Moral Fiber Is Also a Metaphor...

This may come as a shock to some of us:  exercise does not have moral value.  Our culture tries to argue differently—muscular Christianity, anyone?  How about the character-building function of team sports?  Then there are all the people who feel, obscurely or overtly, that they need to confess to me (because I am clearly some kind of high priestess of the fitness cult…) that they haven’t run or stretched or lifted, or, even worse, that they don’t happen to like running or stretching or lifting.  (I am not a high priestess of anything.  If I were, I would automatically absolve everyone.  We’re all trying our best.)

There are many fine people who love exercise.  There are even many fine people who become finer people because of what they learn about themselves while exercising.  And then there are people who are less fine people who also love exercise.  Insert your favorite famous sports star sex/violence/corruption scandal here.  It is not usually the exercise that makes the difference.

Exercise is also not a punishment.  We do not need to give ourselves forty lashes on the treadmill because we had a piece of cake at someone’s birthday party.  We do not need to atone for our sins, real or imagined, in sweat.

This is not to say that exercise does not have value.  Of course it does.  It is one tool toward making healthy bodies and minds.  Let’s make our exercise more of a plow and less of a sword.

Let’s work out in love.