National Security

We have managed to develop a national crisis in this country of which no one seems to be aware. Our very national security is at risk with this war on terror because better than 65% of the people in the US are out of shape and over weight. Just stop and think about what this means. The military can only recruit from no more than about 35% to 45% of the national population because the rest of the people are too over weight and out of shape to fight for our national security, freedom, and rights.

If you question this, just imagine the following: from 300 to over 400 pound soldiers very slowly and breathlessly charging enemy positions presenting very huge and easy to hit targets; huge, obese people trying to pack into military hummers, trucks, and tanks; very obese people charging to battle stations on military ships through very small bulkheads, hallways, and up and down narrow ladders and then being expected to squeeze into tiny combat stations; very obese people rushing breathlessly to ready military aircraft for the next mission or trying to fit into those aircraft to fly the next mission; and many of these people dying from heart attacks before completing their missions or jobs leaving the military exposed to enemy attacks.

Part of the problem for the military in recruiting the people they need to fight this war against terror is that most people just are too out of shape and over weight to do the jobs required to win this war. This crisis has reached a point to where the military is taking healthy people over 40 and even as old as 60 to fight this war against terror. This leads us to a serious question about how long can the US sustain an offensive against the terrorists with such a small population to recruit from? If the offensive fails due to a lack of fit soldiers, how long will we be able to sustain even a defensive against the terrorists with such a small population to recruit from?

It appears that the health and fitness of the American people has become a matter of national security for which our military has never had to deal with because our ancestors have always been more active and healthier than us providing more than enough soldiers to win any war.

Quality of life

But our health and fitness also creates other problems. I have watched over the decades as people ignorant about the effects of exercise on the human body have worked their way onto school boards proclaiming that physical education and sports are not that important and then closing such classes and programs down to replace them with other classes and programs they deemed more important. Thanks largely to these people and the rest of us for not stopping them, we have developed an increasing epidemic of young people developing debilitating and terminal diseases such as advanced diabetes and heart disease. We now have increasing numbers of young people dying in their early to late teens because they are grossly out of shape and over weight.

Let's question the beliefs of these people who have done so much to destroy the health of our young people and the nation. First, name one other class, subject, or program in school for which, if it is not conducted, our young people will get sick and even die. I have given thought to this for years and can't come up with one other class, subject, or program which, the lack of it, will cause illness and death in our children.

I have several college degrees and respect education, knowing its true value, but the reality is that, if our students are not taught math, science, English, art, music, or any topic other than physical education and sports, none of them will get sick or die from such things as heart attacks. If our children are taught all of the other subjects and die before or shortly after they graduate from school and can begin using that knowledge, then all that information and education was for naught and is a waste. In other words, the most brilliant and best educated mind in the world which dies young because of an unhealthy body is a wasted mind.

Therefore, it should only be common sense that physical education and sports programs have proven to be some of the most important classes and programs our young people can take in school and they should be required to be taken every semester while in school all the way through college.

The solution

What we need to do is begin going back to the days when we had professionally trained physical educators and coaches with college degrees in those subjects like we had in the days of JFK. We need professionals who are trained to provide the exercises and activities required for the types of development our young people need at the different ages as they grow so their bodies will grow stronger and healthier. These people also need to teach at least one class per week about the how's and why's of maintaining our bodies for life. At first, they will have to focus on the types of school programs, activities, and sports which are needed for the different types of development at different ages but, in high school, they will need to gradually shift their teaching focus to life sports the young people can use for healthy body maintenance after school.

Because we have failed to do these things over the last three to four decades, we have created at least one or two generations of adults who are not going to have the quality of life they should have had because they are out of shape and over weight. It should also be noted that these same generations have become a threat to our national security, freedoms, and rights because they were not provided with the physical education and sports programs they needed to maintain healthy bodies required to defend our nation.

It appears that those people who managed to destroy our physical education and sports programs because they hate exercise and sports were wrong. Physical education and sports programs are some of the most important programs our children should be taking because their health is required for quality of life and is a matter of national security.