One morning on our drive down we dropped into the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and Nancy spotted a new item on the menu - blueberry/granola pancakes.  If you know this chain you know why it is so popular.  You certainly get your monies worth.  We've had enough experience to know to order the child's portion.  Even at that, we both gave that knowing smile when the plate arrived laden down with two humongous pancakes, fruit compote and whipped cream. Remember, this is the child's portion . . . and just in case the intended child would be left hungry the order came with a side of french toast.  Nancy, who has a good appetite couldn't even get through half of it.  At the 'Cracker' the calories come by the barrel and too many of the patrons look like pigs at the trough.

On another occasion we were forced to shop at the Walmart in San Antonio to get a couple of those folding camp chairs.  They had quite a display of different makes and models.  But can you believe it?  Out of the maybe 200 that were on display not one was a regular. They only had over-sized.  On many there was also a label that warned of a 300 pound limit. This little tableau spoke volumes. Americans are OD'ing on food and it is killing the country I used to admire and love. 

At a service station there was this woman who was fat . . . so fat in fact she could hardly move.  Did she order the small soda?  Oh no, she didn't even have the large.  She had to have the one that was more like a tub.  It had to be a gallon if it was an ounce.  Can you imagine how much sugar was in that . . . at least a months worth.

Those are just a few examples of what we saw everywhere.  By far the single most striking impression we took from the journey was the increase in Americans who are overweight.  You have to have blinkers on not to notice that America is sick.  It's not just the country, it's also the people themselves.  I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that our empirical observation had at least half of the people we saw in the high risk category for weight related disease . . . some just over weight, many more fat and a depressing number grossly obese.  On our many previous trips taking the same route we have never seen the number of people perambulating around in powered scooters.  They are everywhere and not driven by just old folks but younger ones made immobile by their weight issues.

Granted, when you travel by highway and not by air you see more of the worker bees than the queens.  We were in campgrounds and roadside restaurants not university campuses and athletic clubs.

But when you go to the supermarket and look in other people's shopping carts, it is clear to both of us that America is being poisoned by huge corporations interested in shareholder value and not nutrition.  It's really not fair to blame the average American for this malaise but the mega food corporations that market gratification with empty calories. It's criminal to market a lifestyle that is not sustainable.  And there's that word again.  You may be tired of me harping on sustainability, but believe me, this could easily be a harbinger of what's in Huntsville's future if we continue to ape America.

And its not just me.  Nancy and I spent much of the time driving from San Antonio to Laredo comparing our observations and when we distilled our thoughts they all led back to overindulgence and the real culprits - the greedy corporations. 

It was American's generous spirit and hard work that built the country's previous good will. People loved America and wanted the American way of life.  Now I sense foreigners feel differently.  It's the generous helpings of wretched excess that are washing those good feelings away.  And I don't mean by just the food corporations.  Persuasive marketing is encouraging Americans' overindulgence in almost every facet of their lives and it is catching up with them.  There are so many wonderful caring Americans who live exemplary lives but they are being drowned by the influence of brand managers selling a 'live-for-the-moment dream and put it all on Visa'.  Overindulgence seems easy to sell and is born from greed.

I don't need to remind you it was the American banks that precipitated the global financial crisis.  Bankers not content with millions, wanted billions in profits and bonuses.  Their bailout will be crippling to the future economy.  With not even an apology, those bastards are now back at their old tricks, continuing to gorge themselves.

Maybe I have it wrong.  This overindulgence - this greed - is everywhere in the world.  It may be human nature that plenty of people want plenty more . . . bigger houses, Hummers, too many shoes, too much television, a lifestyle they can't afford and is not sustainable.  Maybe I'm being too hard on America.  It's just that it is so obvious there.

I don't think it is just me.  Can't you too feel the slippage of American power and influence?  The dollar is thought to be replaced by the euro as the world currency.  Culturally their advertising promises pleasures and results without effort.  You can have it all on credit.  There's a pill for whatever ails you.  Even in their movies there's an absence of subtlety and nuance.  In a French film there might be a gunshot off screen that has more impact than the American film where a thousand rounds reap complete devastation. Reality television depicts a reality I don't even want to watch.

I hope I have it wrong.  We need a strong neighbour.  I like Americans and find them warmer and less reserved than Canadians, but on this last trip I could feel a shift.

It's equally annoying to witness the present furious fight put up by the Republicans to prevent the only country in the civilized world from getting universal health care.  This is nothing more than greedy Americans depriving their fellow citizens from getting what we in Canada have come to accept as a basic human right.  It is just plain wrong. No country is going to need more health care than Americans when the young grow older and are hobbled by medical conditions brought on from their excesses sold to them through advertising.

I would like to think Americans will wake up and realize they can't live in Disneyland forever.  They have to give up their unsustainable lifestyle and accept a little pain now to avoid excruciating anguish later on.

I will leave you with this final little vignette that strangely enough leaves me with despair for the future.  We needed to have some papers printed and couldn't find a printing place so I got the bright idea of buying a cheap printer.  We got a Canon. full sheet, full colour printer made in China for $30.  $30. couldn't even buy me one cartridge for my smallest photo printer back home and this one came with two cartridges and some photo paper.  To top it off, it's fast and does a great job. When I'd installed the drivers for the computer it asked to register online for the warranty.  Half way through the process I stopped and laughed. Why am I bothering doing this?  For a warranty?  If the thing stops working I'll just throw it away.  It would cost more than $30 just to send it in for repair.

To me this may be a metaphor for what the future holds for America.  How can their manufacturing base compete with $30 printers from China?  And if they can't be competitive, how can they dig themselves out from under all that debt and have a sustainable future?  My fear is that when they discover they have a lifestyle that doesn't work anymore, and one that doesn't have a warranty they will just have to throw it away.  That may well be Armageddon, because at that point the morally bankrupt corporations won't even be able to market them $30 printers.

David Harris is the editor and publisher of the Huntsville Online.