An Army of Depressives

Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

What are the virtues of treating suicidal ideation and depression by killing oneself with exercise. Firstly, you become strong. If you haven’t noticed, there are whole cadres of depressed people walking the streets who all look like Popeye due to their huge bulging biceps. If more depressed people glom onto the notion that they can release endorphins and change their lives by undertaking death defying workouts and involving themselves in extreme sports like climbing Everest, surfing kahunas produced by hurricanes and entering MMA competitions, then the world might not be better, but will certainly be a different place. It almost axiomatic that anyone who has built their body into an impregnable fortress is protecting themselves from things that are usually imagined. However, the net result for society is the creation of an army of warriors who have at least partially overcome a debilitating condition. On the most basic level, these soldiers of misfortune can serve as a power of example to those who are suffering from similar problems and ideally can also serve as potential guides. Therapy is usually ineffective in the face of clinical depression. Drugs of the illegal kind like opiates result in addiction and prescription drugs  reduce some sufferers (albeit not all) to semi-vegetative states. But exercise can do for the depressive what the CCC did for the legions of poverty stricken Americans during the real Depression. Buff depressives with six packs and sci-fi level aerobic capacities will defend our cities against thieves and terrorists while helping to rebuild the infrastructures of decaying cities like Detroit.