Privacy no longer exists–and that is a good thing. And I’ve gone to meddling today as I continue with my morning pattern of reading real newspapers and praying my way around the world.
I offer you today’s snippets.
Ditch that padded running shoe and go as close to barefoot as you can. According to a Wall Street Journal article called, “How Can You Make Running Less Painful”, the problem lies in our heavily padded running shoes which encourage people to land on their heels and ends up weakening the feet. Ultimately, that kind of landing affects everything else, from knees to posture. However, no matter how much better this near-barefoot technique will be for your knees and feet, it will take a long time to adjust.
It could take up to a year for your body to adjust. You must condition your legs properly, and the process is slow. It begins with brisk walking, then adding slow running miles one at a time, with days off in between. The key is not to rush, she says.
There also make a strong suggestion that runners switch from using streets and sidewalks to padded tracks or, ideally, a well-maintained dirt trail. Good luck finding one.
The world situation is definitely scary–this situation with Syria represents just one of the simmering pots ready to boil over. Again, the WSJ editorial writers take a bit of a dim view of our current President’s habits. In an editorial titled, “Bolton Faces a Dangerous World”, Walter Russell Mead writes,
As national security adviser, Mr. Bolton sits where the rubber of presidential spontaneity meets the road of the institutional foreign-policy process. Mr. Bolton’s unenviable but critical task is to bring some kind of order to the most chaotic administration in recent memory, which is confronting the most dangerous international situation since the Truman administration.
That, of course, represents your depressing news for the day.
Look, peeps, it is just not a good idea to befriend young women, drug them, rape them when they are passed out, pay them large sums of money later and call the sex “consensual.” The only people who believe you will be other sexual predators who want to justify their actions.
Bill Cosby paid Andrea Constand $3.38 million to settle the sexual assault lawsuit she brought against him in 2005, prosecutors said at the opening of his criminal retrial Monday.
That sum was part of a confidential settlement between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand, a former employee of Temple University who had accused the entertainer of first befriending her, then drugging and molesting her during a visit to his home outside Philadelphia in 2004.
It is my fervent hope that #metoo will bring a radical change to the culture that has enabled too many to prey on young, vulnerable women.
Face it: privacy is gone. Quit worrying about it. As a business writer in the New York Times notes,
The reality is that when it comes to privacy, the trade-off has already been made: We decided long ago to give away our personal information in exchange for free content and the ability to interact seamlessly with others.
In one of the best books I think I’ve ever read, Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen, author James Suzman writes eloquently of the now nearly totally gone life of the hunter-gatherer, a type of human existence that flourished for 250,000 years before modernity and consumption took over. In these small nomadic communities, the word “privacy” would simply have no meaning. Everybody knew everybody else’s business. Children really were raised by the village, which is the right way to do it. Men didn’t get away with beating up women because the village wouldn’t let them get away with it.
In other words, privacy is over-rated. Too much bad stuff happens behind locked doors. Like Bill Cosby. Or Harvey Weinstein. Or Stormy Daniels. You get the drift.
And finally, just because it is legal in some states, doesn’t mean it is healthy for you. From the saga of one young man’s pain journey:
He often stayed in the shower for hours at a time and could be in and out of the shower for days.
When the hot water ran out, “the pain was unbearable, like somebody was wringing my stomach out like a washcloth,” said the 28-year-old, who works as a production and shipping assistant and lives outside Chicago.
It was nearly 10 years until a doctor finally convinced him the diagnosis was cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition that causes cyclic vomiting in heavy marijuana users and can be cured by quitting marijuana.
Apparently, it is not uncommon. Kind of like horrific hangovers after a binge-drinking bout. Folks, the human body really prefers to be treated better than this. Over anything (food, water, exercise, drink, drugs, TV, video games, sloth, work) will eventually take its toll.
Not exactly rocket science here, but way too many can’t seem to grasp this basic concept. Perhaps it demands too much “adulting.”
I’ve done much thinking, prayer, reading, and research about the healing process. I have indeed lost count of the many I’ve prayed for who are facing serious illnesses. I’m watching my body age (OK, I put on a bathing suit the other day: not a pretty moment), and am aware of how easy it will be to slip into poor health.
I also see how consistently we mistreat our bodies and then expect no negative repercussions. There’s this idea floating around out there that God will mysteriously override our poor habits and miraculously bless us with good health if we pray hard enough.
But it has long been my contention that we must cooperate with God in the healing process. We have to get up, pick up our mats and walk. We have to take responsibility for our health issues. For example, there’s growing evidence that all sugars, both “natural” and artificial, are astoundingly bad for us. But most of us continue to eat high sugar diets as though there is no tomorrow and just expect to stay fit and healthy anyway.
Preachers need to meddle here. John Wesley had no compunction about meddling and neither should we. What we are doing now is ridiculous.
Photo Credit:VisualHunt
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