In my short, eighteen years, I have seen the demise of a fit nation and the rapid climb of a larger people; I currently witness the old nation struggling to rise up once more from beneath the weight of this new, obese one. Many doctors, fitness trainers, and celebrities stress a “public slim-down.” All they do is complain about the 49.86% of the population being “too big for their own good”; however, I do not support such ideas. I believe the ranks of the obese have a right to consume what they please and lead a lifestyle that matches their desires. Plus, by allowing the obese to remain so will not only allow the broader part of society to remain happy, but ensure the happiness of those who are not obese as well.

Obesity is, in fact, not as terrible as some people make it out to be. Most people think of obesity as a bad thing because the common definition of health is the vigor and vitality of the body and mind. What these people fail to realize is that being so extremely huge can actually help certain individuals feel as if they do have the vigor and vitality of an average sized person, perhaps even more. I see no problem with allowing those who are overweight to be all they can be. Who has the right to take away the standards of the obese? Further, there is another definition describing health as the general condition of the body and mind. Being bulbous and round is a physical body condition, is it not? Likewise, making the decision to live larger than life is a condition, or state, of mind, correct? Therefore, chubbier people, by this definition, are still healthy. Also a third definition explains health as pertaining or relating to food, in which case the obese are EXTREMELY healthy, simply because their entire lifestyle pertains to the consumption of food.

Not only will the mammoth half of the population benefit, but the “better half” of society (so deemed by current standards) will also gain a few perks. Weight loss ads will be removed from television commercials and internet websites. No longer will the average sized person be forced to see those pesky, annoying advertisements that do not apply to them. In place of these ads, interesting advertisements shall be put up, coaxing people towards an exotic vacation, skiing the Swiss Alps, Skydiving, even things as simple as the local petting zoo—anything but those “get slim now” links and commercials. The benefit of removing these advertisements also includes removing societal pressures which shame heftier people into undesired conformity.

Benefits to those of currently-socially-acceptable weight do not stop there. Entertainment options would quickly open up with the greater part of the population out of the way, sitting at home. Think about it: 49.86%, or, about HALF, of people staying at home all the time. Those who are of smaller size, those who choose to be active, will have a dramatic increase in the pleasure brought by “entertainment” types of activities. Amusement park ride lines will be 50% shorter; hiking and biking trails end up 50% less crowded; roads would contain 50% less traffic; airplanes: filled 50% less—the possibilities are nearly endless! (I say nearly because movie theatre, for example, would naturally reach its fill and end up 50% FULLER due to the fact that it is a sedentary activity [requiring no movement whatsoever] and would most likely appeal to the paunchy portion of the population).

An “unhealthy” lifestyle is really not all that unhealthy. What doctors and nutritionists declare as “unhealthy lifestyle” only seems that way because these so called health officials pressure obese individuals into exercise and over exert themselves. They do not understand that the big guys, when following doctors’ orders of diet and exercise, change their habits so rapidly that their bodies cannot accommodate the drastic modifications. As John Steinbeck once said, “The fat fox can’t catch the chicken. The lean, hard fox can.” Who says that the fox, that is literally fat, WANTS to catch that metaphorical chicken? It only leads to what “experts” label as heart disease. This ailment of the core muscle of the body is the most common way for anyone to die, not just the hefty. It only seems heart disease affects the weightier people more because doctors don’t accurately count heart-related deaths. It just so happens that it has been clinically proven that more obese people die during the day of heart attacks than the average weighted people. The average-weighted person is more likely to die of heart attack or failure at night. Doctors and analysts only count deaths during the day, unfairly staking the claim that the bulk of heart-disease related deaths occur in obese persons, falsely proving the idea that obesity and the act of retaining fat are consequences of an “unhealthy lifestyle.”

Telling people they are unhealthy, that they need to work out, that they are “too fat for their own good,” goes against every idea of equality and tolerance in America, specifically the First Amendment rights. The rights which fail to remain upheld include: freedom of religion, for the larger part of society may include binge eating as a part of religion, or treat eating as a religion, at least; freedom of speech, because thinner people constantly and blatantly snuff out the voice of the fleshier persons of the nation; and, the right to peaceably assemble, since the miniscule persons constantly attempt to break apart the massive accumulation of the paunch people. Ignoring basic First Amendment rights is not how the nation should be raised; it is not how I was raised. All humans, big and small, have natural rights protected in the constitution, along with those given and protected by the First Amendment. What I mean by this is people have necessary rights to do what makes them happy (as long as nobody else is harmed in the process), and people should let them be and let them be however they choose to be—obese or otherwise.

No problems could possibly arise by having a few extra teddy-bear-like individuals barely roaming around, grazing on Twinkies and other Hostess products. Obesity is not wrong, but is in fact, as by definition, a healthy option. By allowing 50% of people in America laze around all day, there will be more activities for those who DO roam around to enjoy. The misconception of heart disease’s link to obesity rings utterly untrue and is, more importantly, a big fat lie. After all, “nothing is good or ill, but [false proof] makes it so.” Finally, discriminating against the ever growing waist size of the stout individuals is completely wrong and just plain rude. Why should anyone mess with something so indisputably right? When it comes to allowing people to do what they love, allowing them to remain obese, perhaps even to let them become grotesquely obese, there really is nothing but more to love.