With slow awkward steps she shuffled towards me; the largest woman I've ever seen in real life. As she opened the door I noticed that this poor woman had to be carrying at least 500 pounds, and this is a conservative estimate. The weight was unevenly distributed, with at least 60% of it falling below her waistline, causing her stomach and thighs to melt into one and sag nearly to the ground. When I first saw her, all I felt was compassion for her as I am completely unable to imagine the hardships she must face: getting into her car, walking down the street, trying to find clothes that fit, or dating. Then I remembered where I was, and the compassion faded away. The door she was opening, was the door to McDonald's. As Natalia and I were walking in, she was walking out; a newspaper in one hand, a gigantic bag filled to the brim with fresh fast-food in the other. As I turned around to watch her leave, I noticed she was alone in her car, and the food in that over-stuffed bag was most likely all for her. When I saw this, I could no longer feel sorry for her, no longer try to put myself in her slow shuffling shoes, as she made it impossible. Why would a woman this large, with a weight problem this out-of-control be dining at McDonald's? I understand that obesity is a disease that plagues a great many American's, (America is up in the top of the list for the most obese nations worldwide) and I understand that in a large number of cases this obesity is merely a symptom of a much larger infliction suffered by the person, I understand this in these cases. The sad fact of the matter is, these cases are not the majority. The true majority of obese people in the United States are obese on their own accord, do to improper diet, a complete lack of exercise, and often an apathetic attitude towards any type of remedy. For the people who are obese due to medical conditions, metabolisms that simply will not function properly, or other conditions that steal the control out of their hands, I feel terribly. It is a sad thing that people have to go through their lives dealing with such a hazard; heart failure and a slew of other medical catastrophes seem to come hand-in-hand with obesity and it is awful that some people have to fight these symptoms. For the others, I do not feel badly at all. Our nation has paved the way for this to happen, everyday the fridge gets closer, food keeps longer, fast food joints are open later, the remote's batteries work better. We have become a nation in which it is cheaper to be fat, uneducated and lazy. Why spend $10 for fat-free meals and waste your paycheck on fresh ingrediants that go bad in 3 days, when that same $10 will get you FIVE full meals on the McDonald's dollar menu? Why go for an hour long run when you can drive to the spa for an hour long lipsuction, a little face lift, or a bo-Toxic injection into your forehead? Elevators murdered staircases, computers massacred hard labor, televised sports replaced actually playing them, and owning a car made us all forget how to walk. The obesity rates in nearly every state in this country are on the rise, and in the decade preceding the 21st century the percent of increase was an appauling average of around 45%. This problem is way beyond being fat, eating too much, or exercising too little; this 'weight problem' is a direct indication of the state of affairs that our nation, and most of the industrialized world is caught up in. It seems to me that a large majority have given up, acquiesced to a false belief that we can not change, that our problems are simply something or someone else's fault. In a sense America is that woman I saw today, taking slow calculated steps out of the front door of McDonald's, a newspaper in one hand, a bag full of vices in the other...completely worn out by the time she reached the car.
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