Response Off Base For Weighty Issue

Dear Ann Landers: Are you on vacation? Is the janitor writing your column? I couldn’t believe your answer to “Nowhere to Sit in Maryland.” You accused her of being prejudiced against fat people because she complained that people who had paid for two seats in the stadium were taking up three seats. The slim lady and her husband had no place to sit. You told her to “get a grip.” You’re the one who needs to get a grip. I couldn’t get over your stupid answer. Tampa

Dear Tampa: I don’t know where my head was when I came up with that beauty, but it certainly wasn’t where it should have been. I am embarrassed by the huge number of readers who hauled me up short. As a part of my mea culpa, I am printing additional responses. Keep reading:

From Clearwater, Fla.: You must have had a brain drain when you unloaded on the woman who complained about the overweight couple who took up her space at the basketball game. When you buy a seat, whether it’s for an athletic event, for a movie or on a plane, you are renting space. Those overweight people who plopped themselves down had no more right to take her space than they would to take food off her plate to satisfy their heartier appetites.

Mansfield, Texas: Why should I be inconvenienced and grossed out by some fat slob who invades my space? Isn’t it enough that I have to pay more for medical insurance because of the medical problems associated with obesity?

Hartford, Conn.: I couldn’t believe your mean-spirited response to the couple who paid for two seats at a sports event only to discover that one of their seats had been taken over by an obese couple.

The person who wrote to complain was justifiably angry. Your response was inappropriate, to say the least.

Red Bluff, Calif.: Thin people have rights, too. Why should we have to be squashed or done out of our seats on the bleachers just because some overweight person decides to sit next to us? Rethink that one, Annie. You goofed.

Richmond, Va.: When an extremely obese person steps up to the counter to buy an airline ticket, he or she usually knows from experience to buy two seats. The same should apply to those who attend sporting events. You should have said so instead of delivering an anti-discrimination speech.

Holland, Mich.: I once weighed 400 pounds. I now weigh 300 pounds. I skip many events because I don’t want to inconvenience anyone. I wonder how many other overweight people do this.

Milwaukee: Does that woman who wrote want people in wheelchairs, the blind and the deaf to stay home, also? I have asthma, and I wish people who smoke and wear heavy perfume would stay home, too, but there’s no chance of that, either.

Mendon, N.Y.: Your knee-jerk, liberal proclivities were evident in your answer to the folks who were done out of their bleacher seats by the calorically disadvantaged family. Justice? What’s that? I would have complained to the management, not written to Ann Landers.

Louisville, Ky.: A person who occupies two seats should pay for them. President William Howard Taft, a person of extraordinary girth, enjoyed football games at Yale, his alma mater. He always reserved two seats for himself. One day, unfortunately, his two reserved seats turned out to be on opposite sides of the aisle.

Dear Ky.: Please write again and tell us how that gaffe was resolved. It appears the work of the president’s staff left something to be desired.

So, dear readers, the people have spoken, and they made a lot better sense than I did.