Today was a scorcher in my tiny south shore town of Massachusetts. So I decided to hit the beach and weigh my odds against the cooler waters of our north Atlantic bays. To my surprise, the beach was packed...at 2 in the afternoon even!
I'm really not the surprised I guess-we do have the fair in town, and it is the last weekend before the kids head back to school! What did surprise me is this, the number of overweight people engulfing this space.
Let me be serious for a minute here. People have one of two options 1) be fat 2) be lean. Sure there's grey area but either you're a fatty or a skinny. Now this is what really bothers me.
With all of the available options for weight loss at a beach-like swimming, jogging, volleyball, toss, Frisbee-why are people flooding here just to sit on their asses? They sit upright in their chairs, snacking on potato chips, book in hand -- oblivious to the beautifully rolling and crashing waves -- just getting fatter by the moment.
They wonder why they hyper-ventilate carrying their arm chair and food tote to their neat little sandy spot. I know I'm the converted, and surely enough I'm preaching to the converted, but what'll it take to get these people to show a little self-interest in their health? A heart attack? Clogged arteries? A divorce?
I witnessed one woman grief her husband because his eyes fancied a slimmer woman in her mid-30's. Maybe if the woman worked on her fitness she could develop a body that her husband would stare at rather than having to goggle another.
I can not validate that, but the woman caught my attention too. She was in fantastic shape. She even had two kids and out-of-shape husband hanging by her hips. But I enjoy seeing people who add a little oomph to their being. She's a positive role model in her children's lives.
Surely I'm on a soapbox. And believe me I'm not asking us to cast off the fat people to some deserted island. I was just disturbed today with number of overweight, out-of-shape adults - and kids but that's another blog - that were blanketing the beach.
C'mon. With all of the readily available options to turn a life around staring us right in the face? LITERALLY, staring us right in face. I try not to take anything for granted. Especially the short summer months when there's so much to be had at our beaches and natural splendor.
~ B
