Americans: A Superlative People
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:11 pm
In my recent visit to America I was not surprised but still amazed and more than a bit appalled by the number of exceedingly over-weight people. Not just obese, nor just a few. But endless numbers of grotesque, blubber laden, elephantine humans. Fat beyond what I thought humanly possible. It leaves me at a loss for an adequate animal simile - porcine, walrusian, Shamuish - no animal is so pointlessly or grossly blimpish. People that would rightly have been included in freak shows just a few decades back are now not exceptions but some kind of norm in America.Â
I saw buffet restaurants full of these grazing herds feeding from multiple plates overflowing with every manner of eatable. I saw a man at the Golden Corral buffet, face red with frustration, unable to reach the fried chicken for his equatorial abdomen butting against tray rest. (The staff finally gave him elongated tongs so that he might reach the food.) I saw a human heifer, arms laden with bags of McDonalds takeout, literally being loaded into a RV via some sort of hydraulic lift though what looked like a cargo door, presumably because she was too fat to ascend the stairs or fit through the people door. I found myself unable and even a bit ashamed (as an American) trying to explain the phenomenon to my Asian traveling companions, and in the end fell to expressions of contempt rather than elucidation. I could only pray never to be sat next to one of these Behemoths in the theater or on a plane.
It's different than decades ago when I lived in the States. It's much fitter too. Back then it seemed most people fell in the middle of the fitness spectrum, some a little chubby, some a bit buff, with the obese and the ultra-fit occupying the 10% at either end. But now, like American politics, the middle seems to have dwindled to a minority, and the fat and the fit have taken a clear majority between them, in opposing but seemingly similar numbers.
I also found Americans to be some of the politest, most considerate people on the face of the planet. Far friendlier than Euros, infinitely more considerate and thoughtful than SEAsians. A real delight to be around. Always holding doors and making way, waving me to go first or offering a helping hand. Lots of expressions of well wishes and good will - 'Have a wonderful afternoon' 'Be safe, y'all,' 'After you….' Lots of pleasant words, offers of assistance and other small kindnesses, even when unrequested. People often went out of their way to be polite. Every time I go to the US it spoils me and challenges my cultural tolerance to come back to SEA to have doors dropped on me with regularity, people jumping queues and cutting me off in traffic or stopping in groups at the top of the escalator to discuss their day plans. There is a lot to be said for consideration.
That said, it does sometimes take on something of a saccharin flavor - sweet but a trifle overly so, and with a hint of facade - service people citing restrictive rules with a sympathetic tone and indifferent eyes, average joes doing average things with the broad smiles and puppy dog enthusiasm of an evangelical working a mark. It occasionally triggers my guard and leads me to wonder what is behind this suspiciously common ebullience.
Or maybe it's me.
I saw buffet restaurants full of these grazing herds feeding from multiple plates overflowing with every manner of eatable. I saw a man at the Golden Corral buffet, face red with frustration, unable to reach the fried chicken for his equatorial abdomen butting against tray rest. (The staff finally gave him elongated tongs so that he might reach the food.) I saw a human heifer, arms laden with bags of McDonalds takeout, literally being loaded into a RV via some sort of hydraulic lift though what looked like a cargo door, presumably because she was too fat to ascend the stairs or fit through the people door. I found myself unable and even a bit ashamed (as an American) trying to explain the phenomenon to my Asian traveling companions, and in the end fell to expressions of contempt rather than elucidation. I could only pray never to be sat next to one of these Behemoths in the theater or on a plane.
It's different than decades ago when I lived in the States. It's much fitter too. Back then it seemed most people fell in the middle of the fitness spectrum, some a little chubby, some a bit buff, with the obese and the ultra-fit occupying the 10% at either end. But now, like American politics, the middle seems to have dwindled to a minority, and the fat and the fit have taken a clear majority between them, in opposing but seemingly similar numbers.
I also found Americans to be some of the politest, most considerate people on the face of the planet. Far friendlier than Euros, infinitely more considerate and thoughtful than SEAsians. A real delight to be around. Always holding doors and making way, waving me to go first or offering a helping hand. Lots of expressions of well wishes and good will - 'Have a wonderful afternoon' 'Be safe, y'all,' 'After you….' Lots of pleasant words, offers of assistance and other small kindnesses, even when unrequested. People often went out of their way to be polite. Every time I go to the US it spoils me and challenges my cultural tolerance to come back to SEA to have doors dropped on me with regularity, people jumping queues and cutting me off in traffic or stopping in groups at the top of the escalator to discuss their day plans. There is a lot to be said for consideration.
That said, it does sometimes take on something of a saccharin flavor - sweet but a trifle overly so, and with a hint of facade - service people citing restrictive rules with a sympathetic tone and indifferent eyes, average joes doing average things with the broad smiles and puppy dog enthusiasm of an evangelical working a mark. It occasionally triggers my guard and leads me to wonder what is behind this suspiciously common ebullience.
Or maybe it's me.
As I was reading this, How I Met Your Mother was playing in the background. Guess what?