From Lisa Bullock

I want to share some of my thoughts with you and they’re not particularly health and fitness related so feel free to switch off if you’d prefer.  Laughing Lisa will be back tomorrow.

The English poet and preacher John Donne once wrote:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main……
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; 
It tolls for thee. 

I can’t think of a more apt quote to describe the effect of this weeks horrific air tragedy.  As we watch more tragic news unfold on the world stage with the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17 I struggle with the continued horror of man’s inhumanity to man.  I’m just some middle aged woman in Melbourne – what can I do?  I’m as helpless as any of you to change these global conflicts.

And then I thought of another quote from Mother Theresa:

We live in a global world that interacts faster than a small village.  I can message Shawna as I sit in my office in Australia and get a response from Canada in seconds.  Facebook and email link us as never before.

I believe that we can change some things. 

As women, mothers, wives and friends we have a responsibility to live a life that sets an example.  Not a life of perfection, that’s impossible and probably highly hypocritical if the truth is known – but the best life we can live.  We’re all committed to living a healthier life – you wouldn’t be subscribing to Female Fat Loss over 40 if you were happy to stay the same.

So how does living a life of health and fitness extrapolate out to world peace?

I believe it’s about striving to be a better person. 

To be healthier, to be stronger, to feel better. 

The better we feel, the happier we feel and the more secure we are. 

Happy, confident individuals do not go and shoot down school children, do not start wars, do not encourage the bullying of marginalised ethnicities or discriminate against others based on their sexual preferences.

I’m passionately, absolutely anti-guns – the outdated concept of the “right to bear arms” completely ignores the responsibilities we bear in the 21^st century.  Enough talk of rights, let’s start talking responsibilities.

We are responsible for raising our children to be thoughtful and caring members of society.  We should stand up for the weak and marginalised – you personally will know someone, if not several people that face discrimination daily if only because of the colour of their hair.

We need to be looking at the words we routinely choose – “oh, that (insert object) is so gay!”.  Someone’s sexual preference becomes synonymous with insult?  Really? Are we so small and petty?

We have the power to change what is around us if only in the smallest of ways.  But until we start making small changes we will never see big changes.  It’s the same with weight loss, with fitness – you have to make small changes consistently to see real long term change.

We can do it, we just ALL need to commit to doing the best we can.  Don’t look at your neighbour – don’t look at your boss – don’t look anywhere except the mirror.

Watching the news can make you despair.  Shawna and I were talking about this very subject this week – how to keep aware of world events without being dragged down into negativity.

The only way I can see that we can take any kind of positive from these continued tragic acts of war and aggression and terrorism is to take a personal stand on how we live our own lives.

Simple, not easy.  Every day – to try and be the best we can be.

Here endeth the sermon.

I’ll be here tomorrow back on track with fitness hints and tips – but for today let’s take a moment to remember all the innocent people lost to senseless violence and commit to better tomorrows for all of us.

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