Freedom
I was thinking about freedom yesterday while I was running on the beach, and how many freedoms have to come together just to get to have that run...
I had to be free from work
Free from having to cook breakfast
Free from overtime labor
Free to spend money*
Free from concern
Free from corsets
Free from veils
Free to wear shorts and a tank top in public
Free to be in alone in public
Free to be alone
Free to be with others
Free to share the beach
Free from floods
Free from extreme heat
Free to tucker myself out
Free to be strong
Free to waste energy
Free to make myself hungry
Free from injury
Free to risk injury**
Free from illness
Free from exhaustion
Free from inhibition
...This list is probably still short. Helping KWK train our acquaintance for the Air Force has really made me think about running and working out in a new way--as optional. If you wanted to, you could avoid running more than a mile, for your whole life--this guy pretty much did. It's a privilege to work out without doing work. It takes time away from work, it takes energy, it takes money (even though running is a fairly cheap sport, you do still need some specialized equipment, and races usually have an entry fee). It's a privilege to even get into the mindset where you want to get in shape--plenty of people don't think they can or that they'd like to exert themselves, or whatever.
*My preferred beach run is in a State Park. Normally, I run early enough in the day that I don't need to pay to get in, but since I slept in yesterday, it cost money. I don't mind supporting the State Park system now and then. I ran with KWK part of the time, by myself the rest of the time, dodging the people, seashells, and stones.
**I have health insurance.
I had to be free from work
Free from having to cook breakfast
Free from overtime labor
Free to spend money*
Free from concern
Free from corsets
Free from veils
Free to wear shorts and a tank top in public
Free to be in alone in public
Free to be alone
Free to be with others
Free to share the beach
Free from floods
Free from extreme heat
Free to tucker myself out
Free to be strong
Free to waste energy
Free to make myself hungry
Free from injury
Free to risk injury**
Free from illness
Free from exhaustion
Free from inhibition
...This list is probably still short. Helping KWK train our acquaintance for the Air Force has really made me think about running and working out in a new way--as optional. If you wanted to, you could avoid running more than a mile, for your whole life--this guy pretty much did. It's a privilege to work out without doing work. It takes time away from work, it takes energy, it takes money (even though running is a fairly cheap sport, you do still need some specialized equipment, and races usually have an entry fee). It's a privilege to even get into the mindset where you want to get in shape--plenty of people don't think they can or that they'd like to exert themselves, or whatever.
*My preferred beach run is in a State Park. Normally, I run early enough in the day that I don't need to pay to get in, but since I slept in yesterday, it cost money. I don't mind supporting the State Park system now and then. I ran with KWK part of the time, by myself the rest of the time, dodging the people, seashells, and stones.
**I have health insurance.
posted by R at 10:09 am
3 Comments:
This post is an example of why I love this blog. I love posts like this.
It was an unexpected brightening of my day.
Although, I understand that the new Michael Moore film Sicko might put some damper on your faith in your health insurance.
And I don't really think that running is wasting energy.
It was fun to try to think of as many different ways it is freeing to run as possible. I guess I forgot that it's free to run: I didn't have to pay to run on the beach, I chose to. I could have run absolutely for free.
I don't really plan on watching the Moore film. I know that there are millions of people in the United States without any health insurance whatsoever. My health insurance sucks to yr asmar, but is a far sight better than nothing.
Running is basically wasting energy, I think: you're not using it to do anything, but you're definitely using it. If you worked a job doing manual labor all day in the summer, you probably wouldn't go running so often. (I didn't.) If you only had a limited amount of food to eat, you probably wouldn't go running, just to go running, so much. That's why it's a privilege to get to do it--you can eat more if you burn more calories, and you have the energy because you're not working in a sweatshop for 14 hours a day. You don't have to devote all your energy to surviving, you get to use it for making your body fast and strong. I guess I should say it's a luxury, rather than wasteful.
I suppose you're right that it's wasting energy but I don't like to think of it as wasted.
Perhaps invested energy.
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