President Bush's re-initiative on physical fitness reminds me of someone who's just kicked a habit. You know the type - the ex-smoker who circulates petitions to prohibit smoking in public places. Perhaps it's the burger-and-fries addict who recently discovered the benefits of free-range skinless chicken breasts and broccoli.

Granted, our President is not just talking the talk. Have you taken a good look at our leader lately? Go ahead, stare at those abs. He's whittled that waistline down a bit, too. His color is good. All this, in spite of terrorist attacks, attacks on terrorists, CEOs in shackles, and public confidence levels falling apart along their already bursting seams.

In my opinion, President Bush developed this program to divert our attention away from these disasters. He's managed this with the proclamation that we're a nation of obese, lazy, uninformed individuals, bent on costing the country over $183 billion with our faulty tickers. Oh, he's got statistics to back up his initiatives, but something about this effort strikes me as unfocused and dangerous.

I remember the white gym uniforms and "tennies" we were forced to wear during phys-ed classes in public school. This was during President Kennedy's reign, when he elevated Eisenhower's "President's Council on Physical Fitness" to encompass all age groups.

The Johnson administration added "and Sports" to this program's moniker, and they also created "The Presidential Physical Fitness Award." I remember that last one well. That particular program promoted a great deal of competition among students at my public school. If you weren't 'fit,' you weren't 'in,' an edict promoting social shame for some good-hearted geeks and wimps.

In addition, if you couldn't do the required number of push-ups noted in that little Presidential regulation book, you were a PE flunkie. You also didn't get the patch proclaiming you as one of the President's fittest.

Can you imagine the blow to a kid's self-worth when they failed this program? It didn't matter if you were a straight-A student. If you couldn't run the gamut, you were a total social loss and a disgrace to your country.

That, my friends, was a different era. At that time, Big Business was going to protect us with health plans, benefits, and pensions. Fast food debuted with low prices and convenience, and we nursed this strangely morbid hope that bomb shelters would protect us from nuclear fall-out.

We were just an inch away from cold war, birth control pills, growth hormones in beef products, and the Vietnam fiasco. We ate Velveeta Cheese and hotdogs with aplomb, and smoked non-filtered cigarettes wherever and whenever we darn well pleased. We trusted authority figures. We were uninformed, but - by golly - we thought we were fit.

I might be wrong, but I believe that somewhere between the bygone eras of Twiggy and the recent Twin Towers Trauma, we've become a little more educated, and a lot more skeptical. I'm not buying into this new focus on physical fitness, and it's not because I don't believe in the benefits of healthy habits. I'm not buying it because it doesn't address this nation's real issues. I can't find the motive for this program anywhere.

If this program is about health care costs, then let's be upfront about those problems. If it's about how we appear to other nations, it's going to take more than a few inches off the derriere to accomplish this feat. If this program is designed to divert our focus from corporate crooks and threats of war, it just isn't going to work. I don't know about you, but I don't get all Pollyanna and patriotic just because I exercise and eat a balanced diet.

Frankly, I feel like I'm married again. The man of the house just told me I'm in lousy shape and an embarrassment to his lifestyle. He's going to outline a fitness and nutrition program for me, because I'm not smart enough to do it for myself. In the meantime, we're in dire financial straits. This man has the checkbook, and I have no idea what's going on.

The physical fitness program just might work, because I think I need to run.

I'll be the first to agree that this nation really needs to shape up in many different ways. But, I hope some folks will quit running down that one-way track and concentrate more on this country's holistic picture. How about a few more initiatives on fiscal fitness, financial health, educational benefits, and some assurance for the safety of our children? Then maybe - just maybe - we'll have more confidence in the future.

In the meantime, let's put down those little cakes and that soda, and turn off the TV. Let's go pick up the kids from soccer practice and work off that frustration with a walk in the park. Let's teach our children that the value of exercise and good nutrition is just one facet in this life's gem.

If we don't, they may grow up to walk forever on that treadmill, going nowhere.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin