seeing is not believing

At the ripe young age of 57, I had my supposedly mid life melt down, wanting to escape all I had planned for professionally and redefine myself transforming myself into someone new doing something I wanted to do because I loved it not because I had to.

So, after 25 years of Jewish communal work I ended my career and became certified as a personal trainer/nutritionist. I wanted to train people and become a fitness coach encouraging individuals to live a life that promoted positive mental, physical and nutritional health. And where else to create this new career but the sunny, funny, physical is God land of LA.

Now, I am happy with my appearance, I am not drop dead handsome, nor am I movie star material and perhaps with my shirt off I would not worry the likes of the "Situation" from Jersey Shore, but nonetheless no one turns to stone when sharing a glance my way.

However, I train clients at a gym where the average age of each trainer is 25, the average height 5'10, the average body fat 5%, and the average looks of said trainers is about 9.5 to 10 on a scale of 10. Many if not most are in between gigs as a soap opera, porn or reality show star. And many to most look almost perfect in their appearance.

For new clients shopping around, seeing is believing so they assume. And what they see they believe is what they want.

During the primaries for the 2010 elections, many candidates representing the supposed views of self identified Libertarians, Tea Baggers, Conservative Republicans, looked all red, white and blue, draped in the Bible and apple pie, and repeated rhetoric that made future voters perspire with joy as to how they would reintroduce personal freedoms and states rights claimed to be lacking from this country's recent history.

The new crop of politicians promised change, differently than the socialist, communist change the current Kenyan born President had pressed for, and real change so they hinted that honest to God Americans could and should believe in. The 'wanna be' politicians on the right lectured us that honest values, honest love for the individual, honest Christian morals would pounce upon this nation if they were elected demolishing the bogey man-devil like ruminations of the current anti Christ Progressives and Liberals running this country. For many a weary American, for many a frightened fellow, for many a bigoted bloke the new wave of Right Wing, Conservative Christian, Tea Bag loving candidates shouted seeing is believing. You see what you have and it is bad, now see us and believe us.

Because your trainer is 25, looks perfect in shorts and a tank top does not mean he/she actually knows the proper way to work out for anyone say 40 and older. The fountain of youth dripping from their bodies may not necessarily flood over and drown your 40 year old body with the same muscle, curves or less than 5% body fat. Seeing them does not mean that in fact they can do the job they have done on their body to your body. The promise of seeing them may not translate to the mechanics your body needs.

Because the Libertarian, Tea Bag Christian Conservative candidate quotes passages from the Bible in a country supposedly with a separation between church and state... swears he/she has read the Constitution and knows better then we what our Founding Fathers really meant when they wrote the Constitution... speaks of less interference of Big Government, but wants big government to decide your rights about reproduction,marriage, sex and drugs...hates the people openly you privately hate, does not mean they no shit or shineola about honest fair and equal politics and policy. Because they look good pledging allegiance to the flag, draped in the flag standing next to the cross, wearing teeny tiny flag lapel pins does not mean that what they do is being done for you or they are better, brighter American.

In this country, recently it has become more about the exterior of things then the interior. It has become a show and tell society and not a demonstrate and watch environment. It has become about the quick, the shiny, the slick and gloss and not the guts, the sweat the matter, the substance that counts

We can have minions follow the three line tweets of Sarah Palin to think she understands internal or external current events. We can have millions of people watching Bill O'Reilly who cuts short any answer his guests offer if what they offer sounds smarter then he. We can watch Glenn Beck draw mysterious lines, ornate circles, three word phrases calling everyone and his mother a Nazi, and we can assume without anything more than three-seconds of thought that what we see is true. If it looks good it must be good.

I love being a personal trainer and at first was intimidated that my biceps were not bold enough, my pecs not perky enough, my hair too balding and my close up would never be one Mr. DeMille demanded as compared to the perfect physiques at my gym. But knowing there was substance to my manner and reason to my mechanics I moved on knowing that the smarter client, the one who wanted more than the shell would find me.

I love being an American, but worry more so then ever that the lies loosely leveled by hypocrites, the promises pronounced by hooligans, the selfish self serving antics by people who say they are people like us are no more than smoke and mirrors, no more than fancy gift wrapping hiding a bag of garbage.

I do not believe what I see coming from the current rash of elected officials, and I wish others would follow suit sooner than later before our blindness denies any insight at all.