In America, thin means powerful

The irony in the United States today is that while the society at large seems to be characterized by the idea that "bigger is better," individuals are focused on wanting to work out, be fit and, more importantly, be thin. This is especially seen in cosmopolitan areas. The biggest stress in the life of a cosmopolitan person in the United States seems to be how to find the best diet or sign up to the "coolest" gym to get you into the smallest size possible. Of course, the key is to have the money to buy the most books and have the largest library of health and dieting books in your house. Better yet, it is a status symbol to have membership to the most exclusive gym.

A city like New York is a perfect example of these contradicting themes. When you walk down the streets of New York City, Manhattan to be more specific, you are overwhelmed by the tall buildings piercing the sky, large neon lights blinding the pedestrians, the redundancy of stores on every other block and the dominating billboards. The larger the building or billboard, the more importance it seems to have. The more locations a store has, the more power and money the corporation seems to have.

The people in NYC, however, all focus on working out, staying in shape and keeping up with the newest diet news. They sport the suit and the sneakers on their way to and from work. They wake up that extra hour early to go running in the park, rain or snow, sleet or shine. There is at least one gym within every 10 blocks of each other at least. Basically, the goal in life seems to be to have the largest closets, filled with lots of clothes that are all the smallest size possible.

Look at Donald Trump for example: not only does he have buildings all over Manhattan, such as the Trump Plaza Hotel, but he also has soaring, gold plated buildings that clearly stand out. He could be the American idol, living the American dream because he has a lot of money, a lot of land and property, and a lot of things that show off his money to the rest of the world. Then, look at his daughter, Invanka Trump. She is a thin girl who worked the runway while she paraded around her mansion in the Hamptons and debuted in Hampton's Magazine on the side.

Another good example is the Hiltons. Their family, as I'm sure is obvious to everyone, owns the hotel chain. Their hotels are notorious for being large and supposedly the best, or at least that's what the five stars insinuate. Not only is their product big, but also so is their fame. What do we see, however, when the Hilton girls flaunt themselves in magazines or on television? They always seem to accentuate their protruding hipbones and their twiggy legs. It seems to be that being thin equates with greatness, fame and popularity. Arielle Goren, a sophomore from New York City, who attended one of the private schools in the city, states that there is a "whole culture around the world of being fit ? to the point where being thin and fit is almost equated with being hip."

Why is it that you can no longer show off your money through your physical appearance? In the Renaissance, being plump and pale meant you had money. Today, being tan and thin means you have sufficient spare money to pay for a trainer, for weekly visits to a tanning salon, for a house in the Hamptons where you can lounge by your pool or work out in your personal gym. It also means that you can pay for plastic surgery.

What can we do about this epidemic, about this confusion of what we want? Well, maybe we should backtrack, go back to the basics, to the days when eating was for survival and for enjoyment; when eating and parties were considered social events people looked forward to, not occasions that people feared because maybe the type of food wasn't going to accommodate their diet. Instead of worrying about cutting out our foods, we should focus more on pairing different types of choices so that we eat balanced meals, not meals that are centered on veggies or grease or carbohydrates.

It's a hard transition to make mentally. No one says it's going to be easy to say to yourself that it's OK to eat certain foods, but it's necessary. Maybe once everyone realizes that being balanced is being healthy, normal sized women will be accepted as beautiful enough to model the runways as well. Possibly, once this occurs, people will prefer moderation in general, so that we don't all have to own the largest SUV or the largest mansion or the biggest diamond. Until then, I guess we'll have to deal with competing against our companions for the better grade or the bigger apartment or the better view, while making sure that your diet techniques are better than theirs and they never become a smaller size than you are.