Unbelievable!

Childhood obesity is practically of epidemic proportions here in the USA. That is why I could not believe an article in today's Waco Tribune Herald.
The article was about a fund-raising event for the local animal birth control clinic. The title of the event was "Movable Feast for Beasts." So far, so good.
However the photo that accompanied the article was of a five-year-old girl stuffing a hot dog in her mouth during the hot dog eating contest.
What were her parents thinking? The child learned to eat as much as she could as fast as she could. If she should grow up to be an overweight diabetic asthma sufferer, I think we know whom to thank!
And where were the adults that organized this contest, allowing a five-year-old to participate? I hope she threw up all over the backseat of her parents' car on the way home.
Thank you for listening to my rant. I'll go pet a chicken and calm down now.

 

That is outrageous!

There must be a thousand and one ways to raise money and awareness and this is what they chose...

 

So they had a hot dog eating contest? Yewww! That makes me want to barf... Lucky the little girl did not choke!!
They ought to have them walk,jog,or run for a good fun, healthy fund raiser!

 

MG--I love the mental picture of you petting a chicken to calm down. I'm sure you meant it too. Not having chickens in my life, I find other, more mundane ways of calming down. Like yoga. Not nearly so interesting...

Kay--I agree. Even at 5 I think kids can still choke on hotdogs, can't they?

 

Well I am a person who deeply hates kids. Really, I am truly revolted by them, and the younger they are - The more I like to stay away from them. There is also something called "baby smell" - Something that is kind of like a mixture of powdered milk and fresh cotton sheets - So whenever I get a whiff of that, I automatically get nausea too... And I don't even know where to run when I am unfortunate enough to be seated next to such a vile and revolting creature when on an aircraft - YUCK!

I know, this is my own problem. But I don't see it as a problem, well, not in the sense as other people would see it, (i simply avoid kids wherever they may be clustered/infested) - I guess I'm just a guy who really hates kids (a lot)! I am not the first such guy in history, and I certainly will not be the last either. But seriously, kids have a way of really getting on my nerves...

So now that I hear of this, where a kid is stuffing himself/herself with food - Only to vomit it all out later. Well, that for me is now double disgusting!!! Kid of today (in my opinion) are already too repugnant - Just take a look at Honey Boo Boo, so no need to improve on that please...

My father once said that he too was a bit like me in the past (repulsed by kids), although I am a bit more extreme... Anyway, he said that my mother was able to fix him up, and get over this revulsion of kids. But here comes the twist, I on the other have hated kids when I myself was one of them!

Still, if I now try to analyze it deeply - I think it is fair to say that I don't hate little kids, not as much as I hate their moms - Who just can't resist shoving her kids into everybody's face! Sure, to such moms, her kids may seem like a one true precious thing in the universe - But to me they are nothing but whining bags of **** wrapped in wool, (and so I treat them as such)...

So to conclude, I'll say that it's the parent's fault (mainly the mother) if the child grows up to become obesity ridden, followed by other health complications.

Dear Frank, I just realized that we also need a "though provoking" patch too - As I wanted to give it to Marlingardener for starting this thread - But couldn't find anything of the sort among the list of patches...

 

Dear S-H--Sometimes I just don't know what to say! At least you are honest about your opinions. I can't help but hope you take the path of your father re kids, but it is very true that kids are not for everybody. They really do require copious amounts of patience.

 

Toni, I'm glad you posted a contrasting opinion. Discussion can lead to learning on both sides of a question.
I didn't wish sickness on the child, but if she was going to be ill, which was likely, I just hoped it caused her parents inconvenience.

 

Hot dog eating contests cause obesity, video games cause violence, sex education causes teen pregnancy, wearing seat belts causes reckless driving, life vests cause careless boating... Isn't it wonderful that we can abandon personal responsibility? When I was little, chopped up weiners were considered finger food. I don't remember anyone choking. Sweets were almost always around, but we didn't waddle out to play. I had friends that were overweight in school, but they ate the same things the rest of us did, Mother Nature decided that they should handle it differently. Some tried to lose weight, but couldn't. Some of the skinny kids tried to gain, but that didn't work either. The example set in a hot dog eating contest is probably a good one. "Eat sensibly, but go a little wild once in a while." Feeding your spirit, and sense of adventure, is just as important as feeding your body. The quiet, unadventurous people are the ones that wake up one day and sadly realize that they've missed most of life.

I think I'll have a couple of hot dogs for lunch today.

 

I think (up till now) what we all can't put our finger on in this thread - Is the fact of wastage. We are all growers and cultivators of some type over here. So naturally, seeing any type of wastage of food, really is kind of like hitting below the belt for us.

As children, we (or at least I in my case) were taught that it's a colossal sin to waste any kind of food. So if you can't finish off your plate, go give it to some animal outside - Do whatever you can, instead of chucking it into the trash bin... Unless the food is rotten, in which case it can only go into the trash (or it will make an animal sick).

And by animal I don't mean Dogs or cats, or birds (or even fish). Just see to it that it doesn't go straight to waste. So if you have a compost pile, then by all means put it over there (so it can be reused as fertilizer later).

Anyway, as I grew up a bit, I asked my parents if it really is a sin, or were they just trying to establish some sort of a moral compass within me? The answer that I got was that yes, it is written in religion too (to not waste food) - But in today's world, even if you are not religious at all. You still can't ignore the fact that someone somewhere worked really hard to get that food onto your table. Be it the farmer who grow it, or the trucker to delivered it to the market, or your own parents who paid for it.

So please, have some respect for the known as well as the unknown people in this chain of getting food to your mouth. And so do not waste food, by becoming a glutton, or by just making a habit or throwing it away on the whim (as if it was valueless) - That anyway is the message I (as well as millions of others in my area of the world) have grown up with.

So whenever I (and others who were raised like me) see or hear of any type of wastage - Specially when it comes to food. Is when we sometimes boil in anger (yes, we really can't help it sometimes). Because to us it is exactly as offensive as it would be seeing someone setting fire to a currency note.

Now I also understand that people in North America and Europe grow up with slightly different values. So are their values wrong? No, I think not, just a bit different I guess...

To make a further point, I in reality am a firearms enthusiast (since as far as I can remember), and I wholeheartedly support gun rights all over the world! So naturally, TV shows like American Guns, and Red Jacket Firearms are my favorites!

But here too I sometimes grimace - Specially when I see them shooting at food items. I mean, you can easily take aim of just about anything else - And in my opinion shooting at empty boxes or tin cans works just as well as anything else would. But in order to make it look good on TV, they can't resist but show food splashing everywhere... So for a person like me, this is very disgusting to see. But someone who grew up in the west will not see anything wrong with this.

Now here is the interesting part, which is that I too often say (after seeing such things) - That it's their food, they grew it in their own country, and so it's their own money and resources which are going to waste (in the most insulting way). So what it is to me in the end??? Nothing, absolutely nothing at all... Thus I continue to watch the show, as sooner or later something else will be shown on the screen that I will like.

But here is something which some of you might not have realized (until now). Which is that the NUMBER 1 recruiting propaganda of the extremists, is this very thing that I am talking about... So they say: Just look at their own society where food has no respect, which is no different from the ancient Romans who had vomitoriums built everywhere - Just so they too can stuff themselves with food, only to throw up later... So seeing a 5 year old stuffing himself/herself in an eating contest, and amazingly it seem to be a "great way" of generating money. Is actually sending a very wrong message to the rest of the world. As moderate and level headed people like me (who can in my own part of the world become an opposing force against the extremists) now lose the argument here - As I have no positive answer to give against this type of food perversion...

There really is nothing wrong with eating a hot dog, or a pizza, or anything else. Just as long as it isn't seen going straight to waste in a perverted fashion. That's all. So next time whenever anyone in the west wonders, why do "they" hate us and our lifestyle so much? Just point them to this post I have made over here.

I know this post doesn't fit very well in our lovely forum. But I am really compelled to share this with you all, as this is a side everybody must be made aware of. Or else nobody will learn anything from each other here... Wastage of food is just wrong, and gluttony is downright offensive to see. So it sets a very poor example of what should be a fun activity, (as well as sending a very bad message internationally).

 

Instead of flowers at funerals. Donate to animal shelter or food banks. Lot of seniors can not work any more. And can not afford high prices

 

Thanks for your well wishes Cayuga Morning, but seriously, kids and I just can't stand each other - It's exactly like trying to mix water with electricity...

See this short video to get a better idea, of Arnold Schwarzenegger, from the movie Kindergarten Cop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rqykAlYebQ