1. Twenty years ago today, al-Qaeda bombed the U.S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing scores of people and inaugurating the era of global terror, where jihadists sought to kill Westerners and anyone allied with them at all four corners of the world.
2. One iteration of that movement took the lives of a young American couple who were biking around the world. Just over a week ago in Tajikistan, they were crushed to death by a car driven by men who appear to have pledged allegiance to ISIS: nytimes.com/2018/08/07/wor…
3. We rarely have time to delve into the lives of the victims. This week, I took the time, moved by the remarkable life of Jay Austin & Lauren Geoghegan, who quit their office jobs a year ago in order to be more present and to fulfill a dream of biking around the world. 
4. Lauren and Jay had both gone to Georgetown. She worked in the admissions office there. He worked for HUD. Last summer, Jay posted “I Quit My Job Today” on their shared blog. He lays out why:
5. I adored this description of why they set off around the world: “I’ve grown tired of spending the best part of my day in front of a glowing rectangle, of coloring the best years of my life in swaths of grey and beige. I’ve missed too many sunsets while my back was turned.”
6. Asked why they chose to bike around the world - and not, say, drive - the couple listed 8 reasons. Among them is that biking makes you vulnerable. You are exposed to the road & the elements, and that vulnerability brings out the best in people. They want to help you:
7. They started their journey at the southernmost tip of Africa in July 2017. And over the months that followed, they perfected a philosophy of open-heartedness. They were open & caring & good and that disposition was met for the most part by goodness & generosity from others
8. And their blog (simplycycling.org) is chock-full of examples of the kindness of strangers. They were pedaling in 95-degree heat in Botswana, when a man stopped his car, waited for them & handed them ice water. In Kazkhastan, a different man stopped to give them ice cream
9. In Kosovo, three curious little boys came over to their tent in order to share their sunflower seed snack:
10. In a meadow in Kyrgyzstan, a family walked over and treated them to sweet tea, homemade bread and an open-air concert on local instruments:
11. And just days before their death, they summited a difficult mountain pass In Kyrgyzstan only to find two little pigtailed girls waiting for them with outstretched bouquets of hand-picked flowers:
12. Why did this couple and the life they led move me so much? Because as I was interviewing their closest friends, it occurred to me that Jay and Lauren were living their lives according to a set of principles that were the exact opposite of the ones that animated their killers.
13. Jay and Lauren believed that humanity was one. That evil doesn’t exist and was a concept invented to deal with people who hold different beliefs:
14. Jay and Lauren were killed by men driving a Daewoo sedan. The cellphone footage captured by another motorist shows how the car makes a U-turn and deliberately rams into them, lurching over their fallen forms. They then jumped out & stabbed them: euronews.com/2018/07/30/fou…
15. Why did they kill them? A video released by ISIS two days after their death shows five men. They rail against the “disbelievers” who have occupied their country and vow to “slaughter the disbelievers.”
Disbelievers = blanket term used by ISIS to denote non-Muslims
Disbelievers = blanket term used by ISIS to denote non-Muslims
16. How do you kill a non-Muslim in a country like Tajikistan which is 98% Muslim? You look for foreigners. It bears noting that Tajikistan is not considered an unsafe place. This is out of the ordinary. They were biking a route that has become popular with tourists.
17. In closing, let me share the touching comment that was posted by a reader on the story we did about the couple’s life. “I wish Jay and Lauren’s life garnered more attention for the magic they sought & found than the profound & sad tragedy of their death.”
18. Some of you have asked how you can help Lauren and Jay’s families. A GoFundMe Memorial Page was created for Lauren: gofundme.com/honoring-laure…
19. And here is the memorial GoFundMe for Jay Austin, set up by his mom, Jea: gofundme.com/jay-austin-rea…
