Chewing the Fat on Obesity

By Paul Wilson

Mainstream America is coming to grips with a problem that has plagued low-income families for decades...and it is merely a symptom of our times:
Obesity.

Every day, it seems, a new study comes out, showing an alarming increase in the number of overweight Americans. Of particular concern, the rise in obesity among our children.
It is all well and good to preach about personal responsibility and healthier food choices...These lessons are important. But the underlying cause of this epidemic is one that Native Americans would well recognize:

Our nation is getting poorer.

Before the Indian gaming boom, Native Americans were the fastest growing group for diabetes and obesity. There are still many tribes who have chosen to forego the lure of casinos and remain in abject poverty. They subsist on a high-fat, high calorie diet, because it is filling and all they can afford.

Look around any lower-income neighborhood and you'll see it awash in fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and bars. Nutritional choices are not a priority, when one only can afford a microwave burrito.

Now, look around your own neighborhood...chances are, if you don't live in a luxury condominium, McDonald's is somewhere close by.

Corporate America has done a miraculous job of masking our poverty. By moving our industries to China and India, they are able to cut costs and provide us with low-cost goods...enter the Age of Wal-Mart.

Our high-paying technical jobs have all but vanished. Factory work...gone. Our living expenses continue to rise, while our paychecks lag behind. But because nearly everyone can afford a DVD player and a "Whopper," we don't really notice. If you shrink a man's house, while you shrink him, does he see that he is shrinking?

Americans are consumption machines. We judge our economy by our possessions. As long as we can afford to fill up our cars (barely) and buy the latest got-to-have-it thing, we are content.
But our health, both mental and physical, is taking a back seat...

So, who is profiting from this disposable economy? C.E.O.'s, boards of directors and investors of multinational conglomerates. A handful of people, by comparison, are cashing in on our impulses, sucking us dry, as they fill our lives with diversions.

The gap between rich and poor has become a chasm; a scooped-out hole, where the middle class used to be. And while our leaders spread sunshine about our "thriving economy," they are the only ones who see it, getting rich by investing in these same corporations. From the "War, Inc." in Iraq to our increasing demands for energy, politicians and corporate executives have purchased our country right out from under us...for a handful of shiny beads.

This is the cause for the bad taste in our mouths, for the fat and glucose in our arteries. Our food choices have become limited, disguised as variety. Even fresh produce is suspect, as agriculture has become agri-business. From mad cow disease to infected spinach, corporate farms look for new ways to increase production and cut costs, at the expense of quality. They feed cow parts to cows and put dead dogs in dog food...and seem surprised when we get sick.

Perhaps we have reached a sort of passive acceptance, knowing that the food we eat could kill us. There is a reassuring feeling to know your enemy, in a world of unknown fears.

Nevertheless, we cannot turn a blind eye to the causes. It is time to elect leaders who work for public service, not private interests. It is time to establish a flat tax, bringing back some of the wealth to the communities. It is time to take back the control of what we eat and how it is made.

And it is time to put down the chicken nuggets and learn how to cook again.

The More We Deny...

By Paul Wilson

Despite the fact that mankind has done everything in its power to conquer nature, we are all connected to it. And nature will not let us forget...
For centuries, Man has denied his origins. The "war on terror" has nothing on the "war on nature." In the ultimate colonialism, we have usurped nature's power, so that we can eliminate its hold on us. And there is no question that, for the moment, nature is losing the fight...But She hasn't given up!
In our hubris, we have placed ourselves above all other species. We have created supernatural beings and complex mythologies, in order to justify our superiority. The planet, with all of its resources, is here merely to serve us...
In the beginning, at least, our religions were tied to nature, worshipping the earth and feeling our connections to every living thing. But in our quest for power and control we turned (or were forced to turn) from the pagan religions, in favor of belief systems which made us the masters of our domains. After all, how can you conquer another tribe's land, when the land doesn't really belong to anyone?
Women were revered in the ancient religions, the act of childbirth being the ultimate symbol of nature's cycle. Which is why the "new religions" called for the subjugation of women, as well as nature. As the male-dominated societies grew, the men, who could not give birth, feared its power over them. So, women became just another resource to conquer.
The irony is that this very same behavior is found throughout the animal kingdom. The males of many species must dominate the female, in order to mate.
So how do we differ from, say, the common termite, which spreads its colony until all resouces are depleted, then moves on? Size, of course, is a factor...our "colonies" are world-wide; and when all resources are used up, where will we move to?
But the main difference between man and all other species is awareness...the awareness of our own mortality. The "Tree of Knowledge," from which Adam and Eve ate, gave us the knowledge of our own death. This was, in fact, our true "original sin." It was, at that metaphorical moment in time, that we broke from nature's cycle.
Awareness of death made us fear it...fearing death made us fight against it. So, our "war on nature" (and, indirectly, our "war on terror") is really a war on death...
In the natural order, death is the balance. The old and infirm make way for the new generation, usually by becoming food for other animals. Without death, the population swells; food becomes scarce, disease runs rampant and all species are affected...sound familiar?
What if Man, with all his knowledge and technology, is an aberration? What if we are not God's chosen ones, but an evolutionary birth defect that got out of hand?
This perspective would be impossible for most to accept. And, true or not, Man is here, with no signs of going anywhere. We are the top of the food chain. Being at the top, however, requires a grave responsibility. Ronald Reagan's "trickle-down theory" does apply to nature; what we do directly affects all species beneath us. And it affects us, as well...
As we prolong our lives...as we fight death, as if it were an enemy, we consume more resources that are supposed to go the next generation. We have become top-heavy, so much so that our children cannot support the weight. Is it any wonder that the organized religions of the world are fighting birth control and abortion? They know that we need more children, in order to produce enough to feed the needs of our bulging elderly population (a group to which most of our politicians and religious leaders belong).
There has been a tremendous resurgence in pagan religions over the last decades. Wiccan and Native American beliefs are some of the fastest-growing groups in the world. Perhaps there is an instinctual need to restore the balance. It is believed by many that nature is doing her part...Could diseases like SARS and AIDS be nature's way of thinning out the herd? Even homosexuality is found in other species of animals when their populations have grown too big (this is NOT meant as a derrogatory remark against the gay population...If anything, it proves that being gay is natural, not something that has to be "cured").
Since 9/11/01, we have seen our world leaders return to the religious extremism that threatens our very existence...on BOTH sides. These zealots care nothing about our planet, believing that it is merely a stop-over, on the way to Paradise. If destroying the planet gets us there that much quicker, all the better.
Whether aberration or created in God's image, we MUST accept stewardship of our planet. Nature may lose the battle, but if we don't start taking care our home, She will win the war...by default.