THE SCENE: Sunny, temps in eighties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Iron Mikes, 10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on northeastern corner of Admin Bldg. There will be sets of bricks. We will be doing Doras with the brick. While one partner runs to cone, does 10 merkins, and comes back the other partner will be doing exercises with the bricks. The partners switch off when one partner comes back from the run. The partner teams will do 100 of each of the following exercises with the bricks:
- Overhead Presses
- Curls
- Rows with brick at each side
- Punches from chest out (punch with each hand = 1)
- Wings out
- Wings up
- Wings down
Mosey north to perimeter trail and head west on perimeter trail to area below Roadshow Run. Each man will do 20 Big Boys, then run to top of Roadshow Run by the bat house. There, each man does 40 Baby Crunches. We will rinse and repeat. The first man who finishes then runs back up Roadshow Run sweeping all men upward.
Mosey to grassy area in shade and by small wall on west side of road. We will do elevens starting with 10 Jump Squats and 1 Incline Merkin with hands on wall. We will do another eleven with 10 Mountain Climbers (four count) and one bench raise off of wall.
Mosey to AO.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I read this week about something that the comedian Louie C.K. said when he was being interviewed by Conan one time. He commented that he doesn’t want his kids to have cell phones because he wants them to be sad. He was being funny with this comment but he was also being serious. Sadness can come when we are forced to be alone with our thoughts. The comedian noted, “That’s what the phones are taking away, the ability to just sit there. That’s being a person.”
He also talked about a time when he was driving and listening to a Bruce Springsteen song on the radio. He was feeling a melancholy come over him and his immediate response was to grab the phone and text somebody. Instead, he let the sadness grow and pulled over to the side of the road to weep. Afterwards, came another strong feeling, one of joy and thankfulness for his life.
Technology and cell phones are not bad things. They are useful things. But we can get too absorbed in it. In so doing, we may find that we are avoiding true alone time, true thinking time. We may be be pushing aside time to reflect over the events of the day, good and bad, that impact us cognitively and emotionally. We may be merely numbing our minds. We are not struggling but sometimes struggle is important. And as Louie C.K. implies, sometimes sadness is good. We don’t like seeing our loved ones, our children, or ourselves feeling sad. But sadness is an important emotion – one that can inspire us to change or one that puts us more in touch with humanity. Life is about loss as well as gain. Sadness comes with loss and it is important to reckon with it.
The bible gives us plenty of images of Christ weeping – whether over the death of Lazurus, for the fate of Jerusalem, in compassion for others, or in anger over the tyranny of death over mankind. Christ does not keep us from experiencing sadness. But, in living in a relationship with Him, with God, he also shows us what true joy is.
Louie C.K., explaining his resistance to cell phones and technology, stated “you don’t ever feel really sad or really happy, you just feel. . . kinda satisfied with your products. And then you die.”
I hope that we, as HIMs, are striving for more. That striving for more may take the form of welcoming the Gloom when it meets us in the cold of a 5:30 am workout or heat of a 5:45 pm beat down. It may also come in the form of welcoming the sadness that sometimes comes about in living a meaningful life.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Sparkler’s stepdad, Shooter’s friend, and Iceman’s brother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Neyland run on Saturday, May 11. Hardship Hill on Saturday, May 18.