To lose weight

I just caught the tail end of a story on Headline News, it was about a 500lb. man who was denied the right to adopt a child by a judge. The judge’s ruling was the man was "too fat to adopt" the child.

Strange ruling indeed.

Stranger yet is the fact that Obesity based "discrimination" is condoned by our society and apparently by our legal system.

If this man were gay and turned down for adoption on that basis there would be a huge out cry. If this man were black and turned down soley on that reason, there would be rioting. If he were ugly and turned down just because of that, we would demand the judge be kicked out of office. But Fat? It ain’t all that!

Are we now going to turn down adoptive parents because they smoke? Because there is a history of cancer in their family? The judge ruled that the man was too fat and therefore likely to die before the child was old enough to be on it’s own. I agree with the judge that the man’s health is in jeopardy, but that has no bearing on his ability to love and care for this child. FAT is not a personality trait,  but rather a physical condidtion. I think the judge would have made a much better ruling had he granted the adoption but set conditions that the man actively take steps to get healthier and learn more about nutrition to better his health and to ensure that he properly feeds the child. The judge could have ruled that the adoption would need to be reviewed in one year to make sure the man had lost some weight and insisted that the child’s nutrition be evaluated.

But to keep a child in foster care or an orphanage just because the prospective parent is "too fat", that’s just too dumb.

It does raise the issue about fat and what it is costing the fat individual in terms of quality of life.

We know "fat" people are paid less than their thinner counterparts. We know "fat" people are often turned away from jobs regardless of their qualifications. In these cases the law would weigh-in in favor of the "FAT" person and they would be protected under the anti-discrimination laws.

But let’s get out of the courtroom and into reality.

• Fat people die sooner than the should.
• Fat people take more time off of work for health related reasons than thinner people.
• Fat people can’t keep up with busy, active children as well as someone who is more fit.
• Fat people are at risk for cancer, heart disease, diabetes.

So, what do we do? We get healthy so that no one can ever decide our fate for us!

This man should get the child, but sadly his story isn’t even going to get much attention. He’s fat and we write it off as his problem, not ours.

Sad.

Unncessary.

All too common today.

Tags: weight loss