McDonalds = Obesity?

Last week I watched a T.V. documentary with my mother on how McDonald's is the lead contributer to obesity. The reporter on this issue spoke to numerous managers and CEO's of McDonald's in North America. The reporter also traveled to Asia and met with one of the CEO's of McDonald's who overlooked McDonald's in Asia, Africa and India. McDonald's meal plan is the same throughout the country. Although McDonald's has added apples, 1% milk and salads to their menu most people stick to the regular numbers ones or two's shown above the registers. Also, a standard happy meal for children comes with burgers or chicken nuggets, french fries and a soda. A customer must ask for apples to substitute for the fries and a water to substititute for the soda. If the customers don't know what McDonald's has to offer how will the diet ever become healthy? Across the world in China, the infamous feature around America, the drive through, is brand new to the Chinese. There are only thirteen present drive throughs which took a lot of training and discipline for the Chinese to understand how to use one. For instance, they showed a clip of one McDonald's worker, who was working the window of a drive through, walk out of the store and around the corner to where the car was parked waiting at the window. However, not only do the workers need training for such a new invention but as well as the drive through customers. For example, some customers first drive through the exit instead of the entrance while some park their cars and bring the food into the restaurant after they waited in line at the DRIVE THROUGH! While I found this information amusing at the same time I found it interesting because drive throughs are common in America. Back to the nutrient of McDonald's I don't think they should be blamed for obesity because there are plenty of other fast food restaurants such as Burger King, Wendy's and Checkers just to name a few whose diets are similar to McDonald's. Also, McDonald's advertise the packs of apples and 1% milk on their commercials which most Americans probably see because the media is big a thing. I wish the documentary went into a futher investigation on McDonald's in other parts of the world as well because to learn about China's culture was interesting.

The Madeleine McCann Dissappearance

I am not sure if people are aware that a 4 year-old British girl, named Madeleine McCann, has been missing since May. A friend of mine approached me with the story and was shocked that I had not heard about it. What was even more surprising was that this little girl has been missing for over a hundred days! My friend gave me a newspaper article on the story of Madeleine from the Washington Post. I was informed that while this little girl and her family were on vacation in Portugual, her parents went out to eat in a nearby restaurant and left Madeleine and her twin siblings unattended. Although the mother went randomly to check on them in the hotel, Madeleine still went missing. I agree with some of the critics and reporters that the parents should not have left their children, who are sooooooo young, in a hotel room on vacation by themselves. However, I found out that in Britain many restaurants do not allow children so it is common for kids in Britain to be left alone. The parents of Madeleine were never suspects in her dissappearance however investigators have begun to question them.
While the search has continued to look for Madeleine, a website was designed to remind people of the little British girl. Since the investigation has been going on for quite some time, her parents fear that society will forget about their little girl. I had a chance to visit this website and found it heartwarming. The many photos of Madeleine McCann were spread throughout the homepage of the site as well as various information. What I also found interesting on the website were blog entries. Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann, keeps a blog which he updates every so often. Of course he cannot reveal to much information but I felt that it was another way to let the public know how important his little girl is to him and the struggles his family has been going through.
I encourage everyone that has read this entry to visit the website. The site accepts donations and additional information on child exploitation.

Why I Write

The answer to the question, why do I write, is simple. I write because I have to. I write because I am instructed to do so. I write because it is demanded to me by a great deal of teachers and professors. I write because I need to complete a task assigned to me. Finally, I write to be prepared for what lies ahead in my future.
Unfortunately I do not write because I have a great deal of love and passion for writing. However, I write because it is required. Luckily I do not have a fear of writing anymore. I say anymore because when I was younger I disliked writing. But through my years of numerous assignments in elementary school and high school I have overcome my dread for writing. Now, I do not find myself fussing and worrying over writing tasks yet there are still assignments that I find challenging as I progress in age and school.
Although I am not enthusiastic about writing I do feel that it is a good way to gather and express one’s emotions and thoughts. When I am told to write, since I would not volunteer to write on my own, I provide in my writing the way I feel about a certain topic. This allows me to state my personal feelings on the subject as well as my perception and standpoint on the matter.
To conclude the reason of why I write, I want to make clear that I do not hate to write. I like to write so I can put my thoughts into words and become successful in the future. Writing is just not my first preference.