October 10, 2016

Last night I tried to watch the presidential debate.  I only made it through 15 or 20 minutes before Trump's inability to acknowledge his mistakes and sincerely apologize for them, his repeated excuses ("locker room talk"), denials, and deflections, the way he dragged the focus to someone else's unrelated mistakes...left me too disgusted and angry to continue to watch.  I felt a personal empathy towards Hillary, having to stand there and just listen to him.  What can you say when someone utterly refuses to accept responsibility for their loathsome actions and beliefs?  You can attempt to help them see their errors and the gravity of them, but there are some who so steadfastly refuse self-reflection and empathy that your effort is wasted and you end up more frustrated than ever at your powerlessness.  I couldn't watch any more, I saw more than enough.

This morning between classes, I swam some laps as I usually do.  I returned to the locker room, showered, and got dressed.  When I was nearly ready to leave, two other women came into the locker room--one quite elderly who I see swimming and doing water exercises regularly, the other a strong young woman who clearly swims/swam at a competitive level.  I overheard the younger praise the older for swimming so consistently.  The older woman minimized the compliment saying she often finds it hard to get motivated to keep coming back, but that she does shoulder exercises in the water that will help her avoid a surgery.  The younger woman again enthusiastically reiterated her admiration for the older woman's dedication and effort.  

And I thought to myself: this is locker room talk.  Here is a one woman encouraging and building another up.  Yes, in the relative privacy of a locker room (or similar setting), we can resort to less noble topics.  But the topics we chose to speak on are chosen, they are choices that reflect our personal values.  The locker room talk I overheard was beautiful and timely.  I am so grateful.