to preach or not to preach (was Re: Milk was another weird fasting poop

[Guest guest]

:

Reading this [below] has triggered off my old dilemma: to preach or not

to preach. I mean, what do you people generally do when you see someone

committing a blatant nutritional mistake, so to say? Can you keep your

mouth shut or do you pluck up your courage to speak up? I have found

that as I grow older, I am becoming bolder to speak. Often

the " transgressor " is a small child.

The trick is that I make a point not to seem to be preaching

at all, but instead I try to make a question or engage in dialogue.

As I don't have a car, I am often riding in buses, and that's where

most of my interactions will take place.

Here are a few short dialogues or attempts to dialogue I have recently

had with children and grown-ups

on buses, sharing either a double seat with them or on nearby seats. I

can't recall the actual words, but these will give a general idea.

All of these talks – I am afraid – had no immediate or visible

corrective effect on the " transgressor " , but I played my part pulling

my weight. While I don't claim to be a world reformer, I'd rather

make a mistake by interference than by omission. Well, if this sounds

too pompous, I will admit that it isn't funny all the time and I

often end up feeling like a fool afterwards.

1) To a boy eating from a package of potato chips:

" Hey, I wouldn't mind having one if I had already eaten lunch. "

He offered me the open package.

" No, thanks. Have you eaten your lunch yet? "

" No. "

" It may spoil your appetite. "

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away, and I hadn't anything else

to say.

2) To a little girl eating candyfloss:

" Whenever I eat candyfloss, my throat feels like burning. What about

you? "

She simply opened her mouth and showed me her throat (some teeth were

missing). Actually, she didn't make a face, but she could have done

so. I was relieved.

3) To a young mother sharing a can of coke with her one-year-old

toddler on her lap:

" Excuse me, but my daughter's paediatrician doesn't want her to drink

coke at all. Does your baby's agree? " (I said it rather quickly,

because it was a long idea, and I didn't want to appear to be

accosting her, so I am not sure if she really understood me.)

" It's this hot climate and this helps to hydrate " , she said with

authority.

I don't know if I blushed but I surely felt like clearing my

listening ear. I didn't make the gesture, though.

" Really? But what about the aluminium? " (I don't really know if coke

contains aluminium, but now it didn't matter anyway.)

" She's so fond of it. "

" The aluminium? "

" No, the coke. "

" Oh, I see. "

Perhaps it was high time to ask the pretty baby's name, but I was

suddenly feeling so hopeless that I just had a wry smile to crack.

4) To a school-boy who sat down beside me devouring a piece of a very

dry cake:

" Hey, are you chewing well? "

No response. Then a voice from behind:

" ael (or whatever his name was), answer uncle. "

The boy nodded while still eating without looking.

I turned to look at the lady (she could be the grandmother) in

recognition.

" Did he dirty your clothes, sir? " (She was referring to the crumbs.)

" No, I was just making fun of him. He's eating so quickly. "

" This is just like him. Nat, give me the key. " (She had obviously

changed the subject and so I went back to my reading, having learned

that even grandmothers are now different and totally keen on the

facilities of our modern world.)

What amazes me (but every day a little less) is that children are

eating these empty foods all the time at school, at home, on buses, and

then

are punished when they refuse to eat proper lunch or dinner.

No wonder children are now

usually fat and frail at the same time and spoilt – they get

everything they want in terms of food and gewgaws. They are mainly

stuffed with food in order to be appeased. And this affects all

classes, not only the poor.

What can be done to stop this slow infanticide?

--- In , Idol <Idol@c...>

wrote:

....

> Maybe, but I live in the barrio, and based on what I see, I'm not

> convinced. Lots of white bread, twinkie-type snack/desserts,

hydrogenated

> oils, vegetable oils, etc. etc. etc.

>

>

>

> -