The Fat of the Land

If you are not aware, the First Lady of the United States is a strong proponent of healthy eating and daily exercise. Called "Let's Move", the idea is to get the youth of America on the right track so they not only live longer but live happier, healthier lives. A big move is the renovation of our schools' cafeterias, as this is a main source of daily nutrition for kids across the country. I feel as this is a great idea and find it hard to argue against being healthier.

Apparently, I am mistaken. After a year of the program, conservative groups and in my opinion, big lazy fat asses, continue to speak out against this program, claiming they don't want the government controlling what they eat. Really? I was unaware of any branch or service of the government is coming to my house and forcing me to eat anything at all. The "Let's Move" program is an initiative; an option. It even says on the main site that they are looking to help kids make healthy choices, not have the decision made for them. I think what bothers me the most is that people actually have a problem with eating and living healthy.

The excuse for not doing so it that 'the government is making me do it'. Bullshit. The 'government' in this case is a concerned group who are trying to improve things. The only reason you would keep to this excuse is A) you hate the government and everything it stands for, meaning that if they recommended breathing to keep living, you would plug your holes up and die on principle or B) you enjoy being a fatass with health problems and just thinking about putting effort into losing weight is causing you to sweat too much. Why else would people argue against healthy living suggestions?

To put this in perspective, I ask, have you been to a Wal-mart lately? You should be able to take in all the reasons why America needs a healthier perspective. I know the common reasons for obesity - cost of food, time to make meals, vegetables taste like shit, etc. Well it is exactly these issues that programs like "Let's Move" look to tackle. They let it be known that it will take work and you may have to give up those daily french fries or candy bars. But even to need to explain that changes require work and that after years of habits, it may take quite a bit of effort to fix them, is just more ridiculous.

I feel the ever-present short-sightedness of today's American prevents them from seeing the larger picture and see the reasons why they should think twice before super-sizing that combo. -When you can order a 12-piece bucket with large sides and a biscuit for 15 bucks and get it in 10 minutes, why bother taking a half-hour at home to cook something up? When whole meals come frozen in bags that are ready to be microwaved and eaten in 5 minutes, why bother taking a few minutes to hand chop some fresh veggies? I can get all of this here and now; my present situation is fine- Sure the present is fine, but did you happen to look at the side of that bag of food? 50% of your daily sodium and 65% of your daily saturated fat will get you to tomorrow, but you'll be lucky to make it 1000 more. I will be fit and enjoying my grandchildren while you are hooked to an oxygen tank on your scooter. I think this may be the most challenging aspect of these get-healthy programs: it is not an immediate result and often the results are in perceivable, therefore they are not popular in our instant-gratification society.

My point is that healthy living programs such as "let's move" are essential to a society who is content with being lazy and apathetic in their physicality. I bet we wouldn't have nearly the same mess of a health care system if people took care of themselves better, starting with how they eat. However, there will never be a requirement or forcing of anything people consume, despite how many times opponents would beg to differ. The only person or institution who is going to make you healthier is yourself, not the government, not your friends. Stop finding excuses and start doing what is right. Let's move is a suggestion, a method to success. Why are people against this? They aren't telling you to stop all your junk food intake, just be aware of what you are eating and how much. Be responsible, be educated. Much easier said than done, but that is kinda the point.

PS - What inspired this post was a quote from Stupid Palin on her horrible TV show. "This is in honor of Michelle Obama who said the other day we should not have dessert." She then proceeded to eat her own weight in S'mores. This is America.

How Things Work

As technology advances, it becomes easier for us to focus on the results of a given task and lose touch with how that result was achieved. This is a general statement, but if you think of your daily life, you can see how this applies. For example, I seriously doubt that the majority of car owners actually know how that engine starts and how the fuel combusts into kinetic energy. I also doubt that owners of cell phones (which is about everyone nowadays) actually know the phone numbers of the majority of their contacts stored on their phone. This can be acknowledged down the line from how that box of cereal was produced to why that computer keeps showing that blue error screen.

I will admit that it is entirely possible to lead a successful life without obtaining the knowledge of all these processes. The trouble arises however when something along the course of your day goes wrong and a fix or amelioration is required. Without understanding the process, we are lost as to why the function failed. The result is confusion and wasted time and usually, the problem then becomes the burden of the people around the problem as well.

I will also like to state that there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help when the process has escaped you. We should all be happy to learn something new everyday. But for everyday items, especially those as part of your daily routine, I feel you should be familiar with how those things work. If you are constantly downloading music or movies or whatever off the internet, you should well know that there is a constant risk of viruses or malware. If you don't, then you do not know enough about what you are doing, much like driving around town without knowing to yield right of way to the stop sign on the right. You can get by without certain details, but when it comes up, you are going to wish you did.

I guess what this boils down to is my constant desire for efficiency. It seems like there is just always something going wrong or something out of place, any of which could be totally preventable or easily fixed. I feel that a large amount of stress and anxiety could be eliminated just through simple education. If you are familiar with how something works, you can walkthrough the process and step by step, eliminate possible errors. This puts the power back into the individuals hands and things don't grind to a halt while a solution is found.

This post resulted from me running into too many instances of ignorance. I know everyone is already as busy as can be, but if they would just take the time to learn about the whys and hows instead of just the whats and whens, I feel we would be living in a happier place. Plus, it is always a good feeling when you have fixed something yourself. Things will go wrong during the day, so just think of how many opportunities you have to cheer yourself up, not to mention the benefit of not inconveniencing the rest of the world around you because of your incomprehension.