Here be dragons

This morning on Facebook, and I hate referencing Facebook as much as I do but it is where many noteworthy things happen, a friend posted an article about a horrible mass killing at a Mexican resort.

In my friend's post she noted that incidents like this were the reason she didn't travel to the South for holidays like so many people in this area are want to do.

During my morning shower I started thinking about this comment and its greater implications. My friend is afraid to travel—the world is full of people who do not travel and life goes on but what impact does it have on our society when a portion of the population is in self-imposed exile?

Unwillingness to travel limits exposure to other cultures and other places. This fear limits one's understanding of the world. Travel is not only a great teacher it is the the greatest force for the eradication of prejudice that I know.

I can understand my friend's fear; I have been feeling it too as I contemplate travelling with my children. To take the risk that travel to foreign places might pose by myself was never a difficult decision for me but to put my children at risk, that has been eating away at my future travel plans for several years.

If I don't expose my children to the world through travel wouldn't that put them at a different kind of risk? Travel, I believe, is necessary for their survival as compassionate, informed, involved citizens of the world.

And shouldn't we be asking ourselves: What are we really afraid of?

Of course these murders in Mexico are horrific but is home any safer?

In my life I have known three people who have been murdered—all in Nova Scotia.

One might be tempted to say that that is due to the fact that I live here but in fact I have only lived here half of my life, the rest of my time on the planet has been spent leapfrogging through Asia, Canada and the United States.

My friends and family are equally geographically diverse. I have friends who live in all corners of the globe; some in what I would consider very dangerous places. Even with such a wide and varied network—it is in rural Nova Scotia that murder has been part of my life.

When I think about these facts and the opportunities that travel has provided for me; I can not think of limiting my children's possibilities. Courage is not the doing of dangerous things, it's the doing of things in the face of fear.

I hope that I will have the courage to help my children travel and experience the world; it is one of the most important gifts a person can receive.

Inspiration

I have added to my running repertoire since last year's great treadmill experiment; now I am running outside.

This is a major step forward for me. I have tried many times to be an outdoor runner and it just didn't click for me. Today, I am not a runner who makes it look easy but I am a runner who is outside enjoying fresh air and the sights and sounds of my neighbourhood.

It's been just over a month since I started running outside and sometimes it has been a real struggle to keep one foot moving in front of the other. When I have those moments, when I think of how easy it would be to stop, I think of Terry Fox.

I have always considered Terry Fox a hero. One of the few that deserve that label. He struggled through pain and sickness to run his Marathon of Hope.

Since I have been back in Canada I have taken part in the annual Terry Fox Run every September. And since that time I have learned that the Terry Fox Run is held globally including in my old home base, Bangkok.

Terry Fox is a true inspiration, for me as a novice runner and for thousands of other people in many different facets of their lives.

Today I posted his picture on my Facebook page making note that he is my inspiration to take the next step. I did this not only because Terry Fox truly is my inspiration when I am out on the trail but also as a protest. I despise all the fitness inspiring posters that pollute my Facebook feed on a daily basis. The posters generally show a woman, who is in absolute peak physical shape, with some bland inspirational message written in bold script.

The reason I hate these types of posts is that they are unrealistic and once again have women perpetuating unreasonable expectations on the female body. These posters are a sort of pornography that we are spreading among ourselves. It's unhealthy and I wish it would stop. Like the porn industry, these pictures are distorting the female body; what it is and what it can be.

And to add a little more fuel to the fire—we don't even know these women in these pictures. I doubt they are women with jobs and families. These bodies are achieved through hours of training a day; that is if they are true depictions and not an airbrushed fantasy. Most women don't have that much time to invest in their bodies and some will give up on exercise if they find themselves failing to meet this unrealistic depiction of how a physically fit woman should look.

I want to be inspired by real people, with real lives. I am inspired by Terry Fox and if you want to inspire me to exercise with a post on Facebook, upload a picture of yourself doing your body some good. I know you and I will respect you and be inspired by what you are doing.I'm not inspired by some gym bimbo I don't know who doesn't have a life outside of the gym.

I know some of my friends who post these types of pictures on Facebook may disagree—but I ask you to post pictures of yourself and see how much more inspiring that can be.