Downward Slope of the West

Spare tire.
Pooch.
Dickdo.
Flab.
Muffin Tops.

Call it what you will, these are just a few of the names used to describe the ever-expanding mid-sections of far too many North Americans. You know what I'm referring to; the flap of excess tissue that can be clearly seen hanging over people's pants, skirts, shorts etc... The sad thing is that this phenomenon has become a normality in our society; so much so that clothing stores have gone so far as to alter their sizes so that what once was a size 14, is now a size 10... after all, you don't want someone to be *gasp* upset about their true size.

So why am I choosing to write about this? The fact is, I was stunned today. I saw something I had never noticed before... well, many things that I had never noticed before. Walking through the halls of my college, it seemed as though every second person was sporting their very own, home-grown spare tire. These are people my age; people who are supposed to know what it means to live a healthy lifestyle and the importance of doing such. Of course, I always want to give someone the benefit of the doubt and I'll tell myself in the back of my head "Oh, well maybe they have a thyroid problem..." or "maybe there are other under-lying issues that have influenced the way in which they live their life". But in all honesty, the majority of the time these are individuals who would rather take the elevator to go up one floor than take the stairs, rather grab a nutrient-deficient, over-processed, quick-to-go breakfast, lunch or dinner than take the time to ensure their bodies are properly nourished.

We have bred a nation of over-indulgent, under appreciative and lazy people. We have both disregarded and turned a blind eye to our body's needs and have come to rely far to heavily on medical advancements to solve our problems for us, rather than addressing them ourselves. We are so unbelievably fortunate to have all that we do here, but all too often people take this life for granted, continuously searching for something better.

There's a reason why North America houses some of the largest people in the World. It's because we have gotten far too caught up in a fast-paced life of convenience, readiness and instant gratification. The result of this can be seen in the youth of our country who are becoming increasingly dormant and overweight. These children are our future and this epidemic has spiraled so far out of control that school's have now instilled a mandatory 30 minutes of physical activity per day, aside from regular physical activity classes. What happened to recesses where kids would assemble an impromptu game of tag? Or play a game of touch football? Or even pull out their favourite skipping rope and go to town? The allure of video games, "Happy" meals and television have outshone the past times that our parents used to partake in when they were children. We now have to force physical activity upon many youth in our society... It's a scary and dangerous slope.

What I saw today shocked me. It also made me sad that in a country where we are so privileged, that so many people continue to take advantage of the luxuries we have. Our medical institutions are already struggling with addressing the multitude of disorders that come from living an inactive and unhealthy lifestyle. This way of life that we have accepted can only either take a turn for the better or for the worse. I pray that these people wake up one day and recognize how fortunate they are to live in this society, how many resources are available for them to use in order to improve their quality of life, that their body is a temple and should be treated as such. Take a look at how the rest of the World lives and I'm sure you'll notice that something is wrong with how the majority of North Americans are choosing to live theirs.