Perspective

It's going to be hot again today, and humid. And like most of you reading this, I will be in a pleasantly air conditioned house all day if I choose to, and won't be forced to do anything unduly threatening to my health. So when I go for an exhausting run, it isn't a hardship. I think that that is something we runners sometimes miss when we talk about our endeavours. We miss the fact that a huge portion of the world's population expends enormously more calories and is significantly closer to dehydration than we can achieve merely by virtue of huddling in steaming hot refugee camps or hopelessly dirty and dangerous slums. Not that I want to be depressing; I just want to point out that our heroics, while admirable, do not approach the field of courage and bravery that our rhetoric sometimes implies. What we do is better than lazy obese people, certainly, but there is a perspective to be aware of here.