The immense importance of moderation

Here are two things people should not do: Climb Mount Everest and run a marathon. People seem to be wising up slowly on the need to avoid such extreme challenges, but it's puzzling why the challenges ever held such allure. Getting healthy is a fully laudable goal. Running nonstop for 26.2 miles is not.
Maybe the apparent financial challenges of our Regional Fitness Center are due to people increasingly seeing no need for such special measures to promote health.
Step 1, and this is a biggie, is to eat healthy. We are waking up after a period in our history when food indulgences went off the graph. It's nice to see people waking up. But paying a hefty fee to torture yourself running a marathon is quite unnecessary.
It's arguable that there is no need to belong to the RFC either. Once you establish a healthy diet, which is probably 80 per cent of the battle, taking a brisk, pleasant walk once in a while is probably all that's necessary. Or, put on some sweats and do a pleasant jog of two or three miles.
Bring a basketball to a public park in Morris that has hoops and backboards. It doesn't take much ingenuity. In the end we all may see the wisdom behind then-State Senator Charlie Berg's formal remarks when the RFC opened: "When I first heard about the idea for this, I wondered what they were smoking." (Berg has always shown a God-given talent for the quotable quote.)
I also remember Brad Pickle, the RFC's first manager, mistakenly saying "Stearns County" instead of "Stevens County."
Having expressed this skepticism, I should note that I contributed $1000 to getting it established. But I have had no interest in actually using it. In the old days there was the "UMM Sports Club" which gave you access to the P.E. Center for exercise purposes, for a fee that would now look absolutely token.
Fees for everything got jacked up during the go-go years of the U.S. economy (pretty much the 1990s). There was a time when speeding citations were accompanied by a token fine - nothing to make your eyes bug out. Today a ticket can cause a personal financial crisis, and simple negligence with not wearing your seat belt can bring on the same circumstances - ridiculous.
With a lot of people really hurting in the current economic travail, some of these standards might have to be loosened. By the same token, people will be less likely to pay a huge fee for having access to the RFC facilities, terrific those facilities may be.
Will the City of Morris even find the funds to tear down our old abandoned school, or start the much-ballyhooed "green community?" I'll make a wager with you on the latter. I don't think we'll ever see it.
How much damage to town morale results from the old school looming - empty, cold and haunted - in the middle of town with no immediate plans for anything to be done about it. As I've stated before, the funds for tearing down the school should have been included in the package that we voted on for building the palatial new one.
My inspiration for that came from Mr. Glen Helberg, a fountain of wisdom with whom I share breakfast on many mornings. Now we have to pray that the RFC doesn't end up just like the old school. I don't know to what extent the RFC might have patched up its financial chinks in the armor since its director went into a public passing-the-hat mode.
Helberg suggested that when all else fails, the University of Minnesota would just move in and completely take over the RFC. I have to wonder about that, because the state's financial challenges seem to ring of real genuineness this time. It's not the kind of "cry wolf" austerity that sometimes is projected. It seems we are nearing a time when government at all levels will have to start applying a machete.
I look at the courthouse remodeling project in Morris and just shake my head. What an incredible mess over there now. Just think if the new jail had gotten pushed through as well. It's scary to contemplate.
The courthouse was a perfectly good building without any wholesale remodeling. I feel sorry for First Lutheran Church which is right next to the current shambles of the remodeling process.
I had to visit the district court office in the construction zone - surprisingly it hadn't relocated to City Center Mall - and almost found it dangerous navigating through. I know now what Tarzan feels like swinging on vines through the jungle.
I didn't even find the people there very courteous. Instead of saying "can I help you?" they just attended to their work as if I wasn't there. I had to get their attention. I think I started out saying "excuse me" in a sarcastic way. Sorry. Maybe working in a "war zone" like this brings on a distant temperament.
The people who stopped the jail proposal here are saints. Think how close it came to going through.
If you follow the news, you'll know that the future model of government work will have less - much less - reliance on bricks-and-mortar assets, as many people can work off-site (like at home), using the amazing tools of our new communications technology. The private sector has been adjusting right along with these trends, of course. The government sector? That can be a little more pokey, but some shining examples have emerged through the news media.
Prudence will ultimately triumph, just as we have seen with people shying away from extreme exercise (e.g. the ten-kilometer run) and opting for more sensible pastimes. Marathons seem to be holding their own. But there is a trend here too: a greater emphasis on just finishing the route instead of pushing yourself to achieve a certain time.
I was told this by someone whom I interviewed toward the end of my career in the local "dead tree" media. It was someone I interviewed for a home improvement special section. He was proud of simply having run a marathon and wasn't particularly concerned with time. To that I give a hats-off.
But why 26.2 miles? It still seems to defy reason just like climbing Mount Everest. When it became known that Mount Everest was in fact the tallest point on earth, it was human nature that dictated people would want to climb it. Many have died doing so.
Whoever decided the marathon running distance was something magical did a great disservice.
Many small towns once had 10K and 5K running events, often in conjunction with summer festivals. There are fewer runs like these now, and many have eliminated the taxing 10K distance which is 6.2 miles.
The last organized run I did was the 5K offered by St. Cloud State University for its 2006 Homecoming. It's annual. Incidentally, Brad Pickle was the event manager. I hope he knows what county he's in now.
Running the 5K (3.1 miles) gave all the physical challenge I could possibly want. Assuming you push yourself reasonably hard, it's a fully adequate physical challenge.
I did notice price inflation in connection to these run events. It had been several years since my previous organized run, and I found the new pricetag to be totally unacceptable. I don't care if you get a computer chip thingie to put in your shoes. I can do a three-mile run on my own for no cost anytime.
It might even be more fun to watch a 5K.
But the price is remindful of the speeding and seat belt citation fines I cited earlier. The slumping economy is going to force an adjustment in all of this, and the Regional Fitness Center might have to be sacrificed at least temporarily. Because, I don't think the state can always be counted on to come along like some big Sugar Daddy.
And if Republicans get elected it's Katy bar the door.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com