At Play In Shackles

Stories about the dangers of obesity pop up nearly every day, with either one group condemning junk food or another lambasting the evils of gaming consoles for replacing the playing parks with joypad and sofa. 'We are a nation of couch potatoes!' They yell. 'Heart attacks are coming early!' They forecast. It seems woe is us as we fumble our way through burger joints and ipods.
But has anyone ever stopped to wonder why? Why are we drowned in technology comas and playing cricket on a 42" inch screen? Why can't we be bothered to get up off our pizza padded asses and get some exercise in?
Allow me to enlighten you; its all down to what I call L.L.A. or Lily Livered Attidudes. Or as others call it, the Nanny State. We have allowed these nambi-pambi minority groups trick us into believing everything is dangerous. And this has resulted in the 'NO' signs sprouting up all over the place.
I will give you an example from my hometown of Burry Port in West Wales. This wonderful little village has 3 harbours and a beach, and every summer when I was a child would be spent swimming and diving in these docks. My fellow bathers and I would spend hours swimming, free from the whims of the molly coddle brigade. It was a ton of exercise each day.
Fast forward twenty years and the harbours have been closed off by metal fences and those annoying 'No Swimming' signs. Teenagers can no longer indulge in the calorie beating thrills I was afforded in my school holidays, so who can blame them for retreating into the clutches of the Playstation3? Children have been wrapped in so much cotton wool by the L.L.A that its wonder to me how they are still allowed bicycles.
What is it that makes some so paranoid of everything? Sure there are dangers in bathing in docks but there is risk to most outdoor activities. In all my years swimming in the sea, be it beach or harbour, never once were there any tragic accidents. In fact there were more reports of accidents in swimming pools than at the beach. But hey never mind, make the harbour off limits anyway. In an impossible endeavour to keep our young (and old) free from harm the L.L.A. and yogurt knitters have created the walking cardiac nightmares we see puffing away today.
And those wretched 'NO' signs are springing up everywhere not only on harbour walls. Parks have 'Do Not Climb The Trees', fields announce 'No Picnics', on and on it goes until the scope for enjoying the great oudoors becomes very limited indeed. No wonder children today prefer indoor pursuits because the woollen hearted (and brained) have all but banned outdoor pleasures. Little good whining now that obesity is a problem, its the L.L.A. which have created the waddling fatties.
If you restrict all but the super safe (cricket with foam bats and balls anyone?) then people have no choice but to turn to their video games for thrills. At least swimming in those is allowed.
These people are cutting the young to the root by being so soft and we are already witnessing the results. It was quite rare to see a podgy child when I was younger, of course they were there but the majority of my classmates were lean and able to complete cross country running without breaking a sweat. And we had computer games back then, only then we were free to swim and climb so the games took more of a back seat. The 'No' signs will be a ruin for years to come on health and well being, and chubby children will become the least of our worries mark my words.
Of course there needs to be safety precautions and only a fool would deny them, but the outright banning of things purely because of an element of danger is sheer folly for tragedy will find another way: in our hearts.