Moving a Divided Nation Forward, Two Wheels at a Time

Woodbury, NY, July 1st 2021 – “Washington is not going to fix America; America is going to fix America,” retired colonel Christopher Holshek asserted in his National Service Ride project video. “People here have more power to change their country than they may otherwise believe,” he later added. “The sooner enough of us act upon the common-sense notion that we do better for ourselves when we do better for each other, the country can again move forward in meaningful way.”

A greater, more universal, and ground-up sense of service, he deeply believes, can do more for the country more than politics. “If politics is so much the problem, he pointed out in a Medium.com article, “then how can it really be the solution?”

Coming to that realization doesn’t come from talk shows, news programs, tweets, or social media posts. It comes through “real, human connectivity,” especially in an increasingly narcissistic and atomized society. For this Army civil affairs veteran, that epiphany began with a motorcycle ride over a decade ago.

His thirty-year career ending, Holshek took off on his Harley-Davidson for an 8,000-mile adventure across the United States. Inspired by John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, he went out to discover the country he helped defend. Pondering what it means to be an American in today’s world, he soon found himself on a mental and spiritual journey of rediscovery. “When I took a look at the country I served, I realized that the future of our nation constantly depends on each one of us, in every generation, taking our own journey to find out who we are, what we’re about, and what we’re willing to do to face the challenges of our times. So, I wrote the book.”

Far more than a motorcycle diary, Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity is a stirring memoir that retired Marine General and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis called “an antidote to pessimism and a reminder of what makes life worth living.” Only through service to others, it concludes, can all Americans find their identity by stepping up to national and global citizenship, starting right at home, to transform the nation. “Change in this country always comes from the bottom up, and then the politicians eventually catch up,” he explained in a recent interview on The Law Business Insider.

As a deeply divided nation struggles to find its way ahead at another existential crossroads, this positive and empowering message couldn’t be more timely or needed.

But writing the book wasn’t enough. The native of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley is taking its timely and broad-based message on the road. The National Service Ride leverages motorcycling’s appeal to mobility, freedom, adventure, belonging to a community, and always moving ahead to stay in balance to promote his idea. The project helps generate this empowering and unifying narrative of citizenship and service across societal and generational lines and passing the baton of generational leadership to help move America forward.

“When we become better citizens, we become a better country – because, when you serve your community, you serve your country," the project’s founder tells his audiences. “It doesn’t require a uniform.” Besides, he adds, “if civilians truly wish to honor military veterans, police, firefighters, first responders, medical and health care professionals, and others in uniform that put their lives on the line on their behalf, then they should strive to make this a country worth our sacrifices. They need not go far, for there are myriad ways to become citizens as responsible to neighbors as to nation – patriotism being something you do and not just feel.”

The project’s main platform involves events in which service veterans of all kinds ride to schools on motorcycles and conduct hour-long seminars that bring those from one generation looking to give back together with emerging citizens from all corners of society looking for ways to pay it forward. These interactive sessions help America’s youth better understand the meaning and value of service to their country, their communities, and themselves through role models from a previous generation and peer examples from their own, motivating them to sign them up for community service-learning opportunities at the "service-learning fairs" that follow the presentations.

Encouraging and empowering young people to do good work and help solve common problems, starting in their own communities, also improves their capacities for personal advancement – building leadership, teambuilding, problem-solving, and other interpersonal skills vital to economic livelihood and social viability in the 21st century. Schools, in turn, can more efficiently and effectively connect students with service-learning opportunities – enhancing civics-type educational outcomes to produce well-rounded members of society. This also helps instill a greater sense of individual empowerment, community resilience, and, ultimately, national cohesion.

At the same time, military veterans, police, firefighters, first responders, medical services, etc. can find better connection with their communities in a positive and meaningful way, improving inter-community and generational relations and reducing social tensions. The school events synergize veterans and community service organizational capacities and extend their platforms and local initiatives to improve outreach to youth and recruit younger members. The project’s mass and social media-friendly platform also helps these organizations raise public visibility and awareness, with impacts on branding, membership, volunteerism, and fundraising.

Motorcycle associations like the American Legion and VFW Riders, Harley Owners Group, and American Motorcyclists Association, as well as clubs like the Blue and Red Knights, Buffalo Riders, and others have high numbers of military, police, and other service veterans. As role models and mentors, they can roar into schools, lending their considerable social capital to kick-start conversations on what citizenship and service mean to each and all of us. Then the students take their own first steps forward in “that long journey we must all take to find out who we are and what we’re about” – after school, over the summer, or even after high school graduation.

Uniformed veterans in particular have a critical role to play. “’Our mission,” Holshek tells other veterans, “is really not complete until we have helped pass that baton [of leadership] to the next generation, giving them a chance to go forward with what we’ve learned and make their way through the future, just as we did.” Besides, commenting on the inaugural Juneteenth Underground Railroad Freedom Ride he helped organize locally, “we should not forget that our military is… in fact, the single largest, most successful multicultural institution in history, united in the defense of the cause of freedom. Our veterans have come from every walk of life and corner of our society… and if our military can come together in affirmation of that cause, so can the rest of us in its confirmation.”

A national narrative of service that transcends differences fosters a collaborative mindset to establish common ground for much-needed civil dialogue on matters inexplicable in social media memes. It also helps develop an internal moral GPS needed to navigate a complex, dynamic, interconnected, and information-overloaded world, with more courage and self-confidence, overcoming the pervasive sense of fear that has gripped many.

“America cannot long remain the land of the free if it is no longer the home of the brave,” Holshek warned.

To test and refine his concept and get the wheels rolling, he made several appearances in the years before the COVID pandemic hit. As the project re-emerged, the local American Legion in Orange County, NY has gotten behind the project. Post 1753, in Harriman, first proposed a National Service Ride at the 2021 New York Boys and Girls State, which instead took place virtually. Nevertheless, the project, now with area Legion Riders and others, is coordinating appearances at nearby high schools as they fully re-open. With the first live event taking place at the Pine Bush High School’s annual summer Leadership & Law Academy on July 5th, more are coming early this fall.

The project’s low-cost, high-yield platform fits perfectly with the Legion’s vision of “veterans strengthening America” and the pillars of Americanism, Youth, and Community. More and more local Legion members are convinced the project should become a Legion Riders program nationwide. While slowly popularizing it in New York, the ground group in the Hudson Valley intends to raise it at the national headquarters level and “franchise” its platform around the country, believing it will be a game-changer for both the Legion and the country.

Meanwhile, Legion and motorcycle club members from elsewhere in the country, seeing the posts on the project’s Facebook page, are reaching out to learn more. The project is also receiving a media boost by the The Motorcycle Channel’s recent Juneteenth Ride coverage and its interest in producing a series on the project’s progress.

Holshek thinks the initiative and its message can gain traction with most Americans, regardless of political or social following, being tired of the gridlock. His main challenge has been getting the word out, which anyone can help do.

“This is going to be as big as people want it to be,” he adds. “After all, America is in and of itself a composite of individual journeys. We’ll start off in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands – and see how big a dent we can make. And help put the Unum back into the Pluribus.”    

“If Americans truly wish to honor veterans and so many others in service, in and out of uniform, who have given the last full measure of devotion, then they should strive to make this a country worth their sacrifice by walking the walk more than talking the talk. It doesn’t require a uniform or even a program; it begins with simple acts of kindness. And when you serve your community, you serve your country.”

Been a long time, folks, but just to let you know that neither Travels with Harley nor the National Service Ride project have gone away - in fact, its message to help a divided America move forward through a more inclusive idea of citizenship and service makes more sense than ever before!

To help reignite the flame, we’ve got a book giveaway going on at Goodreads this month - sign up, post a review, and help get the good word out! Check out our Facebook page and join our discussion group there.

Here’s the giveaway  link: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/300467-travels-with-harley-journeys-in-search-of-personal-and-national-identit

Meantime, have a great holiday season and see you on the other side of the year!

Best,

Chris

Moving a Divided Nation Forward, Two Wheels at a Time

“Washington is not going to fix America; America is going to fix America. People here have more power to change their country than they may otherwise believe. The sooner enough of us act upon the common sense notion that we do better for ourselves when we do better for each other, the country again moves forward in meaningful way.” Welcome news in uncertain times.

You can’t reach that conclusion, retired colonel Christopher Holshek noted in a Huffington Post article, on talk shows, news programs, or social media, but only through “real, human connectivity in an alienated, narcissistic, and atomized society.” For him at least, this realization got started with a motorcycle ride.

His thirty-year career ending, the Army Civil Affairs veteran took off on his Harley-Davidson for an 8,000 mile adventure across the United States. Inspired by Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, he went out to find out what it means to be an American in today’s world, soon finding himself on a mental and spiritual journey of rediscovery. “When I took at look at the country I served to mark my military retirement in 2010, I came to realize that the future of our nation constantly depends on each one of us, in every generation, taking our own journey to find out who we are, what we’re about, and what we’re willing to do to face the challenges of our times. So, after some prompting, I wrote the book.”

Far more than a motorcycle diary, Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity is a stirring memoir that retired Marine General James Mattis has called “an antidote to pessimism and a reminder of what makes life worth living.” Only through service to others, it concludes, can Americans of all ages find their identity by stepping up to national and global citizenship, starting in their own communities.

As a divided nation ponders its future and find its way in the aftermath of a pivotal election, this positive and empowering message couldn’t be better timed or more needed. Travels with Harley, former Center for a New American Security executive vice president Kristen Lord, is “a must-read for those thinking about the future direction of America and what they can do about it.”

But writing the book wasn’t enough. The native of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley is taking its timely and broad-based message on the road. The National Service Ride leverages motorcycling’s appeal to freedom, adventure, and moving forward to promote citizenship and service, starting right at home.

“When we become better citizens, we become a better country – because, when you serve your community, you serve your country," Holshek tells his audiences. “It doesn’t require a uniform.”

Funded through book sales, it is an adaptable platform for discussions at schools and other places on service learning are organized between rider clubs and service organizations in communities around the country. Interactive discussions across generational and societal lines aim to help America’s youth see the meaning and value of helping themselves best by helping others, showing them pathways to local, national, international service learning. Encouraging and empowering young people to do good work and help solve common problems, starting in their own communities, also helps them improve their qualifications for personal advancement, helping them to build leadership and teambuilding skills.

A national narrative of service that transcends differences fosters a collaborative mindset, he contends, establishing empathy for real common ground for much-needed civil dialogue on matters inexplicable in 140 characters.  Service to others helps develop the internal moral GPS each us needs to navigate a complex, dynamically interconnected, and information overloaded world, discerning fact from fiction. It would also go far to make the country less vulnerable to mass media manipulation and the politics of fear and ignorance played out daily in the obsessive reality show of terrorism, distrust of police and other forms of government. Moreover, it closes numerous engagement gaps and combats a culture of fear and unfounded entitlement, narcissism, and impunity – and the isolation on many levels that goes with it.

“America cannot long remain the land of the free if it’s no longer the home of the brave,” he warns.

Beyond promoting an empowering sense of national unity, the Ride also looks to help pass the baton of generational leadership. The initiative’s locally organized events to promote ongoing dialogue between service veterans from many walks of life who are looking for ways to give back and youth looking for ways to pay it forward. At high schools, colleges, and other places, local service-oriented motorcycle clubs and community, public, and national service organizations are facilitating conversations across generational and societal lines about citizenship and service – all enhanced and extended by mass and social media.

Besides revitalizing citizenship along the lines of thinking globally and acting locally, the project helps close civil-military gaps. Each event starts with a “Mindful Moment of Gratitude,” courtesy of Armor Down, in which the audience reads the names of local veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice since 9/11, in order to connect citizens with soldiers and create a more universal sense of service and sacrifice.  “If civilians truly wish to honor veterans, police, firefighters, first responders and others in uniform that put their lives on the line on their behalf, then they should strive to make this a country worth the sacrifice of those they emulate much less than they admire. They need not go far, for there are myriad ways to become citizens as responsible to neighbors as to nation – patriotism being something you do and not just say.”

The reaching out goes both ways. Uniformed veterans in particular have a critical role to play. “’Our mission,’ I tell other veterans sharing a privileged place of veneration, ‘is not complete until we’ve explained to our youth what service and sacrifice has meant to us. What they do with our hard-earned wisdom is up to them, but this much at least we owe them.’”

To test and refine his concept and get the wheels rolling, Holshek has already made several appearances this past year. After appearing at schools in New York and New Jersey in the spring, he visited others in Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia, including Kennesaw State University, where he opened a discussion on building peace locally and globally co-hosted by the United Nations Association and TRENDS Global. Since then, his book has become a student text for at least two classes there. In nearby Clarkston, a major refugee resettlement hub in metropolitan Atlanta, he presented at a Career & Education Fair with Refuge Coffee and other community service initiatives. “I got to see America at its best,” he observed.

In addition to service-oriented organizations like TRENDS Global, retired General Stanley McChrystal’s Service Year Alliance, and the Alliance for Peacebuilding, as well as GoodWorld, a highly acclaimed crowdfunding initiative for non-profits, the project is resourcing motorcycle clubs like the Harley Owners Group, BMW Motorcycle Owners Association, American Motorcyclists Association, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars Riders Clubs – all with many military, police, and other service veterans.

For these like-minded groups, the Ride provides an informal thematic coordinating platform that enables them to more closely leverage each other on events and initiatives in their own areas independently – from the bottom up rather than the top down. It also extends their own platforms and initiatives in a unique and highly visible way – helping to boost awareness, membership, volunteerism, and fundraising.

Holshek thinks his message – and his initiative – can gain traction with most Americans regardless of political or social following. “This is going to be as big as people want it to be,” he adds. “After all, America is in and of itself a composite of individual journeys. We’ll start off in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands – and see how big a dent we can make.  And help put the Unum back in e pluribus Unum.”

After much careful consideration and advice from many, we are moving the National Service Ride to the fall - starting the last week of August and ending the third week of October. There are a number of reasons; but, all in all, we’ll stand a much greater chance of local success and national impact.

The emerging feedback is that the fall presents more of an opportunity to gain larger audiences, especially from the growing number of associated schools really getting interested in the initiative. Additionally, we’re seeing interest growth in venues like Harley-Davidson dealerships and bookstores. You can see the new itinerary on the website (www.nationalserviceride.net/).

So, for the most part, it’s a matter of re-scheduling and taking advantage now of working with many schools that will be better positioned to be hosting presentations in the fall. It also gives us a greater chance to cast and bill the Ride presentations more as local events in support of local groups and initiatives – even as a local fundraiser.

We’re still going to run the school presentations here in the New York and New Jersey areas, as you’re seeing on the Facebook page. These "preseason" events will give us some media material as well as act as a testing ground for our events later on this year. I also plan to run some events at motorcycle rallies and so on this summer, as well as additional talks in DC and New York, write more articles, etc., right up to the time of the Ride to build up the buzz. We’re also gaining some ground with getting national media interest - another good reason for delaying the start of the Ride.

And with the elections even closer in September (and now more interesting), the Ride’s message about citizenship as the antidote to gaps in governance, about community service = national service = global service, and about gaining personal as well as community (and thus national) strength through engagement should have even greater gravitas then. So, it all bodes much better for then than now.

Meantime, here’s what you can do:

• Help spread the word and get the book and Ride’s positive and empowering message out – through social media (“friending” the NSR Facebook page, liking, favoriting, reposting and re-tweeting, and so on) and through your personal networks; and

• Help spike books sales by posting a rating and review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads – remember that the National Service Ride is funded solely through book sales.

Oh yeah: Travels with Harley got a great review in The Huffington Post: “Seeing America and Ourselves from the Outside In.”

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support of this cause. I look really forward to the dent we’ll make together later this year.

All the best,

Chris

Dear Friends and Fans,

The National Service Ride will begin at my alma mater in New York State.

As the book introduction says: “Often, the longest of journeys circles back to the place where it all started, where the traveler discovers something that was there all along but awaited validation by experience.” On the 5th of May, he will do just that – closing one circle to open another.

Beginning at my alma mater that afternoon at Washingtonville High School, the native of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley who recently returned to settle there for the first time since he graduated in 1978 will begin another journey around the United States – this time to pass on what I’ve learned about citizenship, service, and engagement in and beyond America and take the book’s broad-based message on the road

Open to anyone to join for as long as they like, from Cinco de Mayo to the 4th of July, the Ride follows a clockwise path around the United States. Stopping at venues including Atlanta, GA, Houston, TX, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, Denver, CO, Chicago, IL, and a number of smaller towns and cities in between, it features interactive discussions in schools, bookstores, and other places for Americans who have served and sacrificed in all walks of life to tell their stories to younger audiences, in order to encourage them to community, public, and national service and promote a dialogue of national unity, as well as help pass the baton of generational leadership.

A list of venues can be found on the project website, continuously updated this month and connected up with routes likewise to be listed, until the Ride starts. Holshek will tweet updates and specifics on meeting points and times for take-off as the Ride progresses.

The intent of Ride fits perfectly with the intent of the Service Year Alliance and other partners. Chaired by retired Army General Stan McChrystal, the Service Year Alliance envisions a future in which a year of full-time national service is a cultural expectation, a common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American. It is the leading effort in the United States to improve citizenship by giving every young person the opportunity to serve in one of an array of areas, including health, poverty, conservation, or education. By encouraging young people to do good work and solve problems starting in their own communities, they also become better Americans.

Additional among a growing coalition of partners include the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, dedicated to helping American youth learn more about citizenship, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and the United Nations Association – National Capital Area, which is arranging most of the venues. GoodWorld, a highly acclaimed crowdfunding initiative for non-profits that has gained the attention of the President of the United States and Forbes magazine, is another. Its unique social-media based platform enables small, personal donations to hundreds of non-profit charity and advocacy organizations of choice – by simply using the hashtag: #donate.

The Service Year Alliance, GoodWorld, and the other partners provide clear ideas and pathways for young citizens to join or contribute to the Ride’s partner or other service organizations, as well as for older folks to help them take their own journey to find out who they are and what they’re about through service to others.

Remember: I’m not asking for donations. The Ride, in fact, is not funded by anyone or anything other than book sales – in keeping with the project’s theme of community-basing, crowdsourcing, and bottom-up change. It’s not so much about power to the people as the power of the people. So spread the word.

This is going to be as big as people want it to be. Perhaps we’ll do it every year – not just because there’s an election this year, but because, as I say in the book, America is in and of itself a journey. We’ll start off in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands, and see how big a dent we can make in this universe of ours.

Find out more on the project website (www.nationalserviceride.net) and through associated social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; hash tags: #TravelswithHarley and #NationalServiceRide.

And spread the word!

Thanks.

Best,

Chris

Dear Friends and Followers,

Two major non-profit organizations have joined the growing coalition of organizational partners of the National Service Ride – the Service Year Alliance and GoodWorld.

The Service Year Alliance, under the aegis of the Aspen Institute’s Franklin Project, pulls together a powerful coalition of scores of community, public, and national service organizations headed up by the recently merged National Conference on Citizenship, ServiceNation, and Voices for National Service. Chaired by retired Army General Stan McChrystal, the Service Year Alliance envisions a future in which a year of full-time national service is a cultural expectation, a common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American. It is the leading effort in the United States to improve citizenship by giving every young person the opportunity to serve in one of an array of areas, including health, poverty, conservation, or education.

This is a monumental boost to the National Service Ride project. The intent of Ride fits perfectly with the intent of Service Year Alliance – to promote citizenship, service, and engagement in and beyond America. By encouraging young people to do good work and solve problems starting in their own communities, they also become better Americans and the whole country improves.”

GoodWorld, in turn, is a highly acclaimed crowdfunding initiative for non-profits that has gained the attention of the President of the United States and Forbes magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. It’s unique social-media based platform allows individuals to make small donations to hundreds of non-profit charity and advocacy organizations of their choice, large and small, already registered with this micro-financing engine – by simply using the hash tag: #donate.

It’s a perfect way for enabling especially younger people to pick up on one of the Ride’s action points to support their favorite community, public, or national service organizations. Both the Service Year Alliance and GoodWorld provide clear pathways for young citizens to join or contribute to the Ride’s partner or other service organizations, but equally importantly, to take their own journey to find out who they are and what they’re about through service to others.

Open to anyone to join for as long as they like, the National Service Ride, from Cinco de Mayo to the 4th of July, follows a clockwise path around the U.S. At venues to be announced by early April, it features interactive discussions in schools and other places for Americans who have served and sacrificed in all walks of life to tell their stories, in order to promote a dialogue of national unity, as well as help pass the baton of generational leadership.

Find out more on the project website (www.nationalserviceride.net) and through associated social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; hash tags: #TravelswithHarley and #NationalServiceRide.

Please spread the word, plug Travels with Harley (on Goodreads and elsewhere) so that I can fund this great project!

Thanks!

Best,

Chris

Hello, again, Everyone!

When I told you in my last update the wheels were starting to roll, I wasn’t kidding:

• Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity is now available through the usual means – in addition to Inkshares, there’s Amazon, Barnes & Noble, whatever. (If your bookstore doesn’t have a copy on-hand, then ask them to order some.) Don’t forget to give it a plug/review on any one of those sites or on Goodreads!

• We’re on the radio: You can hear why I’m leading the National Service Ride on America’s most listened-to public radio station – WNYC Radio’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” or listen to me talk with Steve and Walt about how I came to the idea of the National Service Ride on “The Hog Radio Show” (starting the 15th minute)

• We’re on the blogosphere: You can also read signature book excerpts in The Huffington Post – “Identity and the Future of America” and Foreign Policy – “Of Humans and Hardware”

• If you’re in the New York area, you can join a discussion on the book at Beekman Bar & Books: 889 1st Ave, New York, New York 10022 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on February 19th

• If you’re in the Washington, DC area, you can come to the book launch at the Alliance for Peacebuilding, 1800 Mass. Ave, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC 20036 from 4:30-6:00 pm on February 23rd.

I’ll be posting more information on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as on the project website: www.nationalserviceride.net

Stay tuned and spread the word!

Best,

Chris

Dear All,

My latest Huffington Post blog, which summarizes a great deal of the conclusion of my new book, Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity, which goes on sale tomorrow, February 9^th, through all the usual sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-holshek/identity-and-the-future-of_b_9160536.html

If you have time to listen, you can catch me on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” from 11:20-11:40 on the same day: http://www.wnyc.org/

Otherwise, look for the podcast to go up in a couple of days on the National Service Ride website: www.nationalserviceride.net.

Best,

Chris