I am proud to have intelligent and discerning sons. Now that the youngest is in his last year of high school, I hope he has come to view education for what it is: a mile marker in life. In 2009, history is rewritten to expunge or filter events and cultural reality of time, to meet political and social conventions of today. Murder now, if committed by an islamic group, is an exercise in national defense, US citizenship is not defined by borders, and rule of law, and every historical event of the last thousand years or more is skewed to reflect whatever agenda of whatever social or national origin of the proponent. Afro-centric doctrine denegrates white society, Arab-centric ideas denegrates jewish and christian society, homosexual politics denegrate heterosexual society, anarchists and socialists denegrate capitalist society, and any number of “green-environment” proponents denegrate anyone who uses current technology today.

Where once I was very supportive of “getting a good education” studying and going on to a college, I no longer see this as something which can be provided by the state. The State only seeks docile acceptance of everything they espouse, in order to maintain the status quo.

I began counseling my teenagers years ago to question everything that was stated in the classroom. Read everything, analyze everything, and discern where the truth exists by filtering it all through the lens of experience. In the final analysis, there is probably a lot of virtue in following the life-learning achieved by Abraham Lincoln. Walk miles to obtain a book, do chores, observe Nature, gain wisdom from the common sense of people – linguists, engineers, teachers, merchants, farmers, diplomats, carpenters. And hopefully, when society collapses into the ruin that is coming, the Dark Ages the Sequel will have little pockets of intellect and sense, to recover more quickly than 10 centuries of the last.

I am quietly cheering a possible shift in mindset in the U.S. military. The military is quietly reading the seas and skies, tightening fiscal belts and filtering its ranks to find and keep “warriors”. The military has achieved all its recruiting goals, and like the Jif-choosing, choosy mothers, picks whom it wants now. Conditions in the country have probably fostered this, but one look at the re-enlistment rates – enlistees are now vetted through performance reviews prior to authorized to re-enlist – validates that there are still people who value the United States and the ideals the military holds.

I do not want the government to foul up my healthcare. In the past thirty years, I’ve experienced medical care as a college student, company-plan employee, military member, and on occasion, paid fully-out-of-pocket. I happen to appreciate that I can purchase healthcare and choose from the best care available. Especially since I have a recurring condition which requires hospitalization, I want to go to the best professionals and facilities. I still hold the socialized system – the military healthcare system – responsible for much of the issues I experienced. These were aggravated by the lack of individual care and advanced practicianers that are available in private care. Fifteen years ago in the military, I had appendicitis which went undiagnosed for several days. It subsequently ruptured and over the past fifteen years I have suffered digestive problems as a result. In a socialized system, everyone gets an Emergency waiting room experience, but without top-line care. Without incentive nor alternative source of care, it never was nor would be treated with the precision and advanced diagnosis as in private care.

When I was in my mid-Thirties, my appendix exploded. If I had been subject to the employer and healthcare that I n0w have, it might never have gotten that far. But I was in the Navy, and my supervisors at the time were generally an ignorant bunch. After 3 days, I did get my agony recognized, and while being shuttled off to the hospital, the appendix burst.
Over the last 15 years I have had recurrent bouts of what I affectionally call “vapor lock”, when I neglected to follow a careful diet, proper hydration, or just common sense in what I was eating. After the appendectomy, I developed bowel scar tissue or adhesions which periodically can seal the colon. Sometimes a person can have a hankering for dried fruit, popcorn, peanuts – and eating too much can result in a bellyache. Or, in my case, I get a obstructed. The Bible talks about the evils resulting from the lust of the eye as a spritual battle relieved by prayer and repentance. With a physical evil, there is still a lot of prayer, but a visit to the Emergency Room is the best cure. In the last seven or eight times, I have had an NG tube inserted through my nose and esophagus to relieve the pressure on the adhesion, which I can tell you makes me very sorry about lusting after food. I think often about the scene in the Dustin Hoffman movie, Marathon Man, where the Nazi dentist is torturing him with a dental drill. I imagine the terror of an NG tube.

It’s my birthday today, and it started with a crash-bang, HAPPY BIRTHDAY from all 3 of the boys at 6 AM. (I really got to lock that door!) There’s a lot to fret over these days, but I really don’t give a rip today. I’ve walked the dogs, visited with friends, opened some birthday cards and received a couple cigars to savor on this wonderful day.

“do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.” – Proverbs 31:3 (NIV)

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. – 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)

When I was very young, I watched Jack Lalanne on the small black & white television my mother had in the living room. The ritual every morning was to do calisthenics as he demonstrated handstands, one-armed pushups, etc. and made jokes about fad dieting – with a skeleton as a prop. I recall at some point later, perhaps I was 12, he was in the news for having celebrated his birthday by towing a heavy boat across the San Francisco Bay. Perhaps he was 50 or 60 at the time.

As I grew into manhood, there were high school gyms with boys weight training for football, and some Southern California fitness clubs had made their way to Arizona. At that time, my physical training was two-pronged – I worked my butt off hauling hay and doing heavy lifting at a ranch, so I could get some time horseback riding. Also daily, riding my 10-speed steel bike up hill for six miles to the high school and back in the afternoon. (I previously told my mom that I would NOT be changing schools again for any reason but that’s another story for another time.)

During my first stint in the Navy, at the ripe age of 20 or so, I took up running in addition to the gym, while I was in Pensacola. So perhaps 3 times a week, in the evening – I ‘d go running with my quad-mate around the base – which was the site of an old airfield. We marked the route from dorm to the end of the runway and around to the back as 4 miles. Sometimes we would run around it twice before turning in. It was a great way to offset a few beers on a Friday evening!

I spent my twenties in college, scuba diving, hiking, in tae kwon do, and in the least expensive, but most motivated physical activity – a construction laborer and helper has to work twice as hard as anyone else to keep his job and potentially move up!

Sometime in my early 30s, several years into my second stint in the Navy, I realized that there was not really a point to running, particularly as I never had nor would attain the frame of a marathoner. My cycling, thanks to a few traffic collisions and dozens of flat tires miles from home also started to collect dust in the garage.

Then, ten years ago, the Navy recognized that the warrior-image and new realities of the Global War on Terrorism demanded a total paradigm shift. Out with the fat Chiefs and Officers, out with smoke breaks and greasy, sloppy chow! Over time, while the nation has become more rotund and chronically ill in general, the military has become more like Jack LaLanne.

In the past year, my employer has also adopted a new strategy — bestowing a gym membership on employees, and encouraging a regular regimine. It will cut down health care costs. But this employer is not a place for the idle, sugar-holics, no sir. Brains and a healthy passion for all things physical exist there. Runners, cyclists – national competion-class, weightlifters, surfers, golfers, yoga — all are practiced at this place.

So here I am, a couple years ago, feeling that my age has betrayed me into a fat comfort-zone, while all the time the military is counting down till they eject me (or force my retirement) over fitness rules. The impending birthday, heralded this past January with a notice from the IRS that I could now accelerate my retirement fund contributions AND a welcoming series of membership offers from AARP, shook me permanently from my complacency.

It seems somewhat bizarre that I am obtaining that triangle shape, growing bicep and triceps, and the approving nod from peers who at this moment are raising dumbbells which individually weigh as much as my wife’s nephew, overhead. As for me, I am much more confident that I will enter my mid-life, in much better shape than ever before. Of course, the perk and perhaps the best reason of all, is to catch the approving eye of my wife as I get more fit. And if any female were to catch my eye, I know that I sleep more soundly than my dear beloved.

The only thing now, is how do I avoid that physical trainer who wants – for lots of green, of course – to give me instruction on how to take my training to the next level. Belly fat, be GONE!!!!