The oligarchy

Let's blast through the requisite introduction quickly:

We in the West live in an Oligarchy. Granted, as far as these things go, we live in a relatively benign one - it's not built on mass involuntary servitude and there are a great many avenues to move up the socio-economic ladder. But in any society where money determines political clout we'd be foolish to call ourselves a true democracy. A tiny minority of super-elites controls a overwhelming majority of the world's resources. That's an oligarchy.

Now, before you start to feel righteous anger, if you are reading this in the United States you are a member of the super elite. Especially if you are currently doing so in a coffee shop on a laptop. Extra especially if that laptop is a Mac.

But chances are you are not considered filthy rich by American standards. There is a corporate Oligarchy in this country and, rest assured, you aren't in it. One of my oldest friends once proposed a brilliant website idea to me, whoownsyou.com, where you enter all the products you regularly buy and the website returns the pictures of the old white men who own you as a result.

We could have a spectacular debate on whether or not all of this is a bad thing. There are pros and cons to this geopolitical/social/economic/cultural reality. The point is that the world's resources and power are controlled by a relatively small subset of the population - and the gap between rich and poor is widening.

Unfortunately, the same seems to be true in fitness and public health.

The majority of people are really struggling. Exploding rates of obesity, diabetes, and other diseases of civilization are old news by this point. Urban food deserts and a bass-ackwards set of food policies ensure the lower classes are disproportionately affected. The rich have access to farmers markets and Whole Foods.

Physical education has long been devalued, mocked, and marginalized - now it's being done away with all together in the face of budget cuts (all while health care expenditures continue their meteoric rise... anyone else see a relationship?), but elite team sports like football and basketball draw more and more resources, while cutting more and more kids.

We now rely on experts to tell us what to eat, how to move, how to think - and pay them lavishly for the privilege.

What does all of this lead to? Well, this.

What's the answer? A grassroots back-to-basics approach is called for. Now, before everyone at Crossfit begins to high-five each other, take a look at your monthly gym fee - probably not feasible for too many people.

So let's begin with movement. Add in some bodyweight training. It's cheap. And inclusive - no varsity team cuts. Perhaps we should deemphasize team sports as the vehicle of PE in schools and teach lasting health/fitness habits. Maybe we should make PE more like recess and less like bootcamp. Maybe we should play more.

Maybe we should muster enough interest in our own well-being to not rely on over-paid celebrity health professionals to think for us.

Maybe, just maybe, if we all try, we can all live in a world where this is a common occurrence:

Wouldn't that be beautiful?