December 8, 2006

Real and not so real dangers

Understandably the public's collective heart went up, and then down, when news of James Kim's situation was announced. It seems he heroically tried to walk 10 miles in unforgiving terrain to save his wife and two young daughters.

Hundreds of people tried to find, and save him. Millions prayed. I have often found it so fascinating that the news (and the public) can latch on to a story such as this, and report it with such raw emotion and passion. It's heartbreaking to see the pictures of the family, and to see the sheriff break down when the bad news finally came.

Everyday across America we worry about the wrong things.

We worry that we'll get lost in the snowy woods someday. We worry about e. coli. We worry about mad cow disease. We worry about cell phones and cancer. The chances of dying from those issues are extremely small.

But the chances of dying from being overweight are real and immediate. Yet, we ignore it.

Approximately, 75,000 people will die of diabetes, this year and every year. Strokes will kill 157,000. Nearly 700,000 people will die of heart disease.

Portions, eating out, selection -- every part of the food industry -- would change quickly, if the national media did a story every day on the tragedy that each one of these deaths caused.

Maybe the numbers are too hard to comprehend. Maybe we don't perceive that it will affect us. It will be the other guy. The guy that's a little heavier than me. The guy that eats a little less healthier than me.

The truth -- the sad statistic -- is it will be you and your family, and your neighbors unless we all start forcing the world into the RightSize.

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