the few, the proud, the obese

Well, let's see how many people I can offend with this one...

So I was shopping in my local high-society purchasing institution (Wal-Mart), and I had a startling revelation. Every handicapped parking spot was taken up. This is a little strange in my experiences. Usually the empty handicapped parking spaces just sit there, mocking me as I drive by on my way to the end of the parking lot. Not today.

Strangeness aside, I enter the store and complete my shopping. On my way out of the store, my progress is impeded by several very, VERY large women. Not large in your standard Xena the Warrior princess way or even large in the Mimi from the Drew Carey Show way. I mean these women were insanely huge.

So huge in fact, that they couldn't walk more than 1/2 m.p.h. and kept everyone else to that pace because we couldn't get around them. Now, just a clarification, I have nothing against large people. I'm not one of the skinny people myself, but I am mobile. The problem I have with people of this magnitude is when they convince the local government that they should be considered handicapped.

Yeah, these women both had handicapped parking spots. It took them 7-10 minutes to get there, but boy did they stop traffic while doing so...literally. When did obesity become a handicap? "I can't stop eating so I'm going to stop trying." These are the same people that will sit at their desk at work with a big bag of Funyuns and a gallon of whole milk. That's just their before lunch snack.

By turning their obesity into a handicap, they start a downward spiral. They park in the closest spot possible wherever they go so they don't have to exert any energy. When they don't exert energy, their metabolism stays low and they don't burn any calories, and they stay huge. If they parked far away, they could get some exercise and hopefully take the first steps towards fixing their problems.

I just want to encourage anyone out there in this kind of position to try to do something about it. If you find yourself struggling to walk to the fridge, try walking away from the fridge instead.

-mac