The Running Culture

            Runners live in a world dissimilar from the rest of the population. They have their own culture and similarities in goals, which are distinct from many humans’ goals. In an analysis of the two articles below, the subject is of interest to most of the people within this population of runners.

Alex Hutchinson, the author of The Morning Person Advantage, writes about the likelihood that more morning people, rather than night “owls”, will become competitive athletes because most races are scheduled in the morning. The three Aristotelian appeals are used throughout his article. He appeals to logos with the statistical information he provides by presenting charts of the information he researched to solidify his claim. The appeal to pathos is evident when he describes the time of day that many races take place as, “an unpleasant fact of life”. His word choice is influencing his audience to think of this time of day in an unfavorable manner. Furthermore, an appeal to ethos is also achieved when he mentions the opposing side of his research. His tone is rather friendly, especially at the end of his article when he recommends making events at a later time of the day to benefit those athletes who are being left out because they are not morning people.

The same author, Alex Hutchinson, also wrote the article, Runner’s High From Medium But Not Hard Exercise. Here he writes about how there exists a certain range of aerobic intensity that gives runners a high. However aerobic intensities above and below that range do not produce a runner’s high. Here he also uses the three Aristotelian appeals. He cites several sources from which he got some of his information from and uses statistics again through the form of a chart to clarify his statements. This appeals to logos. He appeals to ethos, as well, when points out some inaccuracy in the research he found. This shows that even though he agrees with a large part of the research, he is aware of the faultiness in some information and does not fail to express it. In addition, there is also an appeal to pathos when he uses the phrase, “sweet spot” to equate to the runner’s high that is achieved by performing some types of aerobic exercise. A runner’s high is already a favorable state, but with his word choice he emphasizes this to appeal to his audience.

 

The Meaning of Life

            Humanity possesses an innate determination to give life a certain meaning. This is one aspect of the universal culture. With every daily action they take and every effort they put into their relationships and their professions, mankind wishes to see the results in their future in some kind of way. They want to know that everything they do has value and is for a good reason, which may be done by giving, in order to make other peoples’ lives better and easier or by working hard in order to have personal satisfaction and feel successful in their own lives.

Every action has an outcome, and that outcome is what people are searching for. They want to know if it made some sort of impact, if it was meaningful to someone or to themselves, or if they felt rewarded or satisfied when they performed the act. Everyone wants to feel significant in a world covered by billions of people, and that is easier for some than others. Some are fulfilled with small achievements but others seek high achievement because they want large rewards. The pattern here is that human beings want to be certain that their lives are worthwhile, that they made a difference and left a dent in the world. 

The Present, Past, and Future Culture

Culture is the similarity that people share, but it is something deeper than just the clothes they wear, the language they speak, and the technology they utilize. A professional businessman living in downtown New York City, with the most cutting-edge  technology and the latest Audi vehicle, is comparable to a mechanic living in a poverty-stricken town in Mexico who is struggling to put food on the table for his family. Both of these men wish to be happy, one of them could associate that happiness with having an abundance of money, the other with spending time with his family and nurturing those relationships, but the idea of finding happiness still exists in both their lives.

The point here is that culture is universal. It is the aspirations that people share. Everyone wants to be happy, they want to be successful, and they want to be loved. The words of Matthew Arnold, in Culture and Anarchy, could not explain this idea any better when he writes how culture is, "...all the love of our neighbour, the impulses towards action, help, and beneficence, the desire for removing human error, clearing human confusion, and diminishing human misery...". He describes culture as being, to a certain extent, the inherent desires that humankind shares. 
       Some may say that culture is always evolving but when looked at in this respect, it is not. It is everlasting and has never changed.