YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ!

Have you heard about the new Food Pyramid put out by the U.S.D.A.? It replaces the old Food Pyramid with 12 new ones! Seems that the old guideline didn’t take into account what we now know about eating healthy. I still recall the old four color wheel that adorned our School Cafeteria walls. More importantly I remember the motto it embraced, “YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!”

I take umbrage at that thought! While I know that it speaks to nutrition and the whole scheme of good health I must insist that I am not a coconut crème pie, nor even a sprout of broccoli. While what I eat and how I eat has an impact on my health that cannot be denied and while I would not wish to disparage anyone from eating healthy as I realize its worth I cannot succumb to the thought that I am what I eat.

The poster should have said, “YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ!” That I could agree with. While I am not a vegetable, a meat, or even a dessert I have to say that I am Thoreau, Shakespeare, Dickenson, Frost and yes, even Grisham! My desire is not to belittle the government’s attempt at improving American citizen’s health. The thought I wish to interject however in the face of a technologically advanced society who is enmeshed with video games, computer interaction, and MTV is that what we read is extremely important. To this day some of the classics I studied in High School and College help shape who I am, how I make decisions, and the way I think. Having said that, can you imagine the adult outcome of today’s generation and their reading habits? They will be Q, Cosmopolitan, and muscle magazines! Or worse, they will be void of any reading experience whatsoever? Then how will they develop into thinking and reasoning people?

I know I am probably overreacting but really, doesn’t someone need to sound the alarm in the midst of the dumbing down of America? Doesn’t someone need to challenge today’s metropolitan man and woman to sharpen their minds through what they read? I guess if you answer no, then you can simply quit reading this post. But I, for one, see the need for “YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ!” posters on the walls of our schools. Perhaps next to the new Food Pyramid?