Minnesota governor Tim Walz’s daughter, Hope Walz, said the sport of running is “privileged.”

She seems like she's lived a sheltered life. Life is hard and all those variables (mental health, socio economics, blah blah blah) are things everyone deals with in everything they do in life (work, family, recreation, hobbies, etc), Running, like life, is what you make it amid your variables and choices. No need for a 24 year old privileged GenZer to hold a sermon on TikTok about it.

My take on a tough thread:

Grew up poor, adopted from the PI in 1984. My sibs and I were on free/reduced lunch programs in greater CLE in the early '90s. Our family struggled while we saw tons of friends do well in the late '90s. My father was trying to build his business (mental health counseling) and had to work crappy public jobs before he could get that done by 2005. The economy burst in 2000 and a lot of the kids I envied were in homes with 2-3 mortgages, not much furniture in their McMansions and their cars were leased. So what I saw as poor and rich was not always the case. Our family made it through by not going on vacations and saving everything we could. It changed how I saw wealth/money. Going slow and steady, saving everything, etc. pays off. But as a young kid you see "they have more than I do."

This led to a lot of mental health issues and resentment. Through it all, running kept me going and stabilized me. Also going to therapy helps. Being poor while others are wealthy caused a lot of envy/jealousy issues I am still working through 40 years later and I'll admit that.

I get her point about privilege, sometimes liberals come across as snooty about that but at the same time there are some good points in there. The key is to not necessarily turn it political.

Some runners have it easier than others; the only way to get to where they are is just fix your own economic situation as best as you can and go from there and don't worry about them.

I do remember years ago reading about York HS and Elmhurst and someone was mentioning the Chicago suburbs in the '70s and '80s are a time in which we'll never return to, the glory days of Americana (not a direct quote but paraphrased). Elmhurst, Skokie, Bolingbrook, Winnetka, Aurora, etc.

I saw this when I was at Day Camp in Chagrin Falls Park as a 1st-3rd grader in Greater CLE. It was a low-income area and my father was a mental health counselor there so that is the only camp we could afford at the time, as West Geauga's camps were a lot more $.

Even during '91 to '93 I saw this--a lot of people would complain about being poor but they'd get their cigs, pops, snacks, and lottery tickets. It's an interesting place.

chagrinhistorical.org

History of Chagrin Falls Park

Ruth Zeager

Chagrin Falls Park is a neighborhood in Bainbridge just beyond the border of Chagrin Falls. For many years it was primarily a black neighborhood but today it is more racially diverse. The beginning???

Open link

Come on, there is a wide colloquial gulf difference between saying an activity is a privilege and a group of people are privileged. She was that taking part in running is a privilege.

Saying a group is privileged is usually used as a pejorative, whereas saying an activity is a privilege is acknowledging that is something not everyone has access to. I can say it's a privilege to live somewhere with mild winters, but are people who live somewhere with mild winters "privileged"... no, not necessarily.

Yup, all those Kenyans, Ethiopians, Somalis, Ugandans etc. are highly privileged.

Life ain't fair...get over it and quit yer whinin....

Running is more accessible than most sports. But ANY sport is a privilege that the poorest people have little access. Lots of people work through school to help support their families and cannot spare the time for a pursuit like a sport. Walz's daughter is not one of these but she is recognizing this reality.

Someone said it above, that there is a whole lot of mental gymnastics people who through, who want to believe that low-income people are 100% victims of their circumstances, 0% responsible for their circumstances.

I am not sure why some people can‘t accept it being a mixture. It is clear to me that it IS a mixture.

The kids that grew up working a paper route and shoveling driveways were the kind of kids who could pass the marshmallow test. I think that kids in previous generations had a better chance of learning discipline and delayed gratification through the wider culture, even if their parents lacked those qualities.

The kids today who cannot handle the concept of delayed gratification exist at all socioeconomic levels, but it DOES seem like it‘s unevenly distributed. (The kids who are average to above-average socioeconomically seem to be more likely to work delayed gratification to their own advantage.)

Role models in their immediate living situation and community play a big part, which perpetuates what came before.

Who cares what that traitorous pedo’s daughter says?

Absolutely f'in spot on. Thank you.

She said running is a privilege, not running is privileged. Completely different meaning. I work with kids every day who cannot walk. Running IS a privilege.

Yes, and I agree wholeheatedly with the post above yours by kmaclam.

That said, it's interesting that with such a benevolent message at heart, the discussion gets subverted so resolutely.

Maybe we can just take her attitude to heart and be better (?).

You think most of the poor in America are "working hard" ??? Oh you fools and your bleeding hearts, sad.

Is his daughter a fat chick? Seems Iike they type of excuse a fat chicknwould come up with.

this is a ridiculous and wild misconstruing of what she actually said. did you watch her video? she's a runner herself. so is her dad. she loves running. she's lambasting the privilege of a person who has everything (whoever this 'running influencer' creature is) strolling the halls of the White House as if everything is normal.

if you don't agree with her, that's fine, but hope's point is being deliberately misinterpreted.

spoken like someone who has not spent one second outside of his bubble, ever.