Admittedly, this started as a conversation on Twitter, that snowballed into a rant, and well… now I am here. With you.
I accept that I will likely trigger many with my opinion on this matter but, to ease my own mind, I’d prefer to put my thoughts down in a longer-form than a Twitter thread or an Instagram story that has a 24-hour shelf-life.
Before I get into the purpose for my writing — a little bit about me. I grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My parents worked their asses off during my childhood, sacrificing their many hours of the day to provide my sister and I a better future (which they achieved with flying colors).
Mom… Dad, if you read this (which I am confident you will) I am proud of the time, energy, and sleep you both sacrificed so my sister and I could enter adulthood with the freedoms that we did. Yet still finding the time to be loving parents, and raising us to be constructive members of society. (Well at least my sister, I tend to workout and complain a lot.)
Now, I experienced an event as a child that caused a shift in my psyche which I wrote a bit on here. This event likely fed into a few traits that I would consider skills today. But I grew up a skinny, quiet nerd. Routinely picked on for my physical appearance — weak, and lanky. I was a soft target for most, with very thin skin to boot… coupled with a short temper. So in my teens I swore to myself (yes I made an oath, as cliche as that is) that I would not look this way forever. That I would build myself up to be an individual worthy of being intimidating, someone that people don’t see as an opportunity. So I took on body building. I stumbled my way through this world on my own for years and then decided I’d attend college for Exercise Science, because I developed a true love for the hobby.
Any who, I just wanted to put out there that I started skinny and traveled the grueling journey of weight gain with an overactive metabolism to get where I am today. Because my opinions that follow will likely seem biased, and unfair.
I refuse to be a silent member of a society that normalizes obesity.
I am talking about the obesity that is a product of lifestyle. There seems to be an aggressive movement that is taking advantage of today’s aversion to offend others. Where some individuals are taking “body positivity” to an extreme that goes beyond being fair to those that have a genetic disposition that effects body composition. Where body positivity is being used as an aggressive tactic. An individual is not attacking someone’s self-efficacy when informing them that their lifestyle choices and/or genetic situation have them in a position where their own well-being is at stake. A doctor (or health official) is not bullying a patient when they inform them that their daily routine and diet (possibly combined with their genetics) will likely lead to an untimely, and early death. And it is definitely not bullying if the health expert continues to reiterate this information if the situation does not change.
Contrary to the understandings of many that don’t know me (and some that do), I am very pro positivity. You should feel comfortable in the body you were randomly awarded in the genetic lottery.
That being said, that doesn’t mean that you are therefor entitled to eat garbage, not work on fitness, (generally be lazy) and then practice gas-lighting, virtue-signaling, or even shaming those that make changes and get in shape. Or attack those who already are.
I refuse to be a part of a society that normalizes obesity, and lack of general ‘fitness.’
Fitness
“an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment” OR “the quality of being suitable to fulfill a particular role or task”
I am a huge fan of Science Fiction and of Fantasy.
I love imagination and wonder.
I often imagine what humanity will be like in the near-yet-distant-future. What planets we will be exploring, and what technologies will we devise.
But then I see the trends in the United States of America. We tout ourselves as the BEST, the BRIGHTEST. Yet our countrymen are plagued with chronic illnesses that are largely due to lifestyle choices. Our population is smothered by big pharmaceutical companies that prey on those with chronic conditions. And then COVID came sweeping across the globe, targeting those afflicted with many of the same chronic conditions.
And it leaves me… disappointed.
Disappointed. Not because those individuals aren’t as attractive as they could be, but because they are in situations that could have been avoided by simple measures.
Disappointed because instead of being more concerned with the self, and trying to better understand our own desires, fears, and self-esteem issues… we are more concerned with making sure someone else feels bad for damaging our fragile ego.
Disappointed because so many resources including; time, energy (both wall-outlet type and individual-type), and money gets diverted to the healthcare system that is routinely bogged down with procedures that could have been avoided if the patients had simply been active for 1-hour, 5 days a week for the duration of their life.
Disappointed because so many are trapped into paying for expensive drugs that they are required to take for the rest of their life so that existence is at least tolerable, if not comfortable.
I don’t believe that an entire population as large as ours could, or should, look like Greek gods. While that would be quite the spectacle, I prefer to stay realistic. So many of the population seem to think that “being fit” means looking like “an athlete.” But when they say this they are referring to the sculpted bodies on the covers of magazines, and plastered all over Instagram. Being fit, or athletic, is a lifestyle. Not a fashion statement. Athletes in the off-season (and many during season) do not have washboard abs and single-digit body-fat percentages. Without winning the genetic lottery that kind of lifestyle is largely difficult to maintain.
But I do believe that an entire population can be as fit as an army. And I believe we should be!
Imagine.
Imagine a United States (or a world) where any citizen on the street is capable of running a few miles (without excruciating pain or difficulty) if they need to. Or any individual is capable of dead-lifting a few hundred pounds when a moment calls for it.
Imagine a United States where the healthcare system isn’t so clogged by preventable chronic diseases. Where pharmaceutical companies aren’t capable gouging the significant portion of the population, because the vast majority are fit and healthy.
Imagine where all of that time could be directed towards! Art? Science? Philosophy?
Imagine where all that money could be redirected! Investing in better education systems for children. Or investing in a new, cutting-edge technology.
Imagine where all of that energy could go. Those doctors and nurses that are working long-grueling hours in the hospital to ameliorate situations that were caused by individuals not living a healthy lifestyle. Imagine the changes that could happen if they’re allowed to spend more time with their children and loved ones.
There are so many network effects that leading an inactive, and unhealthy lifestyle have that go so far beyond what any of us can initially fathom.
The longer this movement of resisting something as simple and real… like as working out 5 days a week, and eating healthier, lives on… the more certain I become that our nation, and our people, are not destined for greatness… but destined for fragility.
We should be climbing mountains. Exploring our solar system. Producing fantastic works of art that rival the Romans. Pushing the absolute limits of our reality.
Not growing weaker, and more fragile with each generation. Not having thin, and refusing of being capable of hearing an opposing view and admitting that our assumptions were wrong.