Sunday, February 16, 2014

Would There Be News?

So, today, I ran 7.4 miles on the treadmill.  That puts me up to 26.6 for the week and 266.6 for the year.  In terms of my virtual pilgrimage it puts me on the west size of the Ohio River to on US 40 again.  I would have crossed the Ohio River running across Wheeling Island today.  I would also have run a bit on a trail in Wheeling and along the way today I would have passed the Wheeling Catholic Elementary School.  

So, I ran my 7.4 miles in exactly 1 hour.  It was a mid-day workout that started at 12:33.  After the run (yet another day on the treadmill), I weighed in at just under 158 lbs.  I have now been weighing in at just under 160 consistently.  I'm getting toward my goal.

So, what lessons do I pull from today?  Well, I decided to play the numbers game a bit today.  I noticed that the lesson in my religious education text book that I was covering today focused on Psalm 133.  Interestingly (although perhaps just completely coincidentally), that is exactly one half of the whole number of miles I've run for the year.  And if we just take my 26.6 for the week and ignore the decimal point, we have an exact half relationship.

What was it from Psalm 133.  Well, in the kids text book it was adapted a bit, but here is the the first verse after introducing the Psalm:
How good and how pleasant it is,
when brothers dwell together as one!
We talked about this in relation to the final 7 commandments that focus on respect for each other.  Then, in the readings today during mass (which came right after Sunday school this week), I heard the 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 that talked about the fact that God has some pretty amazing things for those who love him.  No eye has seen.  No ear has heard.  No one can imagine.

So, how does this fit together?  Well, it occurred to me as I sat through the mass that may we can't imagine what life would be like if we could dwell together as one.  My 3rd grade students certainly couldn't imagine it.  I asked them, how nice would the world be if everyone just got along.  I asked them how different it would be.  I asked them what we would not hear about in the news.  The eventually came up with things like war and murder.  They even asked, "Would there be any news?"  Clearly, they have been acclimated to the constant news that makes it seem like the whole world is going wrong all the time.

So, today's run was an interesting one.  Bringing me to think about what it is that I can't imagine.  (I guess that seems like an odd thought.)  And being driven to think about what would happen if people could all just get along.  If I could imagine it.  

There would still be nature to deal with.  Having been to a viewing today for a 26 year old who died suddenly last week, I realize that life would not be perfect.

But I probably couldn't imagine what it would be like to have everyone just get along.  

One other numbers thing from today--if I can find a flat hal-marathon and I still want to focus on breaking 1:30 at some point, 1:29:10 (from the Corinthians verses) would not be a bad time to aim for.   

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