FAT & Greek Tragedy

 

No one reads Greek tragedy anymore. Correction: No one reads anymore. Period. That aside, Greek tragedy is a ponderous form for an age that prefers chase scenes and sound bites.

I love stories ... all types of tales … TV, movies, books. Many of the ads I write tell stories – 30 to 60-second yarns of a person, just like you, with a problem my client can solve. Since grade school, I have particularly liked legends and myths -- bigger-than-life people with dramatic lives. Nerd that I am, I’ve read Greek tragedies.



The Greek hero is a noble person with a character flaw. That single weakness brings about his or her destruction. The life of Edward Kennedy is a Greek tragedy.



The Kennedy brothers were raised to be President. (I can’t imagine choosing my kids’ life-goal. Neither would put up with that.) Edward inherited the Kennedy legacy. Every time, the Democrats looked for a candidate, his name was mentioned. Then, there was Chappaquiddick. It brought down his dream and he did it to himself.



I’m not saying he wasn’t a good senator. Sometimes I agreed with him. Sometimes I didn’t, but he was good at politics. He’d probably have been President, if he drank less and stayed faithful to his wife. His vices brought him down.



Kennedy is not the only person whose flaws caught up with him. 66% of Americans are overweight. 10 or 20 pounds, you can blame on bone structure or genetics. FAT you do to yourself. You may think being overweight is not as bad as drinking too much and womanizing. But fat can kill you.

Obesity is responsible for or strongly contributes to these health problems:

• Coronary heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Endometrial Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Colon cancer
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
• Stroke
• Liver disease
• Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea
• Respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)
• Blindness (caused by diabetes and high blood pressure)

I got the information above from the CDC. ( http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/causes/health.htm ) The only thing not on their list is blindness. I’ve spent the past week researching vision problems from diabetes for a series of eye surgeon commercials. Indirectly, being overweight can cause blindness. (http://diabetes.webmd.com/eye-problems)



I am not some righteous know-it-all lecturing from on high. I used to weigh 270 pounds. I’m pretty damn flawed. Kennedy eventually cleaned up his act. That’s what I’m trying to do.



You can, too.