Responsibility to those who came before

By: Michael Beiter

On motivation again:

The other day I posted a quote about the responsibility we have to contribute to the culture and society we live in because of the suffering those who came before us went through.

I extend that thinking to encapsulate why I think everyone needs to look at their exercise and nutrition as responsibilities of being alive in the twenty-first century. Those who came before us didn't have the choices we do; we owe them for making our lives easier.

For most of human history, famine was the default condition. Advancements in the twentieth century eliminated the concern that our grandparents grew up with that we wouldn't be able to feed all the people.

In 1968, Stanford professor Paul Ehrlich wrote 'The Population Bomb,' which said we were already past the point of no return and that the '80s and '90s would be plagued with mass famines. He thought the max population we could support with our food supply was about 2 billion.

Fifty years later, we have 7.75 billion, no famines hit late in the 20th century, and we have enough food for everyone thanks to GMOs and scientific advancements in agriculture/processing.

We traded up from famine to abundance, and now our problem is that people are overeating food. Obesity kills more people annually than anything else.

In this day and age, everyone is responsible for making good food and fitness choices. Avoid the sin of gluttony and quit taking more than your fill.

Add to that, generations past all had to break their backs with manual labor. Being physical every day was not an option; it was an obligation.

Now, the vast majority of the workforce can be passive and still earn a living. First off, that is crazy progress and incredible. Secondly, this adds the responsibility of choosing to be physically active daily.

Every person's responsibility is to be active and mind their nutrition because we have the CHOICE to when so many millions before us never did.