From the online newspaper Asia Samachar comes this photo taken in 1974 of one Narajan Singh. At 69 years old, he rode 74 miles from Malaysia to Singapore on a borrowed bike while hand-towing his broken-down motorcycle which he didn’t want to abandon on his business trip. Before the emergence of MAMILs, he clearly didn’t do this to feel like a hero. He was doing what he had to to get through life.

Me? Decades younger, I wouldn’t have done 74 miles without my favorite pricey spandexy bike shorts, a road bike, custom bike fit, carb-loaded breakfast, two full water bottles and pockets full of nutrition products. And, maybe a medal at the end.

While I would never openly voice this term, it seems the only appropriate one to use here: bad ass. I’m not one, and the real ones are those like Narajan Singh, who quietly did what they had to to get the job done since before I was even able to walk.

I don’t know much about him outside of this story, so perhaps I’m being presumptuous. But, they don’t make many like him anymore. Or, maybe they do, and they’re just not on social media telling us about it.

Read the full article at https://asiasamachar.com/2019/05/18/25170/.