10 Year-old Athlete Too Fat, Says Mass. Schools

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/06/is-this-10-year-old-too-fat-the-state-of-massachusetts-apparently-thinks-so/

Things like this get to me. When a state that saw much of the pre-war protests against Parliament and bore the brunt of the earliest fighting for our independence engages in bizarre governmental intrusions, the handwriting on the wall becomes ever more clear.

"The state of Massachusetts thinks 10-year-old Cameron Watson is fat, and they sent a letter to his family letting them know.

The multi-sport athlete and wrestling champion is roughly 94 pounds, but his school said in a letter that based on his BMI, the child is overweight.

“I wrestle, play football, baseball, I ride bikes, play basketball, baseball, MMA,” Cameron objected. “I know I’m not obese so I don’t really care about the letter…I just crumpled it up.”........

The system of arbitrarily using height/weight charts or Body Mass Indicator standards is an example of how the state wants to neatly define everyone while ignoring anything unique about an individual. These systems can only be used to get a tentative assessment, not to determine conclusively whether or not a person needs to lose weight.

They often fare very poorly when -you guessed it, boys and men are measured. When a male has significantly more muscle mass than the average guy of his age and height, even BMI cannot be used as a sole determining tool.

Males have been getting beaten in the military up for being muscular or naturally heavily-built  for over twenty-five years. When I was in the Marine Corps from 1985-1989, I watched one poor sap after another either get put on weight control or have to jump through flaming hoops to get company commanders to write letters on their behalf. These guys were not fat; they were the same guys who could carry the machine gun, extra ammunition, full personal equipment (including backpack), and everything else that may be needed, such as a tripod. The same guys could march at a fast pace for mile after mile and still run with the same load when needed. I was glad to have them on my side. They could certainly add my frame to their load of I ever got hurt.

It is far worse when a kid gets targeted by the all-powerful system of control. You have to see the photos of the kid in the article in the link at top. The top photo shows the face of a kid that no one in their right mind would think is obese. The bottom photo shows him in a wresting singlet; again, this boy strong and athletic.

Any outward manifestations of manliness, be it acts of protection, virtue, or physical strength, must now be labeled as aberrant.

This is something that will likely haunt us through works such as Obamacare and whatever else is coming down the pike. People will be saddled with notes about being chronically overweight  in their medical files. These notes will count against them when they apply to military programs or, upon getting getting older, when the death panels go to work deciding who gets treatment and who does not.