Operation Fatty Down

Today is the first day of “Operation Fatty Down”. Well honestly there has been some pre-prepping since the beginning of the year. We have been changing our diet and eating healthier meals, drinking a lot of water, cutting down on the carbs and eliminating soda. We are not dieting!! The minute I say diet, I start to eat like famine is going to strike tomorrow. No, we are changing our diet in order to be healthier people. Remember we are foodies and I personally like to eat. So it has been about making fantastic tasting healthy meals and we are doing great. Portion control is key and really thinking about what we are eating with each meal. It is a true adventure into the food arena, especially for folks who never think about the “real”contents of their food. There are some backslides but it’s all good and I know the next meal will be back on track.

Okay, so I woke up on fire this morning. It’s time to get moving!! Washed my face, threw on some leggings and a wrinkled top, laced up the sneakers (no socks, I hate socks) and headed out the door. We live across the street from Prospect Park, it’s a beautiful park, and I was determined to start my walking regime. 3.3 scenic miles around the bike/running path, let’s go. I ran into a neighbor, walking his dog, at the entrance. I told him about Operation Fatty Down and he wished me luck, pushed me gently onto the path and I was off and wobbling.

I have always wanted to live across from the park and here I am, on the path to health and a more slender version of myself. I breathed in the air, nodded smiling at my fellow walkers, joggers, runners and bikers and set off at a nice clip. Sidebar; Derrill and I have been walking as much as two lazy slugs can walk so attempting the three miles is not an unreasonable stretch. Hmmph

It is a beautiful morning and I am doing okay walking at a nice pace, communing with The Universe, planning out my day, my weekend, next week, and considering what I may want to do during the summer months. Now you would think that all of that mulling would take me pretty deep into the 3.3 miles, right? Nope, not even near the library yet. Turns out I am a pretty swift thinker and pretty slow walker. Sigh But I am feeling great.

As I pass the library and enter into unchartered territory, I realize that everyone and I mean everyone is passing me. Don’t get it twisted, I am passing no one. Old, old people are zipping past me. Two Grandma Dynamites whizzed past me so fast they kicked up some leaves and dust that swallowed me up for a moment. Really?!?! Oh and then as I get onto a really good stretch, a couple of stroke victims zoomed past me as if I were standing still. Hmmm, it’s okay, I am moving along, except that I can no longer see the GD’s or the SV’s anymore. I am going to concentrate on the glorious fact that I am in the middle of nature, with the lake on my left and wonderful grassy knolls on my right. Life is grand.

I have reached the 2 mile point and this is where my legs start burning and I know if I stop my feet will immediately swell like crescent rolls, so I keep moving and hope that this Operation Fatty Down doesn’t turn into Operation Fatty Face Down. It is at the 2.5 mile point that I realize I will make it and do you know what happened? My gait got stronger and I straightened up from the half crawl position I had adopted to that of the marathon runner who can see the ribbon at the end of the road. As I came around the last bend, I saw the ribbon and walked briskly to my starting point, closed my eyes, pointed my face towards the sky, thanked The Universe and wobbled off the path.

I stretched at a bench, patted myself on the back and flat-footed it out of the park to the supermarket to get fixins’for dinner. I also picked up some Special K and a couple of bananas, in for a penny… The bananas are a big deal for me because while I may like fruit, I never eat it and am always on the verge of scurvy. Thank God for wine.

When I got to my building, a nice pre-war, I remembered the stairs and almost blacked out. We are on the third floor. Oh boy. This must be some kind of bad joke. But you know, it wasn’t that bad, okay it was terrible and as I slapped my hand onto the railing of my floor, I knew one thing, I would be doing this again tomorrow and I smiled, alright grimaced and felt pretty good about starting something that is good for me, even if I felt like hell.

Who knows, maybe I might rejoin the gym…Oh stop that madness.

So here is to health and the wonderful knowing that I am making it happen all for me.

Never Let Me Go

I saw a movie last night called “Never Let Me Go”, a sci-fi romance. Although it isn’t presented as such, it was definitely one of the most disturbing films I have seen in a long time and I have been unable to think about anything else. I must add that it is beyond my comprehension why the people (clones) in the film wouldn't try to get away. In thinking it through I have come to the conclusion it is because they didn’t have anything to go towards and aren't clear about what they are running from.

The most disturbing thing for me about the film is that the clones are people who learn, laugh, love and cry. And, some question the terms of their existence. In order for a society to collectively feel okay about creating these beings and then taking their organs in order to prolong life, there was a determination that they did not have souls. They were merely vessels housing life-giving organs to the “real” people.

This made me think about our society as a whole and the measures that people go to in order to distance themselves emotionally and intellectually so that the belief of human inequality may exist and flourish. If we dehumanize or decrease the value of a race, it makes it easier to believe that your position is warranted when you breach the lines of ethical responsibility. And for me, more horrifically, is the subliminal and integral belief that this is true and all parties play into it.

No matter how we come into being, we are all equal, and for one race to expend energy or time trying to convince others that this is truth, is ludicrous and speaks volumes about conditioned learning and belief systems.

I would suggest that everyone look at this film because while it is sad and at times horrifying to the emotional sense, it is thought-provoking and perhaps will serve as an eye opener for some and will allow for a serious self-evaluation of their conditioned learning and belief systems.

Synopsis
At the beginning of the film captions explain that a medical breakthrough has permitted the human lifespan to be extended beyond 100 years. The film is narrated by main character Kathy H. who at 28 years old takes us through her childhood at an English boarding school and her adult life.

The movie starts at a seemingly idyllic boarding school.  Kathy has two friends Tommy and Ruth. It is here that you start to realize that everything is not as it seems. At one of the major points in the film, one of the teachers is fired after she tells the students that they are in fact clones and their only purpose, their entire existence is to provide donor organs for transplants. After they become adults they will be available for “selection”. After their third “selection”, they will “complete”. Some “complete” after their first or second “selection” and most don’t make it past the third “selection”.

There is one scene at the school that started the emotional landslide for me; there is a day when a delivery of boxes that hold a “bumper crop” of items arrives that may be traded for tokens collected by the children. Everything is laid out on long tables and the children, who are overcome with excitement, carefully examine everything and take their treasures back to their rooms to enjoy. The reality is that the items are all junk, toss-away things that no one would want.

Kathy falls in love with Tommy but Ruth seeing this takes Tommy for her boyfriend, thwarting any opportunity for a relationship.

There is a woman, “Madame”, who comes to the school and wants to see the artwork the children have done in order to determine if they have souls. Later in the movie she tells Tommy and Kathy that clones do not have souls.

It was somewhere in here that you realize they wear wrist bands that monitor their coming and going and will wear them their entire lives.

When they become teenagers, they are sent to a farm to live in cottages. They meet other teens who have come from similar schools. While no one at the farm seems to question the ethics of their situation, the three friends do want to find the people they were “modeled on”. A rumor has surfaced that if the clones can prove that they are in live they can “defer” their selection for a couple of years.

Tommy and Ruth are still in a relationship and Kathy who is very lonely and sad applies to become a “carer”, a clone who is trained to give post-operative care to others and receive a temporary reprieve from selection. By the time she has become a “carer” Tommy and Ruth have split up.

We fast forward and Kathy has been a “carer” for some years and is now 28 years old. She reunites with Ruth, who has made two “donations” and is very weak. She has been keeping track of both Tommy and Kathy and helps to arrange a reunion.

Ruth confesses that she did not love Tommy and seduced him because she was jealous and didn’t want to be alone. She believes that since Kathy and Tommy are in love they can get a “deferral” and has the address of “Madame”, convincing the couple to go to see her to make the request.

Ruth "completes" on the operating table shortly afterward.

Tommy and Kathy drive to visit “Madame”. There is no such thing as deferral after all and the couple is devastated.

Tommy is selected again to make another donation and "completes." Kathy is left alone. Two weeks after losing Tommy, Kathy is notified that her first "selection" will take place in one month. Contemplating their childhood, she speculates whether their fate is really all so different from the people who receive their organs; "We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through or feel we've had enough time."