Childhood obesity is arguably the polio of our age.
That's why the Surgeon General of the United States recently named it his # 1 Priority.
And much like polio back in the 50's countless experts are scrambling around, spending billions in efforts to discover the new vaccine, the magic pill, the predictable way to immunize our kids against this terrible and life altering disease known as childhood obesity.
But What If...
But I have one question.
What if the solution to childhood obesity is unlike polio in that it's not hiding in some academician's laboratory, or in some chemist's test tube? What if the solution isn't hiding in some elaborate and abstract formula dreamed up by some decorated professor in some Ivy League College somewhere on the east coast? What if the solution to childhood obesity is so incredibly simple, so much on the surface, that any kindergartner can understand it and implement it in a matter of minutes? In other words, what if the solution has been hiding in plain sight, in a place so accessible, that anyone who wanted to could see it, if they'd only look? Can you say "The emperors (the experts) are wearing no clothes?" It's As Simple as ABC I have a good friend that I only refer to as the old coach (he prefers the shadows over the spotlight) who contends that this is precisely the case when it comes to the childhood obesity crisis.
The coach suggests that the solution is as simple as A,B,C.
A.
Kids who can do pull ups are never obese.
B.
If you start them young using a height adjustable pull up bar and leg assisted pull ups, almost all kids can learn to do pull ups in a predictable amount of time and have great fun doing it.
(Kids love being able to tackle a difficult task in public and winning time after time after time.
) C.
If A and B are true, then it's also true that almost all kids can immunize themselves against obesity for a lifetime by learning to do pull ups, and by maintaining it for a lifetime.
High School Graduation Requirement? In the coach's own words, "If we started teaching pull ups in kindergarten, and made pull ups a high school graduation requirement, the childhood obesity epidemic would be ancient history in less than a decade.
Now with that information in hand, we suddenly have no excuses for failing to turn the tide on childhood obesity.
It's simple.
It's safe.
It's cheap.
It works for both boys and girls of any size and shape.
And it's been proven to win enthusiastic approval from kids who all think it's extremely cool to be strong, and extremely uncool to be weak.
What more can you possibly want?" asked the old coach.
Throwing Down the Gauntlet So, with the writing of this sentence I hereby challenge those in positions of power to take action against childhood obesity and endorse Operation Pull Your Own Weight.
Being from Chicago I challenge Mayor Richard Daley and his wife Maggie who are both outspoken supporters of kids and education.
I challenge Superintendent of Chicago Schools Arnie Duncan.
I challenge the head of Chicago Parks, the Chicago City Council, our State Senators and Representatives, and Governor Rod Blagojevich himself to speak out and to take action.
I Challenge the Pols I challenge Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (who was raised in Chicago) and her husband Bill.
I challenge Barack Obama, John Edwards, Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul (Libertarians love Operation Pull Your Own Weight) to speak out and take action against childhood obesity.
I challenge former head of the President's Fitness Council and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to speak out and take action.
I even challenge President Bush and VP Dick Cheney who could actually do some good for a change.
Let's leave no child behind.
I Challenge the Corporate Community I challenge corporations including McDonald's, Kraft Food, Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Nike, Wilson Sporting Goods, the NFL, the NBA, MLB, NHL, CityBank, Chase, The Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrials, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, Microsoft and Google, Haliburton, General Dynamics, and DuPont, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Prudential, Exxon, and Standard Oil, just to name a few.
I Challenge the Media I challenge the media starting with Donny Deutsch and his Big Idea.
This qualifies as a big idea don't you think? I challenge John Stewart and Steven Colbert to speak up and take action.
I challenge Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post.
I challenge ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and Clear Channel Radio, Larry King, Barbara Walters, and Oprah to speak out and take action I Challenge Parents, Teachers, and Kids But most of all I challenge parents, teachers, and kids across the nation to speak out and take action.
There's nobody out there who can stop you from teaching your kids how to pull their own weight, and immunize themselves against obesity for a lifetime.
By the same token, kids, there's nobody out there who can prevent you from learning to do pull ups and immunizing yourself against obesity for a lifetime.
After all, it's your life we're talking about here.
I'm convinced we can win this war one child at a time, and you don't need permission from the big whigs to take action.
It's your choice and your prerogative to develop your own strengths in all kinds of ways, and as the result you'll enhance the way the world interacts with you and you with it.
But Do We Really Want To? So, there you have it.
A radically simple solution to childhood obesity presented in a package that anyone can understand and implement if they only want to.
Suddenly question becomes, do we really want to? Now that question still remains unanswered.
But if you'd like to help answer it, as well as support the old coach's efforts, please sign/date this petition, and send it to the email address below.
I'll collect them all up and hand them over to the coach.
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