben working on his first chopper.
As we struggled my father came up with his own solution, not realizing its ramifications. The proposition is that my father will teach my 15-year-old brother how to build his own chopper, a chopper that he will receive only if he graduates from high school. This concept was a huge incentive to my little brother and an even bigger reality check for me. As a part of this plan I will be his tutor. This solution is built half with mechanics and half with education.
I've never understood why hundreds of bikers spend their holidays and weekends together. These people aren't family or coworkers. I understand Thanksgiving dinner with the family or gathering with coworkers at Christmas, but I don't spend my free time with everyone that drives a Nissan Pathfinder. I've spent hours trying to figure out what makes this community so tight and so consistent, but finally I have a taste of comprehension. As I thought about how much my brother didn't know about my passion and how little I knew about his, I realized that passion was the answer. Just as love binds a family together, this same kind of emotion binds the biker community together. Motorcycles are a commonality that they all understand and can relate. Life is about living for the day, embracing every moment, and feeling the wind in your hair. The biker community is united because they found the same moments in life to embrace. Together they have built a niche that they all can be passionate about.
Since the dawn of Easy Rider and Hells Angels, bikers have been stereotyped as rebels and lower class citizens. They are judged by people who are too shallow to see past black leather. As I took a deeper look and realized how a motorcycle can influence my little brother's future, it made me believe that bikers aren't rebels at all. They aren't anything. On the contrary, they are everything. A biker is packaged in every race, every culture, every income and every sex. It is a unified group that has blanketed itself over every corner of community without prejudice. They are not bonded because genes determine they should be or livelihood dictates.
My little brother is so passionate about bikes that it may inspire him to finish his education and secure his future.
As for bikes being barriers, I've had it wrong all along. Bikes are bridges that span across every continent, every dirt road and every paved highway. They create a unity that can't be duplicated, a community that embraces each other and supports a common passion. In essence, it is a passion for life. For me it took my two worlds to collide to understand this. Just because my little brother doesn't have a passion for text book education, it doesn't spread us further apart, it makes us closer. We have both found a corner in this world to be passionate about, and that's what life is all about. I hope that if we combine each other's love for life, it will help my little brother to be successful on every road he chooses.
Ben and Kelly.
Kelly moved to Hawaii with her folks, Mark and Katy Deacon, when she was a junior in highschool. She logged thousands of community service hours and started working at 13 as a candy striper in a hospital.
Most of her academic efforts were geared towards the medical field until she was a sophmore in college and went to Australia for additional schooling. While in Australia she became involved in psychology courses. When she returned home she changed her major and applied for the Psychology National Honor Society. While in college she worked as a preschool teacher and supported herself through school. At the end of her senior year, she discovered the field of Autism.
She currently work as a skills trainer in the Autism field. It is more or less a beginning position therapist. She will be returning to school for her masters degree in the near future.
She has never been part of the shop, Pro-Street on Oahu (800) 236-0405, prostreethawaii.com. However, she grew up on go carts, speed boats and on the back of her dad's bike.
~ Kalaheo High School, June 1998
~ Study Abroad at Flinders University; Adelaide, Australia, 2000
~ University of Hawaii, December 2002
