“PE” {Facebook post from 01-14-2014]

Most of my life the letters PE meant Physical Education.  I know lots of people lived their school years in dread of the classes, especially in Junior High (we didn’t have Middle School in the Stone Age).  As an educator over the last 40+ years I’ve been privy to the changes in just what Physical Education has meant, from “the ball of season” to life fitness and health education.  Some of the news stories of the last few months (Alex Rodriguez, for example), have me thinking about PE as short for Performance Enhancement, and not with drugs.  What does “performance enhancement” mean to life in general?  I’ve been trying to enhance my life, particularly in the last year, but I think I’ve been working on my performance enhancement all along.

PE still needs to mean physical fitness.  Believe me, the older we get, the more we appreciate life without aches and pains, if we can remember when that was.  I’m beginning to feel as if my generation of Boomers is going to be the first generation of geriatric Robocops!  Every time I open my email I seem to get a new message from a friend who’s had a knee, shoulder, or hip replaced or some other procedure.  Don’t get me started on heart valves and stents or cosmetic surgeries!  By the time we’re in our 80’s and 90’s, airport screeners are really going to hate us!

We can’t rely on modern medicine to keep us fit, however.  We still need to be able to answer the bell if someone says, “Drop and give me 20!”  One of the nice things about retirement is having the time to go to the gym.  You should join me.

Physical activity is just part of the equation of performance enhancement when we’re talking about making your life better…and it’s more than “stop and smell the roses, too.”  What are you doing to live a full life?  What are you learning?  What are you trying that you haven’t done before?  Here are some suggestions for your Bucket List, even if you’re just in your twenties (see if you can spot the trick questions!):

Participate (even in the audience) in the arts.  Have you been to the ballet?  Opera?  Live theatre?  How about a museum, art or otherwise?  How many books have you read recently?  Do you read the newspaper?  What’s going on in the rest of the world?  In how many countries (and which ones) are US military personnel involved in armed conflict?

How many senators does your state have?  Can you name them?  Republican?  Democrat?  Independent?  Male or female?  Who is the mayor of your town?

What is the nearest star to Earth?  How many constellations can you name?  Why are they called by those names?

Can you name a dozen trees?  Flowers?  Snakes?  Architects?  Composers?  World leaders?  Teachers in your local school system?

Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?  Who is considered the smartest person alive today?  What does he/she do?  What is a CFL or LED and why should you care?

Do you know a foreign language?  Even a few words or phrases?

By the way, you didn’t know the answers to some of those questions?  Take the time to look them up!  You’re sitting at your computer.  Go ahead.  We’ll wait.

Come on!  Enhance your performance!!  It isn’t important in the least that you know at what time and on what days half a dozen television programs are aired each week.  When is your next opportunity to vote?  What are the issues?  Who are the candidates?  Where are your gym shoes?

Drop and give me twenty!

Enjoy your life.  Participate in it.

DrDan

01/14/14