I used to have a fantasy about one day living in a college town. It just seemed, at the time, right for me. I like smart people, and for the most part, smart people go to colleges. Some teach there, some are students, it all worked for me. I also like the energy of a small town with smart people. Generally speaking, you can get good pizza and coffee in a decent college town. Plus, for the longest time, I seemed to only date college students. (Truth-engaged to a college student right now).
This trip to academia was a bit more eye opening than I had hoped. First, college students are not as sexy as they once were. Granted this could just be me, but seeing students at work and play pointed out some of the problems with our society today. One, tight jeans. I am a big supporter of tight clothes in general. I think people with hot bodies should be happy showing them off.
The problem is that people without hot bodies feel the same right, which I guess somewhere in the constitution, they are "allowed" to show off less than perfect bodies, but honestly, I could live without that particular amendment.
Second, and it has been a few years since I was a college student, this dirty look does nothing for me. Young men with facial hair and dirty shirts. Young women with long stringy oily hair? Seriously? Also, there seems to be a new generation of smokers. Who could that have happened? It shocks me that anyone smokes anymore, because really, a warning label on a product that promises to kill you and you are still paying 5 bucks a pack? Seriously?
On my way to college number two I encountered something that seriously upset me. First, I think I have been to a Denny's 3 times in my life, once because I was hungry during a terrible road trip and it was the only choice. Second I went with an ex who was skanky and stupid. And the third, yesterday, because the options were quite limited and my lifetime of experience of trying new breakfast places has almost always led to the understanding that breakfast can be a meal easily fucked up.
So at Denny's I was trying to see what the real America is all about, since there seems to be a Denny's in almost every American town. I was alone, so I sat at the bar, and watched. First, I noticed that parents who bring young children into a restaurant seem to care less how those kids act in public. Kids act out, which is why parents hardly ever should bring them to a place where adults are eating. McDonalds has made billions knowing what to feed these mongrel children, take them there.
It was right about this time that I noticed my waitress, who seemed to not care a bit if I had coffee or not, but that was her only problem. She was beautiful and sweet and sexy in that way that confident younger women can pull off without much effort. Then she turned around. To say she had junk in her trunk would be an insult to the trunk makers of the world. Then I looked around. All the workers were women, in varying degrees of aging. Most were young, a couple were getting past 30 and one or two were obviously pushing retirement.
All of them were pudgy, at least. So I focused. It may be the free food they get during breaks, or it may be the hiring pool that was available, but all the waitresses were overweight, some more than others. There was not a skinny one among them. Now, I had already noticed that my fellow eaters were all in one degree or another, fat. I looked in the mirror behind the pies and noticed I too was fatter than normal. I blamed that on the faulty mirror and kept eating my pancakes.
All of the waitresses appeared to be fattening up. This struck me as strange. America is fattening up, we are far from the days when Jane Fonda had women working out and looking fit and wearing tight little workout uniforms. What we have created is this group of people who are not only fat, but proud of it. Part of this probably comes from a couple of generations of parents who not only did not really raise their children (both parents work, children fed and raised in a cheap day care) and parents too tired to actually cook a meal or select something that is both edible and healthy.
You add the bad parenting aspect with the inability to ever be critical of a child anymore because were are focused more on self esteem that honesty, and you get a couple of generations of people who eat more than they should, exercise less than they should and wear clothes designed for models who eat less and exercise more (and do coke) and you get people who look terrible in whatever it is they are wearing.
What was shocking at Denny's was that the majority of the waitresses were cute and good looking. Yet, they were rather uninteresting because they all seemed to have given up on being healthier. It could just be me, but I find people who care for both their interior and exterior selves to be a lot more interesting. How has our society fallen so far in so few years?
Some advice. If you have children, raise them. In no other aspects of our lives would be take our most prized and loved possession (I know, children are not possessions) and allow someone earning minimum wage to control and care for them. Parents who hire day cares to raise their children are abdicating their most fundamental parental responsibility and for the most part, they are allowing someone who is disinterested in that child's long term health to have an impact on them at the most important part of their lives. How could that have become the norm?
Second, read the labels of the food you purchase. High fructose corn syrup is deadly and wrong. If you see it in the ingredients, do not purchase that product. Never use it. Never allow a child to have it. Also, get rid of soda in any form.
Third, love your children, but for gods sake, allow them to make mistakes and point them out. This self esteem centric form of parentings is ruining these people. Anyone with a real sense of pride, or shame, would never allow themselves to walk around in society with some sort of jelly roll hanging over their too tight pants.
Finally, get out and walk. My lord, being in a college town reminded me that there are two classes of people in this country, those who actually walk and smile and breath fresh air, and those who drive everywhere, waddle into fast food restaurants and waddle back to their huge cars. If you waddle anywhere, you are already dangerous obese and the very last thing you need to do is park as close as possible to the entrance and waddle in for more food.
This country is quickly becoming a slow, stupid and dangerous place to be. Too many dumb people, fat people and gun toting idiots. We may all been created equal, but once decisions start getting made, equality is tossed aside.
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