In European airports, above security is a flat screen monitor with a computer animated short running repetitively to help travelers understand what is required of them so that security can proceed as efficiently as possible. In the short, a computer animated mini‑skirted, pencil-thin woman takes off her calve-hugging boots and fashionable jacket and puts them into a bin for screening while the athletic man next in line pulls out his laptop from his briefcase to put into a bin.
In the Boston Logan International Airport, where I travel through frequently, the short that plays on the monitor above security is live action. Here the actor who is demonstrating how to take your laptop out of your bag to put in a bin for individual screening is wearing a rumpled short sleeved shirt that is coming untucked from his huge slouchy gut.
Is that a realistic representation of Americans?
Increasingly overweight adults and children are being cast in roles for advertisements, TV shows and movies as Americans become more accepting and identified with being fat. And so apparently the authorities who design airport security felt that travelers would best relate to a fat, unkempt guy when they cast the role.
Foreigners are not likely to be surprised by the actor in the security short as Americans are generally thought of as rich and fat by the rest of the world. But what does it mean to be rich? That you can afford to buy anything you want?
When it comes to food there seems to be no line of demarcation between rich and poor. In Santa Barbara, which was my home for 18 years, it’s common to see illegal aliens who have come there to work as field laborers, gardeners, construction workers and housekeepers. These poor people can only afford to eat cheap factory products. Santa Barbara is also home to some of the wealthiest people in our country, multi millionaires with private jet aircraft and numerous homes, who can afford to drop several hundred dollars in a restaurant. But they also eat the same factory junk as the beleaguered laborers: pizza, diet drinks, chips, fast food and so on.
So really the choice to eat real food, which is organically produced meat, fish, poultry, dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds and nuts that could (in theory) be picked, gathered, milked, hunted or fished, is not entirely about money. And if people who can afford real food do not make the hard effort to shun factory food they will suffer exactly the same health consequences as poor people who do not have a choice.
In fact in the next twenty-five years, the span of an average generation, we are going to see a division of the classes that has less to do with money but more to do with the food choices people make. Because we are what we eat. What you see today in the mirror is an amalgamation of trillions of cells that are made up of what you have been putting in your mouth.
And so the overweight man in the security video could be a multimillionaire just as easy as he could be a blue-collar worker.
Some argue that factory food is cheap and assessable and that real food costs money and is hard to track down. Such is true, but all I can say is, “So what?”
Even if you are not rich, you can still avoid packages, bottles, jars and cans. You can put some effort into finding more affordable sources of organically grown produce and humanely raised animal products like fish, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy.
The division of the classes is occurring rapidly in the U.S. with rising rates of obesity and the degenerative diseases of aging afflicting both rich and poor. The division of the classes is not about money but about choice. Which character do you want to relate to when you go through the security line, the healthy fit traveler or the slouchy fat guy?
My blog is dedicated to my Life Mission: Living a happy and fulfilled life, caring about my body and spirit, women’s issues, and the planet. I hope you come back and read how you can define, explore, and live your Life Mission.
THE DIVISION OF THE CLASSES—YOUR CHOICE
In the Boston Logan International Airport, where I travel through frequently, the short that plays on the monitor above security is live action. Here the actor who is demonstrating how to take your laptop out of your bag to put in a bin for individual screening is wearing a rumpled short sleeved shirt that is coming untucked from his huge slouchy gut.
Is that a realistic representation of Americans?
Increasingly overweight adults and children are being cast in roles for advertisements, TV shows and movies as Americans become more accepting and identified with being fat. And so apparently the authorities who design airport security felt that travelers would best relate to a fat, unkempt guy when they cast the role.
Foreigners are not likely to be surprised by the actor in the security short as Americans are generally thought of as rich and fat by the rest of the world. But what does it mean to be rich? That you can afford to buy anything you want?
When it comes to food there seems to be no line of demarcation between rich and poor. In Santa Barbara, which was my home for 18 years, it’s common to see illegal aliens who have come there to work as field laborers, gardeners, construction workers and housekeepers. These poor people can only afford to eat cheap factory products. Santa Barbara is also home to some of the wealthiest people in our country, multi millionaires with private jet aircraft and numerous homes, who can afford to drop several hundred dollars in a restaurant. But they also eat the same factory junk as the beleaguered laborers: pizza, diet drinks, chips, fast food and so on.
So really the choice to eat real food, which is organically produced meat, fish, poultry, dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds and nuts that could (in theory) be picked, gathered, milked, hunted or fished, is not entirely about money. And if people who can afford real food do not make the hard effort to shun factory food they will suffer exactly the same health consequences as poor people who do not have a choice.
In fact in the next twenty-five years, the span of an average generation, we are going to see a division of the classes that has less to do with money but more to do with the food choices people make. Because we are what we eat. What you see today in the mirror is an amalgamation of trillions of cells that are made up of what you have been putting in your mouth.
And so the overweight man in the security video could be a multimillionaire just as easy as he could be a blue-collar worker.
Some argue that factory food is cheap and assessable and that real food costs money and is hard to track down. Such is true, but all I can say is, “So what?”
Even if you are not rich, you can still avoid packages, bottles, jars and cans. You can put some effort into finding more affordable sources of organically grown produce and humanely raised animal products like fish, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy.
The division of the classes is occurring rapidly in the U.S. with rising rates of obesity and the degenerative diseases of aging afflicting both rich and poor. The division of the classes is not about money but about choice. Which character do you want to relate to when you go through the security line, the healthy fit traveler or the slouchy fat guy?