The Grade : F as in Fat
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For some time, I have been sending friends and relatives short articles that finally find a place in this newspaper. The other day I sent my brother in Pittsburgh a story about a dream that I had. I was walking casually in Richland Mall, here in Waco, minding my own business and searching the windows for the bargains that had induced me there through their clever advertisements. It was a surreal walk, almost ghost-like, where the majority of the imposing figures that passed my way rippled, waddled, sagged, bounced, rolled, flopped, wiggled (sort of jello-like) and swayed through the mall. Instantly, I thought “President Bush was right but he did not have to go to Iraq to find his WMD. Waco or Crawford would do.” These true weapons of destruction in mass ambled over the slick tiled walkways. All at once the dream changed to a nightmare when these new, not-yet-extinct mammoths heard that terrorists were also present. Ordinary people were smashed into display windows and trampled under foot. One anorexic young girl was swashed. One child was pushed into a fountain. Of course, the carnage was worse outside of McDonalds and Cici’s Pizza. There was looting of French fries and burgers and pizza with everything. Four 300 pound boys attempted to get through the same door at the same time. They took out the door as well as the supporting posts and lintel in their mad rush to safety. Somehow, I floated over the whole scene, seeing each instance in vivid color and abstractly watching the process with a growing passion that “something must be done about this disease of over consumption”. Later, I filled my gas tank and was shocked by the price. Much later, I read the Waco Tribune-Herald and saw that the “fat cats” in Washington had increased the national debt and the deficit again. It was a nightmare so I woke up and sent this image of fat and excess to my brother. He wrote me back: “Calm down, curb your passion, everything is under control. Be Zen-like in your older age.” He is ten years younger than me. Unlike some people, I listen to my brother, so in a Zen-like, cool composure, I sent him these reported, recent facts about over-consumption of resources: food, dollars and oil. Brother, I live in Texas where the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) reports that we are 12th on the list of overweight and obese people per population. Alabama is worst and Colorado is best but they all fail to slim the pounds off their citizens. Texas is the national leader in high school obesity at 13.9 %. The number of obese children has tripled since 1990. Sixty-five percent of all Americans (roughly 119,000,000) are overweight or obese, costing the states $241 per person in state funds. (Which means, as we look around, two of the three of us is overweight or abese). It was observed that “federal programs lack organizational leadership” (according to a survey of the states and the TFAH report), not balancing “competing interests of industry and public health.” Of the 1090 programs to curb obesity in Americans, spending only $1.2 billion (the Iraq war has cost $400 billion to date), more than 80% of those are federal or state programs and “not doing the job”. In 41 States, over 20% of the citizens are obese. The direct and indirect medical costs of obesity are $117 billion and rising each year by 10%. Brother, I live in America where the U.S. National Debt as of April 10, 2005, 12:12:26 am GMT stands at $7,793,256,841,762.19. There was a 2000 surplus of $3 trillion: now, it is a projected deficit of $7 trillion by 2007. Most of those debts are owned by other countries. Brother, I live in the World where an “Axis of Oil” exists: USA, China and India. Insuring a steady flow of cheap oil has “always been one of the central goals of U.S. foreign and economic policy” and Washington’s preeminent position in the world is based on its ability to do this. India has invested $3 billion in global oil exploration and has promised $1 billion a year from now on. China has invested $15 billion in foreign oil fields. By 2010 India will have 36 times more cars on their roads; China will have 90 times more. By 2030, it is projected that China will have more cars than the United States. With all this, India is the second fastest growing economy in the world after China. And if that is not enough, for every $1 increase in oil prices, the global economy loses $25 billion. My dear Brother, thank a higher power that we live in a country where brothers can disagree and still love each other. With all these calm Zen statistics, if nightmares are to be had, I prefer my recent one about fat people crushing ordinary ones in our local mall in an atmosphere of fear. At least there, I understand what is happening and what is needed to be done. |
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