A New Years Musing: Aquasize for the Candidates
By Carol Smaldino
It's been some years already that my friend Craig and I have been collaborating, at least in fantasy, in various ideas as to how Aquasize--exercise in the water--might be used as a variant of tranquilizer and cooperation agent, in meetings of great importance which often are burdened with conflict bordering on hatred. The idea of Aqua aerobics before a UN summit meeting has seemed particularly intriguing. However the idea of Aquasize being infused into our current political climate seems like it might top most alternatives for the moment.
I am already a long-term fan, attending water classes in whatever town I am in, buying my equipment regularly from Hydrofit, a wonderful idea because the water weights and jackets also travel well, since they are so light and so durable. Aquasize is a wonderful activity, and brings a smile to people's faces more often than not. As such I'm not altogether surprised to be suggesting out loud that our current Presidential campaign could do with some of this as well. And since the new year begun already, but just so recently, perhaps there is still some time to gift the national mood with a bit of well wishing and "peace on earth", even to people with whom we disagree.
I know that these ideas, and the whimsy being attached to them, might seem radical, even outlandish or harmful, at a moment in time where some people are rooting for an immediate showing up of Armageddon, and pictures of fetal body parts are circulating the internet. Name calling ("Hillary is a liar") seems at an all time high, and the call to victory and grandeur for us, in the "greatest country ever", have made admitting mistakes and having some humility in the geography of a complex world and a complex set of issues, particularly unpopular. To admit mistakes has not been seen as part of sobriety but rather as weakness, while weakness (despite the popularity of "vulnerability" in some circles) has been anathema to most sharing part of the collective American psyche.
So I'm taking a chance here, in recommending this form of exercise, not only for our candidates but for us as well. More people in the pool may mean fewer people using hatred as a sport, even though disagreements are important, and some issues require urgent attention. It is just that hating all our way to any discussion pretty much makes it impossible to empathize with the other people there, something which makes it all but impossible to interrupt the density of animosity so that not only opinions but information can get through. But, while many of us can model such behavior as is inspired in the pool, most of the candidates are paying attention to the numbers rather than the people they represent, which makes it important that they try the activity themselves, let's say before or even during some debates.
Consider the mood of debates changing, if bathing suits were the garb that was required. There is Hillary in a bathing suit instead of a pants suit, and unless one has a perfect bathing suit body there are always physical anomalies that show through when in the water.
Think about hair for a moment: what would happen to Mr. Trump should his coif become permanently wet, at least for the hour or so before and then during a possible serious discussion. Then there is the question of what would happen to all the hatred, and grandstanding should something like volleyball in a circle with a huge beach ball be instituted.
On New Years Eve day, our Ft. Collins, Colorado instructor Pam brought out the beach ball and I participated in a game in a circle of ten, where we tried to pass the ball to anyone in the circle without dropping it. So the idea was to keep it aloft for as many counts as we might, and thus it was a game that fostered cooperation, a concept not all that prevalent nowadays. The rushing to see if we could save the ball from dropping onto the pool surface meant that we tried perhaps somewhat more than usual, thus risking our own dunking into water above our head, thereby ruining any appearance of a "good hair day".
At one point I looked around me and had a thought that was sort of political, in that I realized that several of my cohorts might well have been Republican or even Conservative. At the same time I realized that at the moment it didn't matter, because they were all generous with their collaborative efforts and good humor. It struck me, as it has before, that the hatred that is so pervasive in our political scene at large, is so destructive to any attempt to join forces in finding out which "facts" are true and which are not. Having seen the movie "The Big Short" on Christmas Eve, I wondered again how it is that so many people skip over anger at big banks and Wall Street in general and go right to blaming President Obama for everything that has gone wrong in almost forever.
But to be honest, and perfectly clear, I was not contemplating all the above details while playing with my playmates and the beach ball; I would never have had time to catch or throw with any success whatsoever. So these are thoughts that occurred both before and after the session in the pool. This may mean that clear thinking might not be all that feasible in the midst of water exercise or beach ball in the pool, which has implications. The water play and work, might need to happen before, but in preparation for next debate sessions, could happen afterwards as well.
I know what you're thinking; you may not know how to swim. Firstly that isn't necessary since you can use a floating device or work in shallow water. Secondly, many great ideas seem crazy at the start.