Kiersten and Morgan's TSIS PA7

You, as part of the student body, could all agree that when it comes time for lunch and making a healthy decision you are limited in both time and choices. Sure, you could pay a ridiculous amount for about a serving of iceberg lettuce salad from the school’s cafeteria (which with dressing included still adds up to a high calorie meal) or visit one of the many fast food restaurants within miles of the campus. Zinczenko states this catastrophe perfectly in his essay when he says, “Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you'll see one of our country's more than 13,000 Mcdonalds restaurants. Now, drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit.” In Radley Balko’s essay “What You Eat Is Your Business” he argues the exact opposite by stressing the importance of personal responsibility when dealing with weight issues. What Balko doesn’t seem to realize is that people with limited funds, time, choices, and transportation have a much more difficult time taking responsibility for their own body and what they should be eating. If Balko’s statement about personal responsibility is what obesity comes down to, John H. Banzhaf argues in his essay called “Lawsuits Against Fast-Food Restaurants Are an Effective Way to Combat Obesity” that there would then be a huge increase in other extremely risky personal behaviors. When in fact, there is no increase in other risky personal behaviors such as the use of illicit drugs, the failure to use seat belts, boating and rafting accidents, and accidental gunshots to be found. All of these authors agree on the fact that this is a major issue for Americans, but everyone has a different viewpoint on the deeper roots and causes behind it. We among many of the authors agree that the problem doesn’t lie completely in the hands of the individual. Whatever the case, something must happen in the near future to drastically change the path we’re on, or America is looking at a very sad and obese future.