“To The Core . . .”

Squibs and Blurbs

by Jerry Zimmerman

TEANECK, NJ—(Weekly Hubris)—4/26/10—There has been a growing interest in “core training” lately, from Pilates to classic sweat-and-grunt exercise. This is a great thing. Everyone should be aware of his (or her) health, body, agility and flexibility—we need these lovely envelope/machines we inhabit to get around town and make our presence known, to locomote our beaming personalities from one gathering to another, to have something to rub up against and to feel our actual and literal connection to those around us.

OK, now we are stronger and more pliable, we can bend over more easily, pick up heavier objects and run faster and longer after our kids than before. Our waists are smaller, our skin more aglow, those hanging biceps and quads are starting to firm up. We feel better—terrific! We look better—also fabulous! We may even live longer—unbelievable!

This is the point where you’re sure I’m going to launch into a sneaky tirade against this whole healthy-crunchy-enlightened-core-faddish-moment. Mais, non! I love to work out, I love feeling and looking better and,  surprisingly, I have absolutely nothing against possibly living longer on this bizarre, romantic, demented, unbelievably mysterious planet . . . .

Which, of course, leads me to the Pope and his pedophiles.

We don’t need to work only on our cores, but rather, and more importantly, on our “core values.” This is a bit of an old-fashioned sounding term, but it rather succinctly sums up the over-arching premise that we, as humans, must have a real bedrock sense of the most basic way to live our lives with our fellow Earthlings.

The first being on the planet showed up somewhere somehow—Bam!—and didn’t need much except the most basic survival skills. Then—Wham! —someone else arrived. A whole new ballgame.

This is rather easy. We need each other. And how we treat each other is THE reason and THE reward for breathing every day. And it is the only real difference between us and algae. Who doesn’t know that the larger should protect the smaller; the stronger should help the weaker?

Who doesn’t know that big, hairy, old guys dressed in black should NOT, and I mean NOT in the sense of never, in any circumstance, in anyone’s lifetime, for any reason, NOT EVER harm a child in any way? Big Gigantic &%(&*&#$^& Period (or FULL STOP, for you UK readers)!

And knowing about it and not doing anything? Exactly the same—NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.

How is there a question here? How is there a discussion? How is it that people aren’t at the gates of these people with burning torches? How can these be “news items” instead of riotous calls to root out these most vile of predators and their protectors?

I’m unhappy to see people of all ages walk down the street and, without a thought, throw their candy wrappers on the sidewalk as they go; see strong young men not even notice an older woman struggling with a door; see parents yelling at and slapping their kids in a store . . . all these “minor indifferences” escalate and grow and morph into a rather blind eye to the most ghastly and inexcusable acts committed by grown adults—some who will crush the body and spirit of a child for their pleasure; and others who will look the other way to protect their position, their power, their things.

Science Fiction writer Ursula Le Guin once wrote a story about a “perfect” kingdom, a place untouched by unhappiness and need, war and worry. This idyllic place was able to continue on one condition only: there was one person, hidden away from everyone, forced to lead a tortured and unbearably horrible life. To free this one soul from misery would return the kingdom to its “normal” state—the state of good and bad, love and hate, pleasure and pain, light and dark.

What would you do? What do you think the Pope would do?