Random Thoughts

I recently read an article about a study that was done on obesity, I think from the Wall Street Journal, but now I can’t remember for sure. But anyway, this study claimed that obesity is actually a social epidemic. It claimed that if you have friends that are overweight, that you are more likely to be overweight as well. People that you work with or who live near you didn’t matter as much as a close friend, even if that person lived several states away. I thought it was an interesting article, but wasn’t sure how accurate it really was, since I have several friends who are husky gentlemen, and I still seem to be a bit wiry. In the end, I tossed it aside as an entertaining article to read one weekday during lunch and hadn’t thought of it since. But this Sunday, that article crept back to mind as I watched the general conference of my church. Throughout the conference, the choir performed several times as the cameras panned through its members and I couldn’t help but notice that the majority of them were overweight. At first I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me because of the unflattering blue dresses that they wore, or my mother’s widescreen TV, or the rumor that television adds ten pounds, or all three. I even tried to convince myself that this trifecta could have a summing effect to make them all look 30 pounds heavier than they actually are. But even then I couldn’t help but think that this choir would be an excellent subject group for just such a study on obesity. These people fit the mold of the study, since they are probably all close friends, since they are required to spend a good majority of their free time practicing and performing together. And, its members come from all over, so they more than likely don’t all live close together either. And if this evidence truly was present, then the choir could be good evidentiary support for this particular author’s conclusion. Now, I’m not trying to say that they were all overweight, because several of them were rather skinny, but I’m sure that if you plotted the BMI of each of the choir’s members, the distribution curve would be negatively skewed. My church is known for having root beer floats after every social event, and if the choir is having refreshments after each practice and performance I thought it a good idea that they mix in a veggie trey to their menu selection.

And now, since I will most likely be struck dead by lightning momentarily, I bid you all a due. (-Click-)