Seriously, save a horse. Ride a cowboy. Why let animals carry the burdens we can carry? In fact, why avoid carrying a burden at all? That is the real subject of this post.
Below is a photograph taken in Varanasi, India. It is a pedal-powered rickshaw loaded with silk, and I saw this sort of thing everywhere in the city. The wealth gap in India is vast and people like the gentleman driving did this kid of work routinely. This rickshaw was not loaded particularly heavily either when compared to others that I saw.
In India I saw nobody complaining about this kind of work. I am sure that plenty would rather have done something else, however I did not see any obesity either. In the UK we are gradually becoming a nature of elephants. Slow, overweight, bulky and suchlike. This is the product, at least in part, of convenience and automation.
I have long been convinced that life ought not to be as convenient as it is and I am raging against the dying of the light in that regard.
Beasts of Burden
I believe that human beings are beasts of burden. I remember being pulled on a rickshaw similar to the one above, along with another lady from the UK. Conservatively there must have been around 350 pounds loaded between the pair of us and our driver was about 5'4 and as skinny as a rake. He pulled us and worked up a sweat for sure, but he also smiled all the way through the journey. This was a lesson to me back then, and one I have tried to remember over the years. In England that journey may well have been taken by a polluting taxi, for a high fee in a congested neighbourhood. All because we do not carry our burdens any more.
I think that it is now more important than ever that I ought to carry my weight, literally. The lunacy of lazing around all day and thinking that thirty minutes in the gym will rectify the inevitable outcome is clear. Living in such a fashion is unsustainable.
The Time Bank
Whenever you ask people why they drive everywhere you usually get the same few answers, one of which is 'it saves time' or words to that effect. Firstly I am not so sure that this is true, however let's take it at face value. What will you do with all of the time saved? You cannot put it in the bank for use later. We do not save or spend our time. It is spent for us. Saving time is a myth. It is about what one does with the present, not one's time. So how will you live in the moment? Will you get something or someone else to carry your burden? Or will you carry it yourself?
Take the Strain
Humans have no idea of the upper limit of their potential. All we know is what we think we cannot do. I know this because I have seen people grimace and almost contort their faces with pain at the suggestion of taking the stairs instead of the lift, yet taking the stairs is such a simple change to make that will make a difference. Small changes can make for significant outcomes, and getting out of breath as often as possible is a good thing. It is actually a great thing to carry a difficult load, or to get a bit of a sweat on doing something manually. I am not promoting Luddism of course. I am saying that humans can carry a burden. A fitness trainer would call it resistance exercise but it is all the same. You carry a load, you raise your heart rate, you improve your health.
So, carry your own burdens, human. Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
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