There is an old saying,
“Do you eat to live or live to eat?” In my case, it is mostly that
I live to eat. I must confess I could have been in that survey
about the overfed Philadelphians. Our eating habits were written
about in a major magazine. We are the chubby crew. Doctors
tell us our extra weight is unhealthy. We need to eat less fat, and
exercise much more. How do we stop this overeating behavior?
Diets do not work. Just read what is written about diets and ask
some of you heavier friends, if you have any, who might have been on diets
in the past. I have been on diets. Many years ago, I tried
many types of diets. They do not work and your weight just goes up.
We need to change the way we eat, what we eat, and how much we eat.
That is the hard part. I came from a house where food was very important.
That has not changed. My problem is I can cook. I make all
the foods I like. I experiment and have lots of cookbooks.
Cooking and eating are relaxing for me. Eating
out is a form of recreation for Jayne and me. Like I said, I do mostly
all the cooking at our house. I enjoy it. I told Jaynee that
perhaps we could try to be more careful during the week. When we
go to restaurants on the weekend, maybe we could try and watch.
When we socialize with
friends, we like to go to nice restaurants. We are always looking
for new ones. It is very frustrating to veto dishes because they
are high fat, or otherwise not healthy for us. I love certain tastes
and I hate to miss eating them. I don’t know how to manage eating
less. Health demands a better hold on our food intake, not to mention
feeling and looking better. For me, food is a big problem because
I love to eat well, and I recognize quality in food. I have cooked
and worked around food all my life. Béarnaise sauce, seafood,
and steaks will always sound good to me. Like I said, I live to eat.
Copyright 2000 by Harry
Martin Polis
Harry is available for
lectures and entertainment with stories and poetry. Contact SCOOP
USA, or e-mail Harry.
As I sit writing this article,
the city administration has yet to sit down with the various unions to
negotiate a new contract. Every time the union contract ends, it
seems that the City pulls out its old ridiculous give back list and refuses
to negotiate in good faith. I have seen it happen over and over for
35 years. Management hates the workers. They would rather pay
their cronies and drones than civil service workers. Cronies who
owe their jobs directly to Big Brother can be controlled. Cronies
will give their votes and drum up more votes to the people who give them
jobs. It means more money and votes for the officials who can use
that money and power any way they choose. Civil Service workers are
beholden to no one for their jobs. They really work for the good
of the city.
Philadelphia’s political
royalty say the same things year after year. They chant that they
have no money for raises. It would do them some good for our fair
city to experience a total shut down of city services. Let the public
point a finger at who really is to blame. The mayor’s job is to see
that a fair contract is hammered out. He is supposed to be serious
and be a defender of our citizens and their civil servants. That’s
a joke. His demands were insults.
It would be my pleasure
to see the Mayor and our other elected officials toil under the contract
he wanted to give the workers. It would be a joy to see their bloated
salaries and perks decreased. Wouldn’t it be great to see them next
to you on the subway, dealing with the stinky homeless guy in the next
seat? How about having to put back groceries because they haven’t
enough money?
The leaders come and go,
yet the new ones spout the same rhetoric. The phoney balonies who
have their hands firmly in our pockets are all the same. Their looking
different is just an illusion.
I hope they come to their
senses because the AFLCIO, then the Republicans will be here. Perhaps
then they will sit down with the unions and negotiate. Workers
deserve respect. Treat them like human beings, not garbage, or the
streets will be full of it.
Copyright 2000 by Harry Martin
Polis
Harry is available for lectures
and entertainment with stories and poetry. Contact SCOOP USA, or
e-mail Harry.
