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I am not upset at you in the slightest and agree with much of what you said. In fact, we DO need to take more responsibility for our health—and I am perfectly comfortable with including myself in that admonishment.

I only put you in the "to" line as a courtesy because I mentioned your post as an example and you were getting flack for being rude. What you said didn't bother me in the least.

That said, I am really upset at tortoise saying that even people with disease don't have to be overweight. I have plenty of experience with people fighting disease. More than I wish. A case in point; We lost my 4 year old niece after a long struggle and by the end she was swollen up like a balloon. She looked huge and could barely fit into clothes or move her little body around when they took her out of the hospital to play in a park or spend a little time shopping.

We have seen first hand the judgmental looks that people like tortoise cast...and I can tell you that people who can not cut others a little slack in THOSE situations are cold, heartless, jerks.

Just like those who would allow their flab to hang out because they have no respect for others, people like tortoise appear to believe that no slack should be cut others facing the complexities of illness.

Bottom line: Courtesy extends, imo, both ways. I am pretty sure we agree on that.

I had a cousin with which I was very close. We were part of a set of three cousins growing up...the first on my mother's side of the family and for several years we were the only grandchildren.

We were like the "Three Musketeers" and always played together and ate together at Grandma's Sunday dinners.

One of my cousins started going back for "thirds" (we all did "seconds") and from then on it seemed like she was always eating something.

She continued to overeat into young adulthood. Then it started to unravel. Her excess weight set off what the doctors referred to as "adult-onset dibetes". Then the next dominoe fell and she lost feeling in her feet.

It didn't stop there. She went blind as a result of the diabetes and conditions worsened. We lost her last year, but I can't help but think something could have been done, early on, and she would still be with us.

This has to stop...we can't brush it under the table anymore.