KPR

I learned about KPR only a few months ago from a fellow senior citizen. For those who don’t know the term, I won’t tell you yet what it means but you might be able to figure it out with my introduction.

KPR came back to me as I was walking to a dinner appointment. I’m in Cebu right now attending an international workshop and yesterday evening, I thought my companions had gone ahead to a restaurant for dinner … and that I didn’t have any of their cellphones!

I looked up the restaurant on Waze and had no second thoughts about just going to the restaurant on foot. Appropriately, the workshop was part of an activity called Asia Trek. The workshop had participants from Southeast Asia and China so I thought I’d pick up on this trekking theme and refer to the Cebuano “suroy-suroy,” which Tagalog has borrowed as well. (At University of the Philippines Diliman we have a suroy-suroy course related to languages, i.e., exposing students to the wondrous sounds and usages of our many languages.)

Similar to the Cebuano suroy-suroy, we have the Indonesian and Malay “jalan-jalan” (literally “road-road”). But suroy-suroy and jalan-jalan are not really as leisurely as they sound. We sometimes take these walks to think and to reflect, or to consult with friends. Together with colleagues from the United States and European universities, I sometimes invite my students to jalan-jalan with me if they want to discuss their research projects, including theses and dissertations.

So, there I was for a dinner suroy-suroy, using Waze, which wasn’t meant as a walking guide and which can make you feel a hundred meters becoming more like a hundred miles. But I consoled myself saying this was good exercise, which my bodyguard (dog) and I do all the time now that our ages are both in the line of “7,” she being 7 years old and me in my 70s.

There’s so much research now going on to look at how walking’s variations and swimming are at the top of recommended forms of exercise, no need for weights and all that. Don’t forget, too, there are combinations; you can actually jog and do jumping jacks in the pool.

I’m not aiming to live to be a hundred, though. When I got to the restaurant and realized I was the only one there, the first thing I thought of was a beer, even if the research says with the elderly, even a little alcohol might already be too much alcohol.

I ordered my beer, reminding myself I’m just aiming to be fit, not become a monk. (Besides, Catholic monks are known for producing some of the best beer and wines.)

We’re talking about being able to savor and enjoy the quality of life. The benefits of exercise come with little victories, physical fitness measured, for example, by being able to open that glass jar. I will attest as well to how exercise impacts mental fitness, from just feeling good to being able to dust off the cobwebs in our memory banks to recall something important.

Then there’s KPR, which I learned from my student, who is older than I am and is doing a doctorate in anthropology.

When I asked him recently how he was, he said he was fine and then mentioned how his KPR has changed as he has become more senior in his senior years.

Some of you are probably thinking now of KPR as key performance results, which comes from organizational management. Organizations set KPIs or key performance indicators, which are targets, and which are monitored as KPR.

You’re close but my student was referring to, fasten your seatbelts, Katawang Pang Romansa, quick to add the romance part was reserved for his one and only. Sweet, no?

My senior student said he was doing pretty well with his KPR, even with the knees, apparently a key indicator, except when he has to walk down the stairs. (My innocent mind wondered, since when did stairs become part of romancing?)

But my Tito Student (we’re only a few years apart so I can’t call him Lolo Student) says that lately, he’s realizing that keeping fit also prepares you for another kind of KPR, looking good with a … Katawang Pang Reunion.

I’m not going to end there. After my talk, one of the Indonesian workshop participants came up to me to say he loved the jalan-jalan metaphor for the work we’re doing, which is dealing with social inequities and in that context, jalan-jalan can become a journey or an adventure, perjalanan.

Wow, I did feel a KPR (kilowatt power reset) with that imagery. Goodbye strolling, hello ziplining, mentally and physically!

mtan@inquirer.com.ph