Rant, Again

I was talking to a Slovak friend the other day who asked me why Americans don't like French people, which reminded me of something that had happened the day before. I was sitting at a bus stop in downtown Philadelphia. Actually, I had just been to confession, which is a great time to judge/get upset with other people. This woman started talking to me. I do not like it when people start talking to me in a public place without having been introduced. She told me that she was French. She started talking to me with the question, "Why are Americans so fat? It is impossible to get fat without eating a lot, isn't it?"

Well, this rubbed me exactly the wrong way. I had just watched Precious, so at the moment, I was particularly aware of other things that could lead to weight gain, such as abuse. Plus, I happen to think that eating disorders that result in skinniness are a super serious problem that no French person sits on the street corner complaining about.

This interaction, though, helped me enjoy all of the irony tied up in this article: "The No. 1 Reason Americans Are Getting Fatter: We're Not Smoking."