Chapter12
The following Sunday Frank had agreed to meet Mac at Denny's. Frank was at first reluctant to go. The decision to take Luke off of life support was not yet a month old, terrible feelings still especially haunting, but Frank did recall that something good may be found. Mac stressed he did not wish to make public Luke's tragedy nor his story the cause for any 'Luke's Law'. He recounted his story highlighting similarities between those who can't stop drinking and those who can't stop eating; admitting that the damages caused by alcohol are swifter and more severe, but exhorted him that the damages caused by obesity to society are present and escalating proven by researched facts. Frank, by experience, was well aware of obesity's insidious nature and the awful consequences it poised, and he was somewhat disinclined to offer any help based on his view being that Mac was seeking to exact some kind of revenge for what he was going through. Mac persisted stating that he did not physically harm anyone, staunchly agreed that those drunk drivers who did should be severely punished, and reminded Frank that drunk driver's actions of reckless abandon would remain a public record for life. This was late November, 2014 and Mac asked if Frank was aware of a report issued a few days earlier by the McKinsey Global Institute releasing data claiming the global cost of obesity had reached two trillion dollars a year. If this most likely fact did not patently evince that hundreds of millions of people are eating with reckless abandon, then nothing could. And Mac stated his case succinctly as: people who drink alcohol with reckless abandon are justifiably punished by society for the myriad physical, emotional, and financial damages they cause; people who eat with reckless abandon are not punished by society, period, for the myriad physical, emotional, and financial damages they are causing. Frank was sold. He wanted to help, but he did want to use Luke's poignant story as impetus to the cause ce-le-bre, but only to a few trusted people. He did not, and he already knew Marge absolutely did not, want to divulge all aspects of Luke's life. The short stories and poetry this young man created would perhaps someday be let known. These were words and thoughts delicately and tenderly woven so precociously expressing his deepest, newly discovered, entangled emotions. What Frank and Marge would like to let be known was one letter in which Luke described hating himself for cheating on his diet, not routinely exercising as prescribed, and being a prisoner in his own body, his mind and spirit trapped, able only to wonder what it would be like. Frank quickly formulated this letter, with his and Marge's sense of noblesse oblige, would be worthy adversaries to opposing forces.
The partially completed rough draft of the petition was presented to Frank who cautioned Mac that it may wise to lessen the impact of the arduous ordeals into which convicted drunk drivers were immersed. But this was an essential point; not to garner any public sympathy for drunk drivers, but that the stiff penalties work. They may not be effective to everyone the first time, like the repeat offending blockheads Mac represented, but they worked. Not intending overweight people having to be subjected to anything nearly as strenuous, a point needed to be made that imposing any regulation seizing any amount of personal freedom is effective. The imposition did make an individual think, positively or negatively, it did make the individual ponder the reasons why this is so.
"Do you have any regulations and accompanying penalties thought out yet?" "Well, as you no, any proposal will be very controversial. Above all, I don't want children and teenagers to be affected, and I don't want to associate being overweight a driving impairment that alcohol obviously is. What I think society must