It's Our Choice To Be, Or Not To Be, Someone Else's Victim

While not directly related to strength training, the tenets behind this post, personal responsibility and taking charge of one’s own fate, definitely are. Also, having worked in Hollywood for 35 years, the subject matter hits close to home.

With the insane hoopla surrounding the 2015 Academy Awards’ so-called “rebuff” of blacks going full tilt and the Academy capitulating to the childish demands of the likes of Pinkett-Smith, my acerbic elderly neighbor Marie said, “Silly me, I didn’t realize Affirmative Action applied to the Academy Awards.”

Every day I am grateful that I was born white. Whenever I flop or flounder, whenever I am not provided the opportunity I feel I deserve or get hired for a job I am uniquely qualified for, I am not additionally burdened by the self-defeating handicap of being provided permission — either by myself or the society I live in — to blame my personal disappointments entirely on others due to my race.

Black people have had to shoulder some terrible burdens throughout history, from their own people in Africa colluding with white Europeans to sell their brothers and sisters into slavery to their wholesale executions at the hands of the KKK and the police. Perhaps the heaviest burden of all, the burden that keeps blacks stalled and rooted and mired in the mud, is their enthusiastic and opportunistic embracing of the label of victimization. Identifying one’s self as a victim is one thing; celebrating it, appropriating it as a lifestyle, using it to manipulate and control, is self destructive both personally and racially. It is a cancer.

Every year entirely deserving people and films are not nominated for an Oscar. Always following the nominations the media has a field day decrying the amazing performances or projects overlooked or “shut out” by the Academy. Because these excluded individuals are predominantly white there is no convenient group upon whom they can shift the blame in order to justify their own disappointment; they have no easy out, such as the advantage of claiming they were shunned due to their race. Only black people stoop to this tactic, because black people have learned they can systematically blame all their own personal shortcomings and failures and slights real or imagined on others’ racism. During years past when black actors were nominated, but ultimately did not win, even then we were treated to crybabies like Spike Lee claiming "discrimination."

It is troubling how many compliant white people immediately and without applying any critical thought to the claim jump on blacks’ victimization bandwagon in knee-jerk fashion to facilitate and promote this travesty. It is troubling how many whites respond like trained monkeys to support and amplify the first rumblings of black victimization. These enabling self-proclaimed allies have done far more to hinder the cause of racial equality than any Southern politician ever has. And in a Machiavellian sense, perhaps that’s the whole idea.

The Deception That Is The Term, "Fat-Shaming"

If your loved one were abusing drugs, few people would fault you for initiating a conversation with him or her about the drugs they are intentionally putting into their bodies which might include warnings about the negative effects that such behavior is having on their health, safety, personal relationships, career, and social standing. Recognizing and cautioning your loved one over the undeniable self-destructiveness that is drug abuse would be applauded by most. Referring your loved one to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting would be interpreted as a caring and bold gesture. 

If your loved one were abusing alcohol, it’s almost a given that s/he also drives drunk. Few people would fault you for initiating a conversation about the excessive alcohol they are intentionally putting into their bodies which might include warnings about the negative effects that such behavior is having on their health, safety, personal relationships, career, and social standing. Recognizing and cautioning your loved one over the undeniable self-destructiveness that is alcohol abuse would be applauded by most. Referring your loved one to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting would be interpreted as a caring and bold gesture.

But if your loved one is obese, initiating a conversation about the excessive food they are intentionally putting into their bodies which might include warnings about the negative effects that is having on their health, safety, personal relationships, career, and social standing has been labeled with the reactionary term “fat-shaming.” Recognizing and cautioning your loved one over the undeniable self-destructiveness that is uncontrolled over-eating would be condemned by most. Referring your loved one to an Overeaters Anonymous meeting would be interpreted as an intrusive and insulting gesture.

Claiming that the uncontrolled cramming of food down one’s throat to the point of creating an actual physical handicap is somehow different from other uncontrolled self-destructive behaviors is so wrong and so cruelly enabling as to be preposterous. The mechanism that triggers the seeking of solace by way of drugs, alcohol or uncontrolled eating is identical.

The politically-correct, thin-skinned, easily-offended, perpetually-outraged, illogical people who single out obesity as requiring an entirely separate “understanding” need to be stopped in their tracks. It requires a certain level of courage to recognize one’s problem, decide the problem needs to be resolved, and ultimately seek treatment for that problem. The reason we value, elevate, and celebrate courage in our society is because it is so rare.

Unfortunately, blaming someone or something else other than ourselves for our problems is society’s accepted norm.  

Amending Your Jogging Technique

Although my knees have never been a problem when working out at the gym, jogging is a whole ‘nother story, and always has been.

Perhaps my not liking to jog in the first place has something to do with it, or maybe the initial discomfort I’ve always experienced does. These days though, it’s worse.

I jog every morning so that I and my dog can get some exercise in to start the day off right. Initially I jog slowly and mindfully for only 100 yards, then I walk; then repeat until my knees are warmed up. Some days though, they do not completely become discomfort-free, even after the warmup routine. I found that if I adjust my jogging technique that there is usually an improvement.

I lengthen my stride. I raise my knees higher. I land on a different foot area, such as the outer portion, or on the forefoot, I speed up or slow down. It makes a difference. I keep adjusting as I jog until I get to a place where the discomfort is gone, or at least it is minimal.

If you are feeling less like jogging these days due to discomfort, try changing things up a bit and see if that might improve your running experience.

I keep harping on this, but know the difference between discomfort, which is normal, and pain, which is not. Do not make the mistake of running through the pain. Every time I see a jogger wearing a knee brace and limping as they run I have to roll my eyes at the foolishness of that. Stop. Take time to heal. Then resume your routine, carefully.

Click HERE for a selection of knee-strengthening exercises.