Thursday, January 22, 2009

Bariatic surgery as the easy way out

I'm watching this documentary on obesity in America. One of the featured characters is this severely overweight fella who has decided to undergo dangerous bariatric surgery in order to lose weight. His physician and family members have advised against this though, stating that he should first try an exercise program.

His response? "It's hard! Exercise is hard!" He figures that surgery is the easy way out.

I always want to avoid feeling disgust toward morbidly obese people; after all, they are humans too, and some of them have serious physical ailments that prevent them from losing weight. When somebody refuses to even try an exercise program though... well, I find that I can't muster up as much sympathy for that person. That person doesn't deserve to be mistreated, but if he's always going to rely on quick and easy (and potentially dangerous) fixes, then that's his fault.

His sister told him, "Just start some sort of exercise program. Everyone has to start somewhere." He replied, "Surgery is a starting point."

I still feel bad for the guy, but what can you do?