Orthodoxy

Early Bird

While fishing around for an interesting article to blog about, I found this one in the New York Times on how Muslim women reconcile their need for modesty with their need to keep fit. The core of the dilemma lies in the realm of exercise clothing.

Generally speaking, exercise wear tends to be form fitting, aka fitted, body hugging, tight, or indecent depending on how you view it. To wear such clothing would be disrespecting the womens' vow to remain covered and modest. Hence the dilemma.

What to do? Some resourceful Muslim women form their own women only groups, while others find a way to exercise in less revealing clothing. Personally speaking, I think striking a balance between modesty and exercise is very doable. There's no need to go running around in a park in skimpy clothing if you're not comfortable doing so. Some people are just extremely comfortable in their skin and what they broadcast to the world, but not everyone has to fall into that category. The only thing you'll have to accept is that your shopping trip to find exercise clothing may just be a bit more difficult if you're looking for stuff that does not hug your body.

About the picture: I took this picture this morning as you can see by the long shadows cast by the metal barrier. The lighting truly is better at this time of day than midday when there are is no shadow play. The color of the sky turned out nicely as well if I do say so myself. This photo has strong leading lines that bring the viewer's attention to the middle of the image. Unfortunately there's nothing really interesting there, except for the land mass, which is Treasure Island.