I have had a strict media diet for many years now and don't drink pop, or smoke and rarely have coffee. I'm not a puritan, I just try to show respect for this body because I want it to carry me for the rest of my life. I just think it's smart and aging is not an abstract concept to me. I am almost 44, with the grey hair to prove it and if I don't exercise I have the fatigue and muscle soreness to remind me that I'm not a spring chicken.
One of the results of my controlling what I take in is that I have kept my sensitivities from being masked and overwhelmed by messages most Americans take in at alarming high rates.
I will never forget watching CSI with my dad last February after his quadruple bypass. I had never seen it. It was terrible. Assaultive! All those images of possible death scenarios flashed non-stop in between commercial breaks.
No sooner did one graphic death scene flash before me than the commercial came up for some sandwich company's prime rib sandwich, zoomed in on rare, red beef. Bloody body of a murdered woman one second, deep red slices of sandwich meat the next!
I was mortified. I also realized I was in a very small minority, in all likelihood, that even noticed the irony.
And then there is the image in my mind of the obese young woman (there are so many out there) sitting in a hotel lounge in Boston, eating a donut. Her face was so lifeless. She was clearly not enjoying the donut. Whatever craving led her to buy it was fleeting and now she was just chewing out of habit. She just looked so bored and disconnected. She wasn't there and her poor young body is going to have such a hard time if she doesn't realize that she is in charge of it. Heartbreaking to see.
Article comments
1 - Franco
Laura,
I am impressed with your article. While so many want to blame marketing and corporate forces for their own weak personal constitution by giving into these forces, and cry for big daddy government to step in a stop the bad guys, you have rightly pointed out where responsibility truly belongs. I think food is a good example as a base example, which can also be applied to all of Americans runaway consumerism.
Thank you for offering your ideas for showing consumers, which we all are, how they can shoring up their individual constitutions and become more responsible.
2 - Laura Young
Thank you, Franco! I know my views may not always be popular because they represent a lot of hard work on the part of each of us. That's the "fierce" part of the Fierce Living feature. None of this is necessarily easy, but it is so, so important.