Body Appreciation

It seems you appreciate things more when they are gone. I have a cold, and it made me realize how nice good health is and how much I really like my body. I rarely get sick, I have no chronic pains or illnesses, and it usually works well.

Then I realized that we are not supposed to like our bodies, in today's society, mostly because of how they look. We are supposed to be dissatisfied.

It occurred to me that when I was a kid, the Establishment was big on physical fitness. You were supposed to eat balanced meals and you were supposed to exercise, for fitness. They really pushed it, as I recall. Your body was your temple, and you were supposed to take good care of it.

The goal was "vim and vigor", not looks.

My mom exercised to Jack LaLaine, on the TV, my dad did Royal Canadian exercises, and my schools made us do push ups, and sit ups, and jumping jacks, and run laps around the field.

When did that change? I remember in the 80s, as Big Ag took over and fossil fuel use skyrocketed, obesity also grew in the US. And then the main talk was about eating and exercising to lose weight, not for good health.

And now, do they even do that? It seems to have lessened. The big push now by the Establishment seems to be to tell kids that ''you might have been born in the wrong body''. Say what? That is nuts. Why would they tell children such things?

The whole damn society has gone insane.