I posted a comment on the Care 2 network concerning the delimma of whether or not obese travelers should pay for two seats if they cannot fit into one. My comment was Yes. It is a choice to be obese. Since that time I have gotten a lot of flack about this issue. So much so that it took me several weeks to even decide to write this post. Being true to my nature, I have to express myself here.

     Alcoholism has been tied to genetics. Those that are and those that sympathize, alcoholics, say that it runs in the family. Drug addicts are so because they are predispositioned to be since their parents were before, during and after birth. So here it could be genetic or simply an addiction that you had no choice in, because you were born that way, addicted.

     Now it has been decided that obesity is genetic. It also runs in the family. I say this is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard. Scientists are on the search now for the “Obesity Gene”, but at the moment the best they can say is that obesity tends to run in the family. Now that I agree with. I think environmental factors are huge in determining your size, due to the fact that you must do what your parents say and eat everything on your plate. Then parents are too weak to say no when you ask for desert. Not only do they give it, they give a lot of it. Too busy to cook, That is what McDonalds is for. Don’t want to entertain the kids, sit them in front of the TV with a movie or Xbox. Get where I am going with this.

     So, in youth, Obesity is different from alcoholism and drug addiction. As of yet, most parents, will not give you drugs or alcohol. Psychological factors contribute to all three. The more disturbed you life while growing up, the more you will tend toward one or more of the three. Depression and stress are leading causes of obesity and eating disorders. Indeed, obesity can be traced to behavioral or psychological difficulties. Contrary to popular myth, this does not indicate weakness or lack of will power. Do you want to hear that again: “……this does not indicate weakness or lack of willpower.”

     I would never deny that physical conditions exist that do cause weight gain and overall obesity. Cushing Syndrome, hormones deficiencies, and hypothyroidism are 3 and I’m sure I didn’t get them all. And then there are too the antidepressants which can cause a slowed metabolism with increased appetite. A very small percentage of overweight people can claim any of these physical conditions.

     This leads me to my justification that it is a choice. Alcoholics, genetic or not, have facilities and specialists available for treatment, psychological and sometimes physical. A choice was made to enter this treatment. Upon completion, a choice continues to be made not to drink. Sometimes, and a lot of times, myself included, alcoholics make the choice on their own not to indulge in drinking. The reasons they make this decision are irrelevant, the point is that they decided to make the change.

     Drug addicts have at their disposal, the facilities and specialists, to help them get rid of the addiction. A choice was made to enter treatment and the choice, upon completion, continues to be made not to take drugs. Again, some addicts make the choice all on their own.

     Obese persons have the facilities, gyms, weightloss clubs, doctors, etc to rid themselves of the pounds they carry with them. Many obese people have made the choice not to be fat anymore. Some obese persons have made the choice all on their own to change their diet and excercise habits to lose the weight. Jared, Richard Simmons, and Valerie Bertinelli are just 3 of the many people who made the decision and did it. I have seen with my own eyes, obese parents with skinny kids, so is it genetic.

     Alcoholism, drug addiction, and obesity have and continue to be tied to genetics. In my opinion, if alcoholics and drug addicts can make the choice and succeed at ridding themselves of their addiction, so then can obese persons rid themselves of the addiction to food. When it comes right down to the wire, you make the choice of what you eat, fast food or fruits and veggies. You make the choice of how much you eat, small portions or every course including dessert. You make the choice as to whether you watch TV for one hour or excercise for one hour. You, obese person, and you alone make these decisions, it is your choices that make you obese.

     Please understand, those with a true medical inability to control your metabolic rate or cell structure, I am not speaking to you. I wish you the best. I am speaking to the millions, probably over one billion, people in this world that want someone or something to blame their condition on besides themselves. Having become a society of convenience which has contributed greatly to this delimma, we also have transfered that convenience to our mind. It is easier to have a scapegoat than to accept the responsibility for your own actions.

     I am not speaking from a distance here. I was once addicted to crystal meth, snorted it, sold it, baked it. No one in my family was a drug addict, so where did it come from. I chose to do it. I drank for many years, and I don’t mean small amounts. When you wake at six in the morning to get ready for work, and your breakfast is a 16 ounce budweiser, you are an alcoholic. To drink over a case (24) of beer a day was childs play. People used to ask me “What do you drink?”. My response was alcohol. It didn’t matter what kind, it didn’t matter who was buying. I drank like this for almost 20 years. Why, I chose to.

     I was at one time overweight. My BMI said I was obese. I was 5′ 7″ and weighed almost 200 pounds. I now weigh 170, mostly muscle, I drink maybe one bottle of wine once every three months, and I have been drug free since I was 20 and I am now 42. And a psychologist during my treatments for alcoholism deemed me to have a psychological disorder, simply put, an addictive personality. It doesn’t matter what I get into, I get in deep. So when you respond, keep in mind I have been there, done that, and made changes in my life to overcome all three. All by my own choice.

     I welcome any and all arguments to the contrary except, “It is not my fault…….”. Should I see that in your post, I will simply delete it and move on. Should you have a valid argument, my mind is open to being changed.

     I have always been fascinated with that wall. The amount of time and effort it took to build it. The energy output to keep it in shape and secure. The many beliefs it took just to create the idea of such a barrier are immense. Since all actions begin with a thought, what were those thoughts?

     First I guess you must believe that someone is out to hurt you. This could have been a civilization living right next to you for a very long time, and now due to some event, you feel that they are going to destroy your way of life. Then would come the thought that “I must detach from them in order to stay secure, keep my way of life as it is.” If I give in to their way of thinking, I’m certainly going to be ruined.

     Secondly, you must analyze to what extent you must become detached. Is it a line in the sand? Or barbed wire fence? or maybe even a brick wall. These are so small in comparison to the Great Wall. It was meant to keep people out Forever. There was never a line in the sand or small fence. No, it became a monolith in it’s own right. Why, when on the other side is a tremendous familiarity. Surely at times even a friendly neighbor with whom you endevored in trade, laughed with, cryed with or for, even physically attracted to.

     This monolith was created over time with many spent tears and heavy emotions. Lives were changed on many different levels. As it was reinforced, you begin to notice some trying to cross the barrier, but to no avail. You alone have total control on who comes in and out. Oh, the things you will miss by having such a grand structure under your control.

     It has been built with such complexity that it may never be abolished. The items that may be found by doing so could detroy everything we think we know. Our beliefs of what is and what was, may be found to be untrue. I have seen this wall first hand. It is enormous, strong, imperveable, weather resistant and never ending.

     Upon trying to scale this wall, I encountered many obstacles. First being, there are no hand holds to grab onto. Then there are the daggers that protrude from the wall, designed to cut you until you realize that your efforts are futile. At times the wall seems to disappear, but this too is an illusion. Just when you gain hope by it’s disappearance, it screams back into existence all in the name of causing extreme pain. You try and try, encountering more and more obstacles until you feel you can go on no more. Then it hits you, “Why am I torturing myself like this?”

     Avoiding pain is an inbred trait that we cannot swerve ourselves away from. As much as we think we want what is over that wall, we start to realize, maybe it’s not so bad where I’m at. So then we begin to ignore the wall and move away from the pain it causes us. Because it is then we realize the one fatal flaw of the wall, it can’t follow us. It is the sole property of the owner and simply cannot move until they move it.

     So as I end my story, it was detrimental to the evolution of any relationship to build the wall. Even worse to maintain it and make it stronger. Sadly enough, the wall, until it is moved, will cause nothing but pain to anyone who encounters the monolith. Surely, if you have built a wall, you must realize on the other side are people who knew you at one time and are hoping that the wall will be demolished so that they may once again enjoy your presence.

     Should you decide that your wall is more important, only you know what you will lose by keeping it!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-dissection-of-live-animals