JFK would be appalled at lack of fitness among today’s youth

25 Replies

I find it highly ironic that this story comes out of Dallas this week:

DALLAS — Today’s kids can’t keep up with their parents. An analysis of studies on millions of children around the world finds they don’t run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young.ShapeofThingstoComejpg

On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their parents did 30 years ago. Heart-related fitness has declined 5 percent per decade since 1975 for children ages 9 to 17.

The American Heart Association, whose conference featured the research on Tuesday, says it’s the first to show that children’s fitness has declined worldwide over the last three decades….

“Ironic” because I identify concern over the fitness of American youth with John F. Kennedy. He’s the one who made such a big deal about it in my own youth:

John F. Kennedy showed his commitment to improving the nation’s fitness even before he took the oath of office. After the election, he published “The Soft American” in Sports Illustrated. The article established four points as the basis of his proposed program, including a “White House Committee on Health and Fitness”; direct oversight by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; an annual Youth Fitness Congress to be attended by state governors; and the assertion that physical fitness was very much the business of the federal government…

We heard a lot about the President’s Council on Physical Fitness back in JFK’s day, and even years after his death. I always had a vague belief that JFK, for good or ill, was the reason I was dressing out every day for P.E. in school. I was doing my bit for a national strategic priority.Programfrontcoverjpg

I’ve also, my entire life, associated the word “vigor” with Kennedy — possibly because I first heard it used (or at least, first heard it used frequently) in reference to him, and to his ambitions for the country.

It’s not a word we associate with American youth today. Or with the rest of us, for that matter. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t worked out in weeks. And I’m the worse for it…

25 thoughts on “JFK would be appalled at lack of fitness among today’s youth”

  1. Brad Warthen Post author

    When I saw that this morning, I at first assumed that this was deliberately being released in Dallas during the week when we’re so obsessed with what happened there 50 years ago.

    But I see no acknowledgement of that in the AP story…

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    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Absolutely. I was remembering it wrong. I associate it with him less because it was said OF him, and more because of the way HE said it, and how often he said it…

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  3. JasonG

    I’d hope that people today would be appalled that someone of such poor health and reckless morals was President.

    But yes, obesity and lack of physical fitness is a sad concern about life today.

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  4. Chris

    Are people just now noticing the obesity rate among those under 20? Think back to when most of us were in school, how many fat kids were in your class? In mine it was about 1 out of every 20, today it’s probably 15 out of 20.

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      1. Chris

        Makes you wonder what kind of pull he had to even be able to get into the Navy with that bad of a back. He must have known someone with some pull.

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        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          Well… yeah. Like his Dad, for instance.

          I seem to recall that when Kennedy joined the Navy, when asked for skills, he wrote something like “experienced with small boats.” Meaning sailboats and other rich-boy kinds of toys.

          So they put him into the extremely vulnerable, plywood PT boats — the craft that inspired the movie, “They Were Expendable.”

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  7. bud

    Indeed JFK would be appalled at the utter lack of physical fitness, especially among our children. And who is the culprit? The childhood obesity problem is squarely the problem of libertarianism run amok. Perhaps that’s unfair to libertarianism which does at least pay lip service to personal responsibility. But at it’s core libertarianism is a greed based philosophy that promotes gluttony by tacitly encouraging sloth and self-gratification. No sacrifice is required by the koolaid drinking libertarian. Hell no. It’s always more, more, more. So what do we get with all this Ayn Rand selfishness? Fat kids, greedy adults and a nation that is falling behind the rest of the western world. Until we can get a grip on this disasterous move to the right we will continue down a path of self destruction and ultimately collapse as a nation. That is not an American way of life. Rather its a shift in the direction that benefits only the few and deceives the many. Flawed though they may be the Democrats offer the best hope for the future. Republicans offer only national collapse.

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    2. Doug Ross

      @bud

      Please name the fattest libertarian you know. All the ones that come to my mind are pretty thin. Mark Sanford, Ron Paul, Rand Paul…

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    3. Kathryn Fenner

      Until we know for sure what the cause(s) of the rise in obesity are, we cannot assign blame! It is a very complex question, just as the solution is not eat less and exercise more!

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      1. bud

        That’s true. Lots of causes. But we have certainly gone down the road of instant self-gratification. Libertarians do stress personal responsibility so it’s not built in to the philosophy. But people do abuse the personal freedom aspects of libertarianism and use that to justify any irresponsible behavior. As a partially reformed Libertarian I take a backseat to no one when it comes to freedom from government intrusion into personal decisions. But perhaps libertarians could do their cause some good by stressing the importance of personal responsibility. Even if they personally decry laws to mandate personal responsibility.

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