2008 Woodie Awards
The American epidemic
Pamela Kohler
Issue date: 11/9/05 Section: No Limits
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When did humans get so lazy? Are we sure we use 10 percent of our brains? I feel like humans have just accepted everything that is happening in their lives. What happened to questioning why events or behaviors are taking place?
Americans are obese, working too many hours at the office, and aren't challenging themselves intellectually.
Why are Americans so overweight? We are all dissatisfied and most have not attempted to become better. An American's version of cutting back on tis food intake is to order a Big Mac, Supersize fries, and a DIET soda. Children are being raised in this fast-food nation and will only take after their parents and perpetuate the obesity problem this nation has.
The baby's crying; "Oh, give him a cookie, that will shut him up," Whatever happened to human interaction? Of course, the easy and lazy way to shut a child up is to shove a cookie down its throat. Will the child not feel better if you hug it or hold it? Let's question again; who said crying was unhealthy or bad? Is it possible the baby needs to cry so he doesn't develop human dependency problems? By feeding babies every time they cry, their dependency for food continues throughout their life; many of us were raised this way. We find comfort in food, the "half-gallon of ice cream" over a breakup has become a society standard.
Look at how we write; are we so lazy that we do not type out every word? We use contractions in our writing: "won't," "couldn't," or "can't". Why is it that we cannot just type out, "could not" or "cannot;" this is our laziness at its very worst. These contractions have become a part of American English, and are considered necessary; not using these contractions is considered wrong. To type out every word has become frowned upon; our laziness has been encouraged.
We listen to books on tape, why? We, as Americans, have become so busy that we make time to watch Oprah each afternoon to see the latest book club selection, but then we don't leave ourselves time to even read it. Americans are willing to stay several hours of overtime at the office, knowing that at the end of the week the paycheck will be richer. Giving all these superfluous hours in the workplace, they willingly sacrifice time spent with their spouse, or children at home.
Americans are obese, working too many hours at the office, and aren't challenging themselves intellectually.
Why are Americans so overweight? We are all dissatisfied and most have not attempted to become better. An American's version of cutting back on tis food intake is to order a Big Mac, Supersize fries, and a DIET soda. Children are being raised in this fast-food nation and will only take after their parents and perpetuate the obesity problem this nation has.
The baby's crying; "Oh, give him a cookie, that will shut him up," Whatever happened to human interaction? Of course, the easy and lazy way to shut a child up is to shove a cookie down its throat. Will the child not feel better if you hug it or hold it? Let's question again; who said crying was unhealthy or bad? Is it possible the baby needs to cry so he doesn't develop human dependency problems? By feeding babies every time they cry, their dependency for food continues throughout their life; many of us were raised this way. We find comfort in food, the "half-gallon of ice cream" over a breakup has become a society standard.
Look at how we write; are we so lazy that we do not type out every word? We use contractions in our writing: "won't," "couldn't," or "can't". Why is it that we cannot just type out, "could not" or "cannot;" this is our laziness at its very worst. These contractions have become a part of American English, and are considered necessary; not using these contractions is considered wrong. To type out every word has become frowned upon; our laziness has been encouraged.
We listen to books on tape, why? We, as Americans, have become so busy that we make time to watch Oprah each afternoon to see the latest book club selection, but then we don't leave ourselves time to even read it. Americans are willing to stay several hours of overtime at the office, knowing that at the end of the week the paycheck will be richer. Giving all these superfluous hours in the workplace, they willingly sacrifice time spent with their spouse, or children at home.