"A nation of learned but physically degenerate and cowardly pacifists could neither conquer heaven nor secure their existence in this world" - H. Koch
Our people are acosted in one way or another multiple times everyday by others (be they black, hispanic, asian or, worse, our own people). A college student gang-raped by Asians because they "wanted to have sex with a white woman", a young man murdered because he wandered into the wrong neighborhood, a few white males complacently watching while two blacks rape two white women that were with them (the whole group of whites, minus one young lady, were all murdered). Unfortunately these came straight from the headlines, thousands more where those came from. Place that in the context that our people, as a whole, are becoming weaker and more passive. Somewhere over the past fifty to seventy years we allowed ourselves to slip.
Bearing this in mind, I look at "us". During an exchange on a e-mail list, I mentioned the need for us, as a young, vibrant and alive religion, to project strength and vitality. One of the rebuttals was something in the way of "if we show too much strength, we won't get the people we want to get".
My thoughts wander, mulling over the comment above and others. Being healthy, physically sound with a strong intellect *should* be our standard. Helping our folk develop greater willpower and endurance should also be in the equation if it's not already. Projecting strength, vitality and the natural beauty of our folk should be on all our agendas...our health and vitality mirroring that which we purport to believe in.
While I have seen one or two weak-willed people or people that weren't really the brightest, or simply clueless, in Asatru, it's the health portion that concerns me. The number of, to put it plainly, fat and/or out of shape people in our religion seems pretty high given our small numbers. I fail to see how we can extoll the virtues and strengths of our religion and forebearers when we ourselves are weak and unhealthy.
Of course, I also realize that what I've mentioned is a problem within society and our people as much as Asatru. I find it sad that at 29 I can still outperform those ten years younger than me...even though to them I'm an "old man". An aside, military PT test-wise, I have to do HIGHER reps for the same score as the younger ones. The old addage: "Before you can change the world, you must change yourself" comes to mind.
In the end, start working out, walking, running, etc. Thin up abit, or for those anorexic-types...put on some weight. Do I think the Hollywood view of beauty and strength are good models for what I'm talking about? While I wouldn't mind looking like Kurt Russell in "Soldier" or Edward Norton in "American History X" and I do like Charlize Theron (I have a soft-spot for Boeremiese), Jennifer Connelly, etc, the answer would have to be: No. Am I saying that all the guys need to look like Arnie or Frank Zane or the girls Lena Johannsen and Anna Kournikova? No. But do work on yourself...if for no other reason than greater health and endurance.
The other aspect would be martial arts, or rather prowess, being ingrained back into both oneself and one's folk. Being able to defend yourself, your family and your folk should be a definate goal in today's uncertain world. Building ourselves to be better than we are, both in regards to our fitness levels and martial prowess, should be a priority goal in one's life. I'll be writing more on the subject and adding more links as time goes on. This page, like this site, will be under construction for a long while.
A few links of interest:
Healthy People 2010-an interesting site with loads of info from the CDC and the President's Council on Fitness
- interesting site
Since there are quite a few hits on this site looking for the Nordic Knockout, Lena Johannesen, I figured I'd provide the link below for your "Lena fix". ;-)
