Too fat, too dumb, too selfish: a new year a new opportunity

It is now December 31 at 8:30 PM, the last day of the year. My wife and I have gone out the last 2 nights and decided to spend New Year's Eve alone with a quiet meal. We just got 2 movies and have finished watching the first, "Supersize Me". I am almost sorry this is my next to last movie of the year. My somewhat cynical and often disappointed self watched with resignation. A fat society where food is the number two addiction following alcohol is a sad realization. How much of this is ignorance and how much is depression and boredom I cannot say. I know that we prepared a healthy meal of pasta with a little olive oil, garlic, and parsley along with a small portion of apple sauce for our last dinner of 2006. This is only one side of the story. We are still the greatest nation in which to live. We are a land of opportunity. Last night I watched "The pursuit of Happiness". A story of hope and the rewards of perseverance. Still, also a story of unnecessary deprivation. I specialize in liposculpture. What percent of my patient population wants to make themselves thinner and continue their habits of eating too much and dieting too little. Today I ate at Red Lobster because I received a gift card to eat there. Lumps of butter and bowls of butter sauce and lumps of sour cream on my fried shrimp and sauteed shrimp. I balance this with more exercise than most and not enough for me. I go to a trainer because he knows more than I do and he forces me to do what is good for me. I had 1/2 of my colon and intestines and 1/3 of my stomach removed for treating pancreatic cancer. My anatomic realignment flushes out my fats and my blood tests are normal. I don't always practice what I preach. I will spend the new year , like the old, speaking my mind. I wish I followed my own advice more. I do wish our leaders- political, philosophical, educational, legal, and in general societal would also follow some of my advice. It isn't so much that I am always right. The abuses are so obvious and I judge much of my advice to be common sense and honestly from my heart. Mostly I hope we can meet on a spiritual level as we greet and live the new year.
Blessings to all and to all a good night.