To the Bitter End

Some years ago, I watched one of those human-interest stories with which (after doling on the day’s many disasters) they close newscasts. It was about an old man who’d run a weekly marathon for twenty years. It was inspiring—until the final scene, where he was shown setting off on a practice run before his next event. He looked like hell. Arthritic, tentative, obviously in pain: all that impact, all that wear-and-tear on his joints and back. Life takes its toll.

     Sometimes I think of him, especially when (like today) someone asks me, “Are you limping?” My answer: “Not consciously.” 

Inspired by Frog in Pot. Image from a video by Aquila Chrysaetos.