Reader Mail 3/8/12

Hey Shank,

Is there anyway we could get more frequent posts from you?  I understand you probably don't have the time to write an article sized feature everyday but if maybe you could give some short answer stuff on a daily or every other day basis that would fantastic.

Thanks,

Rich from Texas

Hey Rich,

Thanks for reading!  I would be glad to do so which is why, because of your email, I have started this new feature called "Reader Mail".  The first installment starts today:

Hey Shank,

Just read your most recent post on Chris Christie, TGI Fridays and One Hell of a Juxtaposition.  My wife and I both really enjoyed it but we have a couple questions:  Do you think that Governor Christie does not already know that he is morbidly obese?  Do you think he doesn't know what that means for both his future as well as his family's. Do you think he does not know how bad an example he sets for all New Jersians, a state with a 24% obesity rate?

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Salvatore and Marie from Bayonne

Hey Sal and Marie!

Welcome!  To answer your question I do think Governor Christie does know all those things.  Just the fact that he can't buy his suits off the rack should shove those facts down his throat further than any blog post or cheese steak could ever travel.  

(I get the fact that they camera adds 10 pounds or so but this is ridiculous.  The man is literally bigger than two normal sized people put together.)

The problem for Governor Christie is there is a huge difference between knowing something and truly understanding it.  A perfect example of this is what Financial Guru Dave Ramsey likes to call "Getting Gazelle Intense":

(This is Dave Ramsey.  He really hates credit cards.  He is also Team Clear Path Approved!)

What Dave Ramsey tells people is that they really aren't ready to get out of credit card debt until they are as intense about the process of becoming debt free as a Gazelle's is when it's running from a Cheetah in order to avoid becoming lunch:

(Really intense actions in response to some really intense consequences.  If the Gazelle doesn't run fast enough he will be clawed to pieces and eaten while still alive.  I hate when that happens.  If the Cheetah doesn't catch the Gazelle she will starve to death.  I hate when that happens too.)

The Gazelle doesn't know it has to run, it truly understands the consequences of not doing so.    The fact is that knowing, unbeknownst to G.I. Joe, doesn't really count for half of anything:

(Jesus Footloose!  You are in a residential neighborhood.  Put away the friggin hand grenade dude!  And why has nobody ever called the G.I. Joes out for stalking these little kids.  Kind of strange that they always seem to be right there, like in the bushes or outside a kids window, when something goes wrong.)

It is only doing that shows one truly understands that which they know.  You either do, or you don't do.  You can't rationalize or negotiate half a decision just like you can't rationalize or negotiate half a consequence.  You can't get a little bit pregnant:

(You gorgeous bastards won't be smiling so brightly when you are three months into no R.E.M. sleep while feeding a bottle at 3 a.m.  Maybe then you two will realize you should have just stuck to posing as those people who come in the picture frame when you buy it.)

If Governor Christie truly understood the fact that at the rate he is going he will not be around long enough to see his kids grow up, if he truly understood that in his case he is the Gazelle and heart disease, higher risk for certain types of cancer, lower quality of living, increased stress on muscles and joints, and diabetes are the Cheetah you would think that somebody with his intelligence and resources would do something about it.

Governor Christie obviously doesn't get it.   Although we can't be too hard on him because when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off most Americans, even the people who hate his guts, share more in common with Governor Christie than they would like to admit.

Thanks,

Mike

(I have said it once and I will say it again.  When you truly Understand that losing weight and being healthy is a lifestyle and not something you just do, the best diets will always start on some random day like March 8th at two o'clock in the afternoon and not on New Years, or after your 40th birthday and certainly not after breakfast.  Hell by the time you are done with breakfast Andy Dufresne could be halfway to the Mexican Border by then).  

(Two things are for sure:  1.  Brooks Hatlen is a reasonable man.  2.  I can't help myself from making Shawshank Redemption references.)