Marz came to find me at the coffee shop yesterday where I sat working on my laptop and announced, "We have got to rejoin the Y---we both spend all our time on the computer and my neck is getting bent."
Yes. My intention when I quit my activities job--active in the sense that it required me to hold my head upright---was to keep biking every morning, since for 6 months I'd biked for transportation.
I did that exactly once. (You know, our species...)
So we went and signed up, and today I'm going to my first exercise class in ages---a girly weight-lifting class that used to be called Body Pump, now called "Pumped!"-- with an exclamation, like "Jeb!"
[links to Guardian article, "Jeb! Why Jeb Bush's campaign slogan sounds like a Broadway musical"]
There was a time in my robust early–middle age when this class was so easy, I felt like I was wasting my time unless I loaded the bar with weights. Now I am feeble and will start with the bar by itself and no weights at all.
But honestly, it feels good to get back to movement.
I love not exercising, but I don't love how I feel afterward.
* * *
Speaking of Jeb!, this is a guy who said Pope Francis should shut up about climate change:
Taking responsibility for our crap doesn't make us better people?
The pope, oddly enough, did not heed Jeb!, and his new encyclical on climate change is awesome.
"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth", he says.
Thank you, pope, for a quotable quote.
I don't understand the psychology behind the denial of climate change.
I understand the business behind it--"It is profitable to let the world go to hell"--but why private individuals think it's a scam, I don't understand.
Why does the idea that we humans are hurting the Earth threaten people? Because it's so scary? They want to think everything is fine? to think they have no power? no responsibility?
Do you get it?
I really don't---and I want to understand their motivation so my book can take it into account. Also, I'm curious.
Yes. My intention when I quit my activities job--active in the sense that it required me to hold my head upright---was to keep biking every morning, since for 6 months I'd biked for transportation.
I did that exactly once. (You know, our species...)
So we went and signed up, and today I'm going to my first exercise class in ages---a girly weight-lifting class that used to be called Body Pump, now called "Pumped!"-- with an exclamation, like "Jeb!"
[links to Guardian article, "Jeb! Why Jeb Bush's campaign slogan sounds like a Broadway musical"]
There was a time in my robust early–middle age when this class was so easy, I felt like I was wasting my time unless I loaded the bar with weights. Now I am feeble and will start with the bar by itself and no weights at all.
But honestly, it feels good to get back to movement.
I love not exercising, but I don't love how I feel afterward.
* * *
Speaking of Jeb!, this is a guy who said Pope Francis should shut up about climate change:
“I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm.”
Taking responsibility for our crap doesn't make us better people?
The pope, oddly enough, did not heed Jeb!, and his new encyclical on climate change is awesome.
"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth", he says.
Thank you, pope, for a quotable quote.
I don't understand the psychology behind the denial of climate change.
I understand the business behind it--"It is profitable to let the world go to hell"--but why private individuals think it's a scam, I don't understand.
Why does the idea that we humans are hurting the Earth threaten people? Because it's so scary? They want to think everything is fine? to think they have no power? no responsibility?
Do you get it?
I really don't---and I want to understand their motivation so my book can take it into account. Also, I'm curious.
I think so many of our issues - climate change, reproductive rights, civil rights, marriage rights, et cetera - have been demonized for political (read wealth) power, that most folks can't see them as separate issues, can't think critically about the individual issue on its own merit. Thus, while they/we see a headline, hear a soundbite on an individual issue of importance, our brain has hardwired all of them into one huge issue and it is freakin' overwhelming - as politicians/corporations intended.
ReplyDelete"Dazzle 'em with your footwork" so they don't see the punches coming their way.
That must be part of it, Crow. Thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFear, great fear. People in power most fear loss. Only those with little to lose seem able to face the truth of loss.
ReplyDeleteI only seem able to think about this long enough to know what is happening. If I dwell on it at all, I get downright self-destructive.
I guess with climate change, there's no one with "little to lose".
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's hard to think about this stuff in depth--it's definitely getting me down. Time to go sew something!