There is a poem my mother used to read to us as a child by Charles Malam called Steam Shovel. The opening lines are:

The dinosaurs are not all dead.
I saw one raise its iron head
To watch me walking down the road
Beyond our house today. 

This morning, as I was loading up our car at the hotel we stayed at in Fresno, I was reminded of this poem. Across the parking lot from the hotel is a restaurant called Huckleberry’s.  It’s a nice enough place, we actually ate there this morning. The food is a bit heavy for my liking, but most people I know would enjoy it.

What I noticed while loading the car was the clientele waking into or out of the restaurant.  I saw something like 20 people either going in or out, and all of them were obese. Were talking 60-100 lbs overweight or more. Every one! It was like seeing the beginnings of an over-eaters anonymous meeting.

Mind you, I carry 15-20 on my belly I could do without, so I’m not claiming perfections here, nor do I have the spare time to be a gym rat anymore — but com’on people!  The fatty food you are eating is killing you! Really really slowly, but it is still killing you.

So what came to my mind was that us American’s were cursed by some AmerIndian Shaman, into becoming the buffalo we killed off many years ago. To paraphrase the poem, the buffalo are not all dead, I saw them walking to a shed…

Then I noticed all of the other restaurants in Fresno, and I have to say there are a lot of ones that serve red meat and potatoes, while I saw only one that looked like it sold “healthy” food. I’m telling you people, the ancient curse is starting to take hold. We are becoming buffalo.