By the sweat of our brow?

Has it ever occurred to anyone else how perfectly ridiculous it is that we should have to pay to go to the gym to exercise off all that food we eat?

I mean, think about this: for millennia, people have struggled to eke out an existence, all the energy they gain from their food going into producing more food or goods or other necessary pursuits. True, during prosperous ages, and among the elite classes, there has been plenty of decadence, but try, if you can, to imagine the characters from a Dickens novel wasting their precious morsels on exercise for exercise’s sake…

What a shock the characters from Dostoevsky might have if they could see us struggling with obesity, spending hours lifting weights, doing pilates, pedaling stationary bicycles or climbing stairstep machines. We are obsessed with exercise, our entire faith in its magic to transform us into something we are not.

Even with the financial condition of our country crumbling, so very few of us have any concept of what abject poverty really is, amidst our widescreen plasma TVs and cellular phones and kitchen appliances of every sort. I’ve been in poor neighborhoods before—both urban and rural—but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child who was forced to wear rags or go shoeless. We suffer widespread malnutrition of a different sort—but has anyone ever seen a starving child except on commercials?

So the next time you’re getting ready to do whatever “exercise” it is that you do, think to yourself for a moment: what can I do to put my energy to productive use, rather than squandering it on climbing stairs that go nowhere? How can I convert the food I have consumed into a worthwhile end other than an additional repetition at the bench press? At the very least, couldn’t you ride your bicycle to the gym instead of driving there--just to use a stationary bicycle? Better yet, skip the stationary altogether (and save the money) and get some fresh air and sunshine instead. Consider it practice for the tough times that are coming.

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