Epilogue

I have a friend that comes to me and says, “I really feel bad about my weight, and my health is deteriorating”.  Further, one of his young children is sick as well with diet-related issues.  In my opinion, this is an emergency - he needs to take time off work to get better for the sake of him and his family, but he has no savings and can't manage to stop work for as long as it would take to heal.  The work situation is also stressful, and in his condition, he's not managing problems effectively.  Relations are bad between him and his children's mother.  At this rate my friend is headed straight for a heart attack, and he's only middle-aged.  

This is the status quo alternative to marriage.

It might be easy to imagine blaming my friend for this mess, but I hereby suggest that this is not his fault, and that like many others, he is brave and enduring in the face of humiliation and almost certain defeat.  He continues to work himself to death, painfully spending time with his kids, regularly exercising to no avail, making desperate attempts at new romantic relationships, as futile as it all is.

My friend has lost his health and his dignity, but he doesn't give up, no!  

How can I help him, I think…  Therapy is evidently of no use.  Just “being there for him” is a joke.  

I demand real solutions.

I'll move him in with me for 3 years, let him take time off work, and teach him how to enjoy preparing and eating plant-based food.  That might work.  But why should I dedicate three years of my life to helping just one person?  That thinking is as naive as saying recycling works because it starts with me - cute, but bullshit.  

No, there are billions suffering, and I demand real solutions.