May Contain Peanuts

Hmmm...

I have a conundrum. At my present place of employment, there is a fellow employee that is a bit on the large side. Rotund you may say. If you met him, you would say he is obese. Not morbidly obese, as in "I wash myself with a rag on a stick" obese, but enough that you don't want to fly seated next to him. Given his stature, and the fact that he has made his back/bone problems readily known, should I feel bad about not inviting this guy out to lunch for some fast food?

I currently work in a very small office, so it is common for most of us to grab lunch together, usually at some nearby fast food joint. I have noticed that said employee brings a lunch in with him in the morning, only to dump it in the can, opting for a nice Spicy Chicken Filet instead. Obviously, he could care less about his poundage, but for some reason I am feeling guilty inside about inviting him along to a place that will only worsen his situation. I suppose it is the equivalent of handing out cigarettes or buying rounds of shots for people. They'd be better off without it and it won't hurt in the short term, but in the long term, you know you shouldn't.

So my dilemma is, do I go with my gut and continue to avoid aiding his obesity, or do I embrace his disregard for health and life and let it ride. I have been toiling over this for a while, my logical side says to let others do as they please, let them build or destroy themselves; but my moral side says to avoid being part of the process. (picture those frosted mini wheats commercials)Note how I left out the other option of encouraging him to do the right thing. This is not an option for me as I do not believe in pushing my opinions on others. The question is, am I essentially doing the same thing by not intervening?

It is one of those cases where in the long run, it really doesn't matter as we're all gonna kick the bucket somehow. I just get this odd feeling (compassion maybe?!?) that it is rather important to be healthy and fit and be able to enjoy life. I really can't judge; he may be happy regardless of his stature, but it still bothers me when I hand over a bag of saturated fat and superfluous calories. Not to mention the guy shits 3 times a day in our single bathroom. I know I get enough exercise and eat enough other healthy meals to offset my lazy trips to the burger stands, I just can't justify doing it for others.