Soft Living

London Baker

For centuries, man had to fight to survive. Waking up to the sun cresting the horizon line was a

privilege, a right that had to be earned. Life wasn’t something people just expected to have handed to

them each day.

We’ve become soft.

CNN claims that there are currently more than one billion obese people in the world. Studies

show that over half of Americans spend five hours or less outside a week. Also—somewhat

alarmingly—in the U.S. we achieved the lowest score we’ve ever had as a country on the World

Happiness Report released in 2025.

Something isn’t right, and something definitely is not working.

There is a certain quality that people lack, a certain conviction and toughness. Renowned

author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis put it this way in The Abolition of Man, “We make men

without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find

traitors in our midst.”

There was once a time when being alive meant something. There were, at some point in

human history, days where people had to fight just to wake up.

Now I’ll grant that there are a few, remote places in the world that are still like that. There are

some countries out there not drowning in comfort. However, if you live in America, step outside and

take a look around. Look at the sorts of people you see.

Famed author Jack London spent his teenage years as an oyster pirate. President Theodore

Roosevelt was shot in the chest prior to giving a speech, yet still managed to give more than an hour

long talk before seeking medical attention. Once, Ernest Hemingway survived not just one, but two

plane crashes in a forty-eight hour period.

But what now? What strengths do men have now?

Find your average American male and ask him about his favorite football team. He’ll be able to

tell you every player, every stat, every game they’ve won and lost in the last few years. Ask him about

his favorite Marvel movie. He’ll tell you all the lore and backstory, tell you why time travel works this

way and how this character isn’t really dead. Now ask him the last time he hit the gym. Ask him the last

time he went camping. Ask him the last time he read a book.

It’s no wonder that we’re so unhappy. We live in an age where chronic disease is our biggest

enemy, and where standing up during a movie to get more candy is the biggest struggle of the day. We

lead lives void of purpose.

Maybe it’s time to start living again. Ditch the phone for a bit. Go outside, soak up some sun.

Read something good. Go get a gym membership, try weightlifting or maybe pick up jogging.

Just do something.

Don’t let inactivity be the beast that takes you down.

When it’s your time to go, don’t let death find you curled up on a couch scrolling Instagram.

Let death find you covered in dirt and scars, a wide smile plastered on a face wrinkled by much

laughter. Run at death so hard that she flinches away from you, pull up to your final day with smoke

trailing from the exhaust and tires worn down.

Jack London once said, “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.” So go out and

take his word, listen to what he said.

Go live a little.