I just stood in line for lunch behind a man who was 6’2” and probably 170lbs. He ordered a meal that amounts to at least 1800 calories, which is what he’s probably supposed to eat in an entire day. As I ordered my salad, I could not believe that I have to work as hard as I do to be fit, because I can tell from his jowls that he’s skinny at the waist and belly due to genetics and not due to activity. He doesn’t have to do anything, and he gets to look like I’m desperately working to look. However, I wouldn’t trade him my heritage for his genetics.
I was born of a great heritage. My late grandfather was an amazing man. I learned more about him in the two years since he died than I did in all the years I remember before that. I learned how much our personalities were similar, which is why he worried about me, knowing what challenges I would create for myself. I learned about how many health problems he successfully bested before finally dying peacefully in his sleep at the age of 90. At his funeral, I saw prestigious members of political organizations, civic organizations, business, and ecclesiastical leaders who came to pay their respects. Each speaker spoke of my grandfather’s love of faith, family, and fidelity to principle, and I knew then if I didn’t know before that I was descended from a great man.
Sometimes I bemoan the genetic lot handed me. I know when I look at pictures of my grandfather that it’s only a matter of time before I will gain weight and be a large man like he was. For now, for my health, I spend time each day when possible exercising to strengthen my endurance and increase my ability. I don’t seem to lose any weight. Despite this frustration, I realized that if I didn’t have to work very hard to be in shape I probably wouldn’t appreciate it either. What we obtain easily, we esteem lightly, and I think this fellow at lunch probably takes it for granted that he’s tall, skinny, and lean. While I envy him the outcome, I appreciate the lessons I learn from paying the price.
My ancestors crossed the continent of North America before there were any wagon trails. They came to America from Scandinavia, Germania, and Mercia, meaning that they were among the hardiest, strongest, and most tenacious of the barbarian hordes. We were known because we were large and ferocious and resistant to the things that tested the mettle of a man. My ancestors raided the coasts and tested the borders of the Roman Empire. My grandfather showed me through what he achieved that those genes still exist within our family line. Although we might be larger than I’d like, he was strong too, overcoming a series of otherwise debilitating health circumstances and cultural clashes occasioned by his values that might have broken a weaker man.
One of my good friends pointed out that he respects my efforts because I am fighting genetics, but I am also benefiting from them. I wish I could work out three times per week for a half hour each time, eat like this fellow or my students and look as good as they do, but I know that if I could I would not appreciate the work required to achieve that under normal circumstances. I know that I don’t really comprehend the cost of crossing the Atlantic, fighting Hadrian, walking across the plains in a wagon train, or eking out a farming community from the Utah salt flats. I don’t appreciate that because I do not understand the price. I have come to empathize with and appreciate my ancestors because within me are some genes I inherited from them that allow me to achieve when I work for it. I thank them for what they bequeathed me even if they didn’t know they were doing it.
We are told that everything has its strengths and weaknesses. This fellow I saw today probably has other problems. I’m not sure I’d trade him just to have a leaner body, as much as I wish I had one. About a month ago, I went hiking with my friend’s nephews who admitted to me that they know they are not fit just because they are skinny. At the end of six miles, they were the ones out of breath and with their heads hung low, and it showed me that my belief that health is in the blood and in the cells might be the truth. I know many people think it’s at the waist, but we don’t consider Somalians or Ethiopians to be healthy. I have learned other things like endurance and perseverance, which may not be heritable characteristics because my ancestors left me their example and their haplotype. I thank God for my heritage; if He chooses to also bless me with the fruits of my labors, that will be wonderful too.
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