Tiffany Chen
Professor Reynolds
English
113B
May 9, 2012
Michelle
Obama’s Campaign
Society today is strongly influenced
by the public media and the discomfort of obesity is impacting people slowly
day by day. To counteract that discomfort, Michelle Obama, the First Lady of
the United States, introduced a new program, Let’s Move: “A nationwide
campaign with a single goal: to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a
generation…”(Obama). In her article “Why I’m fighting childhood Obesity,”
Michelle Obama explains her personal view on childhood obesity and shows how it
grasped her attention. Because of the setback that children must endure with
obesity, she has started a campaign to increase awareness towards the
situation. A campaign to inform, to aid assistance with, and most importantly a
campaign designed to get everyone’s participation and inform the situation that
no one is alone in the process of overcoming obesity.
Michelle Obama starts out in her
article informing us how much less active our generations have been. She gave
examples of how energetic her audience-the parents used to be in the old days.
“We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours
before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals…” (Obama). Her sympathetic tone informs
the reader to realize how much our society has changed. Children today simply
revolve around a desk and a computer; this is the main cause of overweight and
health problems. As one’s inactive behavior increases, one’s health issues
along with obesity increase as well. According to the National Center for
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, “The rate of childhood obesity
has tripled in the last 30 years” (Rose). Even researchers have been seeing an
increase of our physical inactivity. “Physical inactivity has contributed to
the 100% increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States
since 1980(CDC, 2000)” (Elliot). As technology advances, people become less
fond of outside play or of engaging in physical activities. Obama voiced her
opinion in her article by stating her interest in involving and improving work
ethics as a team to help kids become more active and healthier. In her article,
she stated “That’s why I’ve been traveling the country, speaking to groups
ranging from PTA’s to food manufacturers…asking all of them to be a part of
Let’s Move” (Obama). I believe that she is trying to persuade mostly the
parents in the world, who are the audience of this profound article. For
example, she incorporates the words “our kids” in her article. “And no matter
how much they beg for fast food and candy, our kids shouldn’t be the ones
calling the shots at dinnertime. We’re in charge. We make these decisions”
(Obama). She wants us readers to be on her side and inform us about this program
that we should contribute and listen to.
Michelle Obama’s mission persuaded
me personally as I read her informing article. I felt that this was going to
form a great program and foundation for the future. First, it would inform our
society the environment we surround ourselves with. Altering choices and styles
of physical activity and consumed foods would play a major role in an improving
life style. This article motivated me to be more active. Yet some readers may
challenge Obama’s view by insisting that some people do not have the time to
change their daily activities. However Obama states that the campaign, Let’s
Move, is about “families making manageable changes that fit with their
schedules, their budgets, and their needs and tastes” (Obama). She definitely
makes a great convincing point here for her readers. Not everybody has the same
schedule in their daily lives. Some complain about working late at night and
not having enough time throughout their day. I am glad that she made that point
there; many people would agree with that. Adding to Obama’s argument about
parents being in charge and making decisions, I would point out that some
parents do not have the correct knowledge when nourishing their children. Some
parents may have grown up in a family with the lack of knowledge of healthy
eating as well. In addition, many schools have lost their cooking classes due
to budget cuts. Therefore our society needs to find another way to inform
children the correct way of eating. We have to make sure that this society is
getting the right facts and knowledge for our daily diets and activities.
Our society needs to know how to eat
correctly and exercise before we all pay a lot of money for our health bills. In
David Stipp’s article, he states “Obese people
are living longer, thanks to factors such as cholesterol-cutting medicines (as
is the entire population), but much of their extra time is spent in ill health,
and as a result, their annual medical bills are some 42 percent higher than
those of normal-weight people” (Stipp). Children with obesity these days
have a bigger risk of getting a number of horrible diseases which can be a
factor of spending more money on health bills. For example, Type 2 diabetes has
increased dramatically these days. In Gary Taubes’ article “The Only Logical
Way to End the Obesity Epidemic”, he states that 5.6 million Americans were
diagnosed in 1980 which increased to 17 million today. It is unbelievable how much diabetes has
increased. We eat more now than we ever did in the past. What will happen in
the future? Will we be able to control ourselves and will there be help for us?
Not only is reducing the health
risks of obesity important, but the physical activity is twice as important in
children’s lives. They need to grow healthy bones and muscles, and maintain
social and mental health by exercising. Therefore, this greatly impacts their
capacity of learning in school. From my personal experience, exercising makes
me feel like a whole different person. It affects my emotions greatly towards
the positive side. It definitely is a great motivation to have a better
lifestyle. We want our children and not only children, but everyone to maintain
a healthier life.
After reading the whole article, I
believed that Mrs. Obama was determined to make this happen. Her tone in the
article is very informative. She uses a wide variety of evidence to support her
argument and to convince her readers. I see this campaign becoming successful
in the future; I am glad that she was able to make this campaign. Since she
could be a great role model to some people, I believe that she has the power to
get her word out about this goal easily. Besides being the First Lady, Mrs.
Obama takes a big role by inspiring kids to eat healthy and exercise. It is great
to see that she worries about other’s health issues. I remember always seeing
her on Disney channel informing the audience, who are kids, about eating right
and exercising. She wants our country to become healthier and happier. Anyone
familiar with childhood obesity should agree that this is a great plan. We need
more people like Michelle Obama to create more active programs.
Overall, I believe that Michelle
Obama’s campaign is truly going to change our perspective in the world. I am on
her side all the way and I wish her the best in this program. I hope that it
will go far enough and achieve many of their goals. She believes that with
enough team work, she is confident enough to believe that this society will be
able to pursue their dreams and live a happy life.
Works
Cited
Elliott, Eloise, and Steve Sanders.
"Children and Physical Activity." PBS.
PBS, Feb. 2002. Web. 28 Feb.
2012.
<http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/physical.html>.
Obama, Michelle. "Michelle on a
Mission." The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, 13 Mar. 2010.
Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/03/13/michelle-on-a-mission.html>.
Rose, Tracy. "Reduce Childhood Obesity by
Replacing Junk Food with Organic Alternatives."Natural
Health News. 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.naturalnews.com/031085_childhood_obesity_junk_food.html>.
Stipp, David. "Obesity - Not Aging -
Balloons Health Care Costs." Obesity.
7 June 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/obesity-aging-cause-ballooning- health-care-costs-31879/>.
Taubes, Gary. "The Only Logical Way to End
the Obesity Epidemic." The
Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast,
28 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/28/the-only-logical-way-to-end-the- obesity-epidemic.html>.
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