It's a very funny and ironic thing that America is both the most powerful and overweight nation in the world. On the one hand, being the most economically powerful country has come coupled with the aspects of beauty, celebrity and general lust. However, the fact that accomplishing so much and accumulating so much money has driven America to an obesity crisis is downright sad...and a little hilarious. Let's review the situation:
As a nation so consumed (pun!) by its edible culture, America seems very invested in the idea of weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. Magazines promoting a healthy body image practically plague every corner, yet it has become custom to look at these magazines ("I'll probably try that workout next week!") and disregard them just as quickly. Why not attach a very large brick to every weight loss magazine? At least that way people would get somewhat of a workout, rather than spend their time staring at the chiseled men and women within the pages. When was the last time a serious case of physical self-improvement came out of a magazine? As somebody who derives their humor out of the ridiculousness of others (who doesn't?), I dread the day when haircuts, toenail clippings, excessive spitting and intentional sunburns (followed by the peeling of skin) become the norms of weight loss. I will not have my own preposterous nature become reality.
On the other hand, America's obsession with a good image has seemingly blossomed from the number one enemy of that image: food. While we spend bucket loads of money (what, you don't keep your money in a bucket?) on magazines, pills, treadmills and really heavy pieces of metal called weights, we spend twice as much (the number of buckets just doubled, stay with me) on the burgers, fries, sodas and chocolate bars that bring us right back to the treadmill. Seems a little redundant, don't you think?
All I'm saying is that there is blatant wastefulness, like throwing away clothing (I like to burn mine) that could be given to a charity of some sort, and then there's the behind-the-scenes, noticeable but ignored wastefulness of the food/image conundrum. I know that these weight loss programs and machines are businesses, just like McDonald's and Hershey's are businesses, and businesses generate money and products which do...something...for the economy (this is why I'm here and not belting this out at Wall Street), but I just feel like things could be handled so much more effectively if we stopped worrying so much about how we look and started considering lowering the Cokes in our hands. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm headed off to make myself a salad. Dressing on the side.
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