25 October 2013
Dear Stranger at the Gym,
I was doing my cardio Tuesday night on the elliptical machine overlooking the entrance to the gym and the pro shop. It’s a great place to both work out and people watch. I saw you checking out the racks of the pro shop, looking at the shirts. You didn’t necessarily strike me as being attractive, although you have clearly been working out and had substantially defined muscles. If I’m being honest, I thought you are probably just another gym rat as you looked at the muscle shirts, probably looking for a new shirt to show off your ripped muscles. Then you started to make your way out of the area where the pro shop is located and into the gym.
And then I saw it. I saw your leg. I saw your prosthetic leg from your foot to your knee. And, I was humbled. I was touched. I was challenged. I was convicted. I was inspired. My immediate thought was “If he can come to the gym, work out, get the body he has and he has a prosthetic, what in the HELL is my excuse?” I don’t know your story. I don’t know if you lost your leg in an accident, in the service of our country or any of an array of other reasons. I don’t mean to belittle the cause, but honestly, it doesn’t even matter. If you lost your leg serving our country, please accept my gratitude for all the freedoms I too easily and far too often take for granted. What is important to me is that you, at that moment showed up. You taught me a necessary lesson, just by being there.
I’ll probably never know your name. I don’t have any idea if our paths will ever cross again. But I want to thank you. I want to thank you for showing up in spite of your “disability” and showing people like me that it’s not an excuse to be lazy. You could have just as easily been sitting at home on your sofa watching Wheel of Fortune or playing video games. But, no, you make the conscious decision to be active, to live a healthy lifestyle, to work out, to build your muscles—for whatever reason—be it health or pure vanity. Whatever your reason, your being at the gym on Tuesday night touched me. You see, all too often, I look for excuses like being too tired or I’m just damn lazy. But your presence, that day, I hope, will continue to remind me on days I’d rather be lazy, not to skip the gym on days I have scheduled to go.
Here’s my confession: I am, for the most part, a very healthy person, and, aside from a touch of depression and anxiety, there’s nothing wrong with me. I am able to get out of bed every morning and be mobile and active. I can do most anything I set my mind to do. Yet, like my freedoms, I all too often take my mobility and healthy body for granted. Seeing someone who has a true disability demonstrating that they have risen above their stumbling block inspires me. Over the last year or so I have been practicing yoga. Some days the yoga practice is easier than others, some days the body will respond better to some poses than others. However, at the end of the practice, the instructor of the class will always say “be grateful for your healthy bodies which allow you to do this practice.” That phrase has always stuck with me, because I know how incredibly blessed I am. My life, my mobility could turn on a dime. To the gentleman, the stranger, who taught me this lesson so visibly Tuesday night at the gym, I say “thank you”. I hope that I can remember this lesson any time I am tempted to take my health, my body, or even my freedom for granted.
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