by Kelly Thompson

Created on: April 30, 2009

This is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever heard, and, it's discrimination to the highest degree.

First, this argument is tantamount to saying that people who are in a wheel chair should pay more because a) their wheel chair is heavy and b) they require assistance on and off the plane. Obesity, in almost every case, is not a choice. Obesity is a DISEASE. And, until we as a society begin viewing it as one we will never be able to help people get out of their bodies and in to a whole new life.

The current response to obesity is precisely what the writers in favor of the increased price are fostering. The response is purely negative, and purely a blame game. "There couldn't possibly be something wrong with your chemical or physiological self, you're obese because you want to be." Yeah, right! I want to by bigger clothes that cost me more and don't look as stylish. I want to buy an extension for my seat belt in my car because the factory issued one is too small. I want to spend every night crying myself to sleep about what a slob I am. Get real people...get a clue.

Obesity, like any disease or cancer, is the result of heriditary or contracted traits that cause us to be the way we are. Why don't we just start confining obese people into solitude like we did people with leper's disease, the flu and brain cancer in the 17th and 18th centuries. And, just like any other disease, obesity can only be solved in enough money is available to help you. I'm willing to admit that I can't overcome my obesity on my own. But I'm rational enough to know that I can't afford to get professional help right now. So what do I do? I try to eat better, and I try to exercise. But all I'm doing is treading water and all of you fellow obese people know what I'm talking about. Until health care providers recognize obesity as a disease we'll never get the help we need. It's not a cosmetic drug if it helps us lose weight - it's about helping us change our lifestyles because we know we can't do it ourselves.

We already pay more for food (health food, mainly, in my case). We already pay higher health care premiums. We already get branded with the scarlet letter that is a seat belt extension on a plane. And we already face the constant and persistant humiliation of our peers every day because they can't accept us for who we are. I can. I can face the reality that I might have to buy a bigger belt and pay a little more for it. I can face the fact that I'm not eligible for my work provided life insurance policy (at the age of 22, mind you!) because my "height and weight ratio make me a danger." What I cannot take is for people to deliberately and without the thought of repercussion make our lives more difficult than they already are. Get a life and get a clue.

Angus Bethune said it best in the teen "must-watch" film Angus, about a high school student tired of being picked on for being overweight. "So what is it Rick, are you normal? Or are you just one of us?" Rick says "Whatever I am, its something you're never going to be." "Thank God," Angus says. "I'm still here agnoid. And I'm always going to be here. You knock me down and I'll get back up again, again, again and again."

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