I have to take a few minutes off from mounds of paperwork to throw a couple of peanuts. Actually this one subject might deserve the whole bag.
So, let me get this straight. The next target of the health and hubris police is the little toys in fast food kid’s meals. I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind this bright idea, because I don’t think the kids are supposed to eat the toys. If he or she did, I bet plastic isn’t loaded with calories. Is there no end to people poking their arrogant noses into our private lives? When will we stand up and scream at the top of our lungs, “Enough!”
I realize this seems a little petty, considering larger issues available for concern, but think about this. These seemingly innocuous regulations being thrown out there all trend toward the issue of control. Each time we say to ourselves, “Well, I can understand why legislating toys in fast food meals might be a good idea”, remember that another tiny piece of our decision making is taken from us. Each time a “behavioral” law is passed, we lose a part of our freedom to live our lives as we see fit.
I can hear people screaming “But the children! The children see the toys as a reward for eating those greasy hamburgers and fries that will make them fat and unhealthy!”
How about this? How about parents teaching their children about the evils of the world, and seeing what the cat laps up? Sure, there will be some that just don’t bother, and there always will be, but what’s wrong with allowing a generation of parents, enlightened and educated in healthy choices, set the example and the rules for their own children?
I don’t know about you, but I seem to recall a word my mother used as we as kids got pinched shoving Easter candy into our little mouths at the speed of light. The word she used, as she had the unmitigated gall to take the candy away from us, was moderation. Yep, she told us all about moderation, which as it turns out was a real fifty-center.
I have never heard of a hamburger being lethal, any more than a glass of soda. Using my pea-brain, though, I assume that living at a fast food restaurant 24/7 might be detrimental to health. I know I might run the risk of a fine of not more than $50,000 and imprisonment for not more than five years, but I will admit….I have taken the kids to McDonald’s, many times throughout their lives! They are skinny and healthy to this day.
This entire crusade seems to be centered on obesity. As in everything, I have a suggestion to make. Why don’t the powers that be admit that the main cause of obesity in kids and adults is lack of exercise? We all know it, so why target other influences? Turn off the television, stop spending thousands of dollars on video games, re-institute calisthenics in schools during recess periods, support sports programs and outdoor activities, and use that dirty word my mother used…moderation. **Note that I mentioned nothing about “legislating”.
I can’t understand why it is that people support legislating legal but questionable behavior. Have we become so apathetic or even lazy that we voluntarily allow others to make our personal choices for us? A handful of peanuts for those zealots who insist they know what is best for you and your children, you idiot, and who successfully legislate your personal choices. I’m lobbing an entire bag of peanuts to those who allow them to do so.
Back to work now. This temporary, 20 hr/week enterprise has blossomed into more than expected, but I look at it in this way. I will have unlimited fodder for the summer months.
