Working out for Everybody.

Wednesday night at the gym they had the community outreach program. An occasional, seemingly random event where people can come and try out the facility while enjoying a glass of lemonade or fruit infused ice water, and a soft, thick, doughy delicious cookie.

It's really kind of funny, people come, look around and don't go anywhere near the weights or cable machines. They don't swim, or play basketball. None of them use the track, or the rowing machines, placed so conveniently around the windows looking into the pool for the added realism of rowing near water. They wander around as if it were a sale filled with things they weren't particularly interested in but still hoping to find a treasure.

My wife and I went about our workout, a little lifting, a lot of walking, and a chance to talk about our day. We talk with a few people, gym friends, and the time is relaxing and invigorating in its own way. She left and I used the elliptical machine, took a shower.

When I was leaving there were a whole group of people enjoying the cookies and drinks from the table set up too close to the exit to be practical. There was no room to effect my escape. I filled a plastic cup with iced water and waited for a break in the smiling, cheerful crowd. It always makes me happy to see so many people with no real connection standing together in a good natured mob, no friction, no tension.

Finally a break, and I followed a group of Muslim women, dressed in jilbabs, long flowing dresses that run from head to toe, leaving only their face and hands exposed. They were carrying little plastic cups of water, and their children ran ahead of them, laughing and playing. One of them saw me following closely behind, and held the first, the inner, door for me.

"Allow me." I said, taking the door, and holding it open. They all laughed and smiled at me, saying something in a broken English that I couldn't understand. It seemed to be a long, exaggerated thanks. And we repeated the same act at the outer door. They all smiled at me and laughed and went their way. Whatever they had done, whatever they had tried, they enjoyed themselves, they had been made to feel welcome and wanted, our gym is very inclusive. And it showed in their faces. It wasn't probably the way they were always treated.

And I watched them all the way to their car, an old Toyota Sienna, heard their laughter, and their joy. The excited, ecstatic cries of their children, as they piled in, almost a clown car in reverse, and it made me happy.

I wondered how much they had sacrificed to come to America. What they left behind, what they had
given up without any hope of ever finding again. I see their husbands driving cabs down by the convention center. Working as dishwashers, anything to make a living, chase the American dream. And I thought we should welcome them. More than anybody they want to be here, they only want safety and security for their families. "Still, from near and far to seek America, they come by thousands." We should be proud to call them Americans.

I am announcing my intention to announce my candidacy, at some point, anyway.

Look, there is not a lot of activity on the ol' Presidential Campaign trail.  This has really dampened spirits around Life Explained.  With both parties searching for a candidate there should be mounting tension, bitter sniping, and general blame and immature, petty finger pointing.  Enough for even the most jaded observer.  Things are sadly lacking.  Sadly.

Except for one fellow, one lone, brave Texan, the field is barren.  And, I don't want to alarm anybody here, but I read where Ted Cruz accused Ted Cruz of being a liberal, tax and spend, tree hugging, pantie waist.  Naturally, Ted Cruz fired right back, defending his record on tax cuts, and the use of government shutdown as a cost saving measure, even going so far as to challenge Ted Cruz to an a series of televised debates.  It seems politicians are born to this behavior.

Anybody who has been paying attention could tell you the American Political landscape is more divided and disastrous than ever.  There is no safe haven for candidates anymore.  Party affiliation means nothing.  Factions have become the battleground in what is rapidly becoming a guerilla war for presidency.

In many ways presidential campaigns are the ultimate explanation of the human experience.  It starts nobly enough.  A person who wants to help, and is willing to sacrifice so much in an effort to guide the country he loves.  What could be more pure?  But, as time marches on, and the atrocities of campaigning strip away the thin veneer of civilization true humanity, in its most fundamental form begins to claw and tear its way through.  Not unlike the classic scene in the thrilling expose "Heavy Metal" when Hannover Fiste recants his testimony on behalf of Captain Lincoln F. Sterne.  Beginning with a thoughtful, considered defense of the Captain's character, and eventually explaining that the captain was so reprehensible he "should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive."  Ultimately, offering to do the job himself.  So goes the campaign, in the end it becomes a vicious game of last man standing.  Battle hardened, weary, and filled with rage, but standing.  Only a fool would rush into that, or a person who feels the call of destiny.    

This might explain why the field is still so bleak.  If you declare early you need to pursue the base, the extreme, and the moderate.  It requires a balancing act, a unicycle ride, across a mine field, while juggling broken bottles, filled with burning gasoline.  There are many who find this activity unappealing.  

If you are willing to wait, and jump in more toward the end of the campaign, you can be more focused, and tailor your message toward the side that seems to be winning.  Safer for your reputation, but it is calculated. You have less chance of alienating most of the voting population, but it is possible that voters will say "who is that guy?"  

It would be similar to rushing in at the last minute of a robbery, jumping on the robbers back, wrestling him to the ground, and listening to the applause.  But, in that scenario somebody who was there may have already disabled the gunman, and you will look foolish, busting down the door to save the day.  A day that has already been saved.  Plus, you will have to pay for the door.  

Obviously, politics in our world have become a matter of timing, substance means little.  Substance is probably a liability.  Anything of substance is bound to have a grating effect on somebody.  Better to be everything to everybody, at just the right time.

With that in mind, I would like to announce my exploratory, bi partisan, focus group to decide when I should announce my candidacy for the office of President.  It seems like the hope for a dramatic ground swell of dissatisfaction driving a grass roots write in victory might have been a little optimistic.  Americans love to innovate, as long as someone else does it.  We will be testing the waters, and when the wind is favorable, and the time is right, pow, we will be there.  

Until then go ahead and take a long, hard look at that Cruz guy.  Ask yourself why he has changed his name, and so drastically altered his appearance "Top Gun?"  Normally, that is not a presidential trait.  But, you can decide, we hope.

Hey, NASA, great idea, whose was it?

Charles Bolden, NASA chief, recently held a press conference announcing his plans to send a manned mission to mars.  He feels this is the only way to assure the continued existence of humanity. He did not detail his reasons for concern, and we are kind of grateful.  However, we are compiling a list of our own, "Life Explained Threats to the Continued Existence of Humanity, so far we have;

1-Humanity (we are researching an antidote for this affliction)
2-Spiders
3-Invasive Species (including spiders)

But that is not what we are here to talk about today.  We are here to discuss timing, and gratitude.  Readers will probably remember Life Explained advocating this very course of action.

See, we told you it was a good idea.

As is plain to see, either we have very good ideas, well ahead of everybody else, or we have a time machine.  Unfortunately, we are not allowed to disclose that information, contractual obligations, you know?  But, you can thank us later, or earlier, if you have a time machine.