[su_label type=”info”]COLUMN: DEVIL’S ADVOCATE[/su_label]

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Carlos Barón

Almost two years ago, I decided to follow the recommendation of a friend and started taking better care of “number one.”

“There is a great aqua-aerobics (or water aerobics) class at Garfield pool,” my friend told me. “Try it!”

I did. One day I went to the pool, located in a very central part of what is now being called the “Latino Cultural District,” on a block (Harrison between 25th and 26th Streets) filled with memories of recent and or distant events that have marked the lives of those who have been living in—or close to—the Mission District. Day of the Dead celebrations, soccer games, the beginning and end of love affairs, even some shootings—events that shook up our personal and collective consciousness.

Nevertheless, my encounter with that aqua-aerobics class was a totally unexpected gift.

Outside the water, leading the 25 or so students who were in the water, a handsome African American man in his late 50s or early 60s, named Ron Chism, counted loudly: “One, two, three,” while in the water the students echoed him.

The counting continued throughout almost an hour, accompanying the various exercises that Ron led.

He worked hard—within 20 minutes he was covered in sweat. Upon reaching the number 100, which marked the end of a particular exercise, Ron smiled and used encouraging phrases, or profoundly simple declarations of love: “Did I already say that (while making a big drawing of a heart on the air) I… love… You?”

When I talked to him recently, Ron told me that he uses the counting to make people breathe.

“We sometimes forget something as simple and as important as breathing. Counting helps,” Ron said. “I’ve been teaching for over 30 years. I feel that I offer—the class offers—a lifeline to people. I am honored that people come to my class and hopefully they get much more than what they anticipate. To me, frankly, the class is very much a spiritual journey, where people come together … to love each other.”

Most people taking the class are over 50.

“I have had some students who were in their late 80s and early 90s,” he said.

Not many are the prototype of a regular athlete, and some, in fact, are afflicted by various ailments or simply by what Hamlet, in his famous monologue (“To be or not to be”) calls the “contumelies” of life, that is, the passing of time.

Judy Brady, who is in her late 70s, is one of the regulars in the class, but is currently unable to attend because she is nursing a broken hip. When I visited her, I asked her what she thought about the class.

Her answers were quick and emphatic.

“I feel totally accepted and acceptable. Not only by those who work there, but also by all who are taking the class. And Ron is the most important ingredient,” Judy said. “He takes time to know about all of us. When I was particularly weak, I felt that Ron was watching over me—over all of us.”

After I spoke to Judy and Ron, I discovered clear and strong coincidences in their words. They both credited the total group effort as the main reason for the class success.

“The group drives everyone,” affirms Ron. “The class brings people with different backgrounds, ages, ideas, to do something together.”

“We do it because it benefits us all,” Judy said. “We don’t do it for each other, but there is a common goal that unites us, although I am very aware that we have very different ideologies and backgrounds. Go fast, go alone. Go far, go together.”

Ron likens the pool to a watering hole, where animals find common ground.

“In Africa, maybe you’ve seen it on films, or read about it, all types of animals come to the watering hole to drink: the zebra, the elephant, the lion… to drink, to share that water. Prey and predators seem to take a break around that watering hole. In the class, I am feeling a truth: People come together to love each other. I think that’s what life is all about: teaching how to give, how to love each other.”

Garfield Pool, the watering hole in the jungle of the Mission? Why not? There, everyone taking the class, by being in the water, surrounded by the positive energy that we share, become graceful floaters, weightless athletes and ageless comedians, bringing up the child who lives inside of us all.

When we say that, “we are up to our necks,” it usually has a negative connotation, but not so in the senior aqua-aerobics class in Garfield pool. Totally immersed in the water, generally up to our necks, that fact makes us all equals—a rare thing indeed.

“Maybe, someday, I hope to get back there,” Judy said.

I feel you, Judy. I can hardly wait to get inside that fountain of goodness again! We’ll be waiting for you.