Friday, September 23, 2016

Friday Book Report: Tribe


One of the things I have been thinking about a lot is community and how it relates to fitness.  In this context, I read Sebastian Junger’s book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.  I am not sure what I expected, but the book was not it, not that that is a bad thing.

Essentially, Junger spends the book ruminating on why we have so much angst given our amazing wealth as a society.  It comes down to the fact that we are, in his view, deeply disconnected.  He writes, “Humans don’t mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary.  Modern society has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary.” (p. xvii)

He explores this thesis through lenses ranging from traditional Native American culture to war-torn cities, finding that what we seem to need most is to be together, working for some common good.


So:  today’s fitness goal is to work with someone on something that makes the world a better place.

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