Photo by Zed Nelson, shot at the Association for Overweight People
Feature Entry: New Year’s Resolution 2011: “Not to give in to the ‘new normal.’”
Andrew Perrin, sociology professor at U. of North Carolina, is concerned about grade inflation at America’s universities. Notes Perrin, the average grade point average (GPA) at UNC is now 3.21 as compared to 2.99 as recent as 1999. The GPA average in 1967 (the year the MoneyWalker graduated), the GPA average was 2.49. Moreover, in 2008, 82 percent of the UNC students in received a “B” or an “A.” Come on academia, not all of your students are excellent, don’t accept the ‘new normal.’
Bill Gross, investment banker for PIMCO’s Investment Outlook opines that America must accept slow sustained economic growth and high unemployment as the ‘new normal.’ Others suggest that in the so-called global economy, American workers can no longer compete and that the middle class must get use to a lower standard of living. Come on America, we must learn how to compete again, not accept the ‘new normal.’
The enigmatic Oprah Winfrey sometimes cheering on her overweight/obese audience and other times cautioning them about the dangers of Type II diabetes and being overweight is characteristic of pop cultures dilemma. Do we cheer and encourage the O/O to maintain a healthy self esteem and be proud of their body image or do we find ways to reverse the O/O epidemic.
From a health care perspective the data are frightening. According to Katherine Flegal as reported in JAMA, as of 2007/08 68% of Americans over 20 years of age were either obese or overweight, 34% for each designation. This is up 8% since 1999. The MoneyWalker entered “overweight and proud” in Google search and received 346,000 hits. We all should strive to maintain a healthy self-esteem but we should not lose sight of the health facts. Those in the O/O class are at serious risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, cancer, and other maladies. O/O is not healthy; it must not become the ‘new normal.’
And now for the MoneyWalker’s New Year’s resolution. I resolve to lose 6 lbs during the 2011 calendar year. Six lbs will lower my body mass index (BMI) from 25.8 to 24. The overweight range is 25-29.9 and obese range is 30 and greater. Everyone tells me I look great, just right, and even thin. But I know better, I am just over the limit and in the BMI overweight category. Sorry William James, author of this pessimistic thought: "How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young--or slender;" I will not accept a 36 inch waist line as the ‘new normal.’
MoneyWalker
Wow! I feel much better about my mediocre 1989 GPA now! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy resolutions are very different from years past. It is looking like a challenging, interesting, and growing period ahead. More on that later.
Happy New Year to you and Mrs. Moneywalker from Numi and Zeus!
Thanks Nummi for keeping us posted on your new year. I will check in on facebook to get the details.
ReplyDeletePeople are paying huge taxes in America and it pours into morbidly obese people who spend too much on eating. Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. I repeat, "leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems." Health is one of the major concerns why government is giving free weight loss program. But to think of it, the government should have give effort on monitoring malnourishment(underweight and overweight)"first" during the early age, instead of giving corrections on the late part.
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