Hal

when you go to the gym at virtually the same time on the same days of the week you inevitably begin to recognize people. one of my favorite fellow gym-goers is a blind man who comes in escorted by his seeing eye dog. by sheer luck he usually ends up selecting a stationary bicycle right in front of my treadmill so i get to see his whole routine.

it takes him quite a while to get set up and always with the assistance of one of the trainers. meanwhile, his dog lays quietly on the floor barely noticeable except for the fact that he's so out of place in a 24 hour fitness. the trainer turns on the machine, selects the setting, plugs in his headphones for him and then he's off. for the rest of the time, the man pedals away peacefully sweating as much as any of the rest of us.

Every time the devil on my shoulder suggests i skip my workout i think of this man (i've nicknamed him hal because he looks like a hal to me). with more obstacles in front of him than i can possibly imagine and a better excuse not to go then i'll ever come up, hal still manages to get his tush to the gym everyday.

how can i possibly let him down by not showing up myself?