The scales always find a way to level out

Recently, Governor Paterson of New York approved an obesity tax--a grandiose title for a relatively limited piece of legislation, but one that explains why, suddenly, sugar-filled soft drinks and non-natural fruit juices are going to cost more than diet pop or milk. In a CNN article, he claims that the likelihood of childhood obesity can be directly correlated to the number of sugary soft drinks that a kid consumes. An impressive reduction in these cases can be had by simply forcing our lean-pocketed public to buy healthier for their offspring. After all, he says, he remembers a time when everyone (everyone!) smoked. Though this too was an epidemic (and what's more, one that was near and dear to many people's hearts), this comparable health crisis was greatly resolved by, among other things, taxation. Let the slimming begin!

The Governor's point is well made, but I kind of doubt it will be received with unanimous cordiality, with the major qualm being the driving agent of his argument: equating McDonald's with Marlboro. Sure, both obesity and smoking present large-scale health crises; both largely depend on environmental factors and are similarly largely ripe for intervention. Plus, though Europeans smoke like chimneys, they mock us mercilessly for our muffin tops, so in the fight against obesity there's even the extra incentive to protect our international reputation.

But 0% of smokers are biologically predisposed to smoking. There is, however, a certain percentage of the population that is genetically destined to forever hear people euphemistically refer to them as 'big-boned', 'stocky', 'stout', 'thick', or 'fluffy', no matter the drastic measures they undergo to make themselves look more like hourglasses (or more recently, flagpoles) and less like potatoes.

Does this mean that we shouldn't try to assault this trend and send it treadmilling back to a manageable range? Which is worse: insulting 1 million naturally husky Americans or politely coughing and turning a blind eye to the whole ordeal, thereby condemning 7 million children to an otherwise preventable future of type two diabetes?

As a former fat kid until the age of 14 (and I think we all can agree that the worst time to be overweight is in middle school), I feel a little justified in thinking that I can see from both sides of the fence here. We all know, thanks to sorely-needed PSA backlash, what's at stake if we decide to condemn weight gain and to unwaveringly condone the media in its uninhibited zest to promote THIN = GOOD. The closest the average TV show or movie gets to an accepting and well-rounded view of body image is WELL, OKAY, IF YOU INSIST ON BEING FAT, AT LEAST BE FUNNY. As a relatively humorless former fat kid, I can personally attest that neither of these mantras leads to particularly high self esteem.

The perfect mantra, as far as I can tell, would go something like this:
"Knowing what your natural body type is and then, driven by self-respect, striving to maintain your natural level of health, meaning that if you're naturally on the larger side you shouldn't feel the least bit ashamed about it, but if you're naturally capable of being cholesterol- and diabetes-free then you should love you body enough to maintain that level of health, and either way you should practice a healthy regimen of diet and exercise for the sake of longevity = GOOD"

Daunting, to say the least, and not at all easy to fit on the back of a Dove Beauty Bar of soap.

I suppose there's no way to solve the 'crisis' without someone's feelings getting hurt, nor is there a means to solve such a complex issue simply (not once in this already extensive deliberation did I even mention the fact that childhood obesity is also correlated with poverty and disadvantaged minority demographics). With some reservation I'll support measures like those Gov. Paterson is putting into practice, but I'd feel better about it if he also gave obese people complementary license to punch in the face as necessary anyone who uses this legislation as a joke book.