Jersey Strong

A message to the #HIM of F3Princeton on 3.14  day, 2020, at Circle of Trust – expanded edition

These are crazy times we are living now.

It’s a beautiful day in the middle of March, and we have experienced the sunrise during our workout, including seeing our 20 feet long shadows as the sun was low on the horizon.

Yet, it’s like a snow day or days we experienced after Hurricane Sandy, but we still have electrical power.   Your calendar is totally clear of social events.  The schools have shifted to virtual at-home instruction.  Sporting events are not happening, including the Philadelphia Half-Marathon where two of our brothers, Black Hole and RedCoat,  were going to run.   Even your workplace is telling you not to come into the office for a while.  Strange times, indeed.

And here we are. Doing what we have been doing over the course of the last year, multiple times during the week – Getting After It.  Through our times together here, we have become and continue to become stronger men physically.  We have grown from a bunch of guys getting together to workout into a brotherhood that shows active love, care, and concern for one another.  We are making steps to make an impact on our community, such as supporting Steam in his work with Attitudes in Reverse, and its  mission to create a community of understanding, kindness and empathy through mental health education and awareness and help with suicide prevention.  We are supportive of Black Hole and the Let Me Run program in the Hopewell Valley.   We have reached beyond ourselves to our F3 Brothers supporting brothers in need in Naperville, IL, and we support the efforts of our F3 Greensboro brothers to build a playground in an underserved area of Greensboro, NC.  We are making a difference, and that will continue to happen.

So, in these trying times, how can you help out the guy next door?  Our “gym” is outside and always open.  You can’t beat the price. It’s free.  And in this time of social distancing and self-isolation, you might just make some new friends.  We will even buy you a coffee after your first workout.  Give consideration to whom you might want to invite to join us.  What we have and what we do is what many men need right now.  There are no “Closed” signs here.

The mission of F3 is to plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

“LEAD. It is times like these that we now get to put into practice all this stuff we’ve talked about over the years. We have attempted to get ready for the expected, while staying ready for the unexpected… this is truly unexpected, unprecedented even… Lean in, do good, find a way to be useful and of service to your family and your community (even if that truly is staying home because you aren’t sure if you’ve been infected) and then articulate your vision of how you intend to help people… persuade them to join in the help, and exhort them as necessary.

Men, THIS is the kind of thing that we were made for. THIS is the kind of thing that you’ve been getting ready for by posting and living third. Go make cool stuff happen… we will get through this just fine.

F3 President “Dark Helmet” in his message to the F3Nation on 13 March 2020

We continue to become durable and resilient men.  Our nation and our communities need to see this modeled and lived out strongly now – facing the reality of the present situation, being men of hope, courage, and fortitude in these changing times, in our neighborhoods, in our communities and in our workplaces.

Let’s make a difference now.

Let’s go!

Dos Equis

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