A Public's Health Affected

If you are an intercessor or if know of any, then tell them to pray for what is occurring in Baltimore, around the U.S., and around the world!

This blog post was posted before learning about the Baltimore Orioles' game change.

You cannot tell me that social justice, activism, public health, and socioeconomic status do not go hand-in-hand with physical activity. The correlation is actively being witnessed on national television as you read. In Baltimore, complete unrest has enveloped the city due to several instances of a lack of control. More recently, many individuals' daily lives have been affected. Those who enter the city cannot simply enjoy a baseball game with worrying about the car being vandalized. Better yet, those who enter the city may feel stressed about the pain that current Baltimoreans are feeling based on what happened to Freddie Gray, the teenager injured and killed while in police custody.

Everyone is hurting in some capacity.

Everyone's livelihood has been affected.

What do we all do about it per our professions?

As a health and fitness professional, it will be difficult to reach many of the individuals who are directly affected with the violence has birthed in Baltimore. Sure, there is the idea of community sport tournaments such as basketball and football. But, how would it be possible to involve the police? Typically, these types of tournaments evolve when the police have nothing to do with the initial incident. But, in this case, it is Protect & Serve vs. The Public.

That's not the correct competition.

The real competitor is multifaceted. How does a community compete with something on which they do not have a strong grasp?

Not sure if there is a best answer to this question. But, taking stressed, hurt, or bothered individuals out of the immediate harmful environment and re-inventing themselves sounds achievable. For health + fitness, I am not sure what that would mean at this time except to wait until peace enters again.

With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, MS, CSCS             www.teempt.com              TEEM Performance Training