What do you think about this?
Its an article about a kid who runs marathons in India - AGED THREE!
Click the title to check it out...
What do you think? This is something you are bound to have an opinion on so go ahead and share it by leaving a comment!
8 comments:
Saw it on TV a few weeks ago. Hope he doesnt get destroyed running so much so young!
I think that's really sad :-(
Thanks Dunstan,
I can't let that go without a comment:
Any animal or human - assuming they have a loving family and safe natural environment - will run for pleasure and play. Young humans often do this spontaneously, but sometimes to travel or carry out a daily chore. They are not scrutinised during this activity so are free to run, walk, stand or sit whenever they please. They are not doing it to impress anyone because they already have the essentials of life - love, food and shelter.
This Indian kid has no family and no security so will do whatever is necessary to impress those who may support and love him. Humans will do anything to be accepted - take drugs, drink alcohol, starve themselves ... or run a marathon every day. With this publicity, the child's mentor will be spurred to push him into more increasingly unnatural running, to attain contrived goals dictated by something like, 'The Guinness Book of Records'. The authorities will do what they can to prevent this from happening but it is not the running that will hurt the child; it is the unnatural motivation behind it. Instead of taking those fluctuations in pace and little rests when he needs it, he will push though to satisfy someone else's artificial objectives - because he wants to be loved.
Lean kids can run for unbelievably long periods if the motivation exists and if the conditioning occurs gradually and naturally. This is how Haile Gebrselassie became a multiple World and Olympic Champion and world record holder. But Haile was under less pressure to gather such conditioning. He was not scrutinised through any of his early years of running. He ran enormous volumes but could slow or stop whenever he felt like it - due to the weather, the terrain or his feelings at that moment. The work had been done by the time he was discovered in his late teens and it was all done calmly and naturally.
This Indian kid will grind to a halt - as did all the little kids who were encouraged by parents to train for and run marathons during the late seventies and early eighties running boom.
We all know what Guinness is good for and it ain't a book of records,
Rob
Exploitation - perhaps, but his lot maybe better than many other orphaned Indian children his age.
Rob is spot on!!! This is tantamount to child abuse and yet what is the alternative? Having lived and worked in India for a couple of years I can vouch for the fact that Orissa is the poorest state in India, which is about as close to hell on earth as one can possibly get. All one can hope for is that this article provides Budhia enough publicity that someone will take him (maybe even buy him for 1000 rupees) and guide his training in line with
Gebrselassies' natural development, rather than destroy him as will inevitably happen if allowed to continue.
I WILL GIVE YOU 1200 BUT NOT A RUPEE MORE!!!!
It's appalling that we live in a world so full of riches and yet there is so much of this type of exploitation. I think at Dunstan's next party everybody should donate an amount (pretend it's a entry cost)that we can pass on to a reputable charity. Whoever doesn't have $5, $10 $20 etc to spare is a bullshit artist.
Thats a really nice idea Dan - it would be nice to support a charity where there is a connection. Would anyone like to suggest a charity? Next party will be in Feb so plenty of time to think on it before then...
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