Dear Editor,

1 These days, walking past billboards full of slimming companies’ advertisements has made me feel sick. Therefore, this made me think of writing a letter to discuss the advantages and mostly, the disadvantages of keeping fit.

2 Keeping fit has been regarded as one of the most important parts of daily life all over the world. In other words, everyone, despite nationality and background, is eager to be thin and fit. In an international city like Hong Kong, keeping fit could also be turned into a tool, very helpful in making our lives. When you are having a job interview, a nice face and slim body may greatly increase your chance of getting hired. Companies’ bosses are always thinking about how to improve their enterprise’s image. Having beautiful clerks and handsome salesmen is the simplest way to achieve this. This is why they prefer hiring fit people.

3 Having a slim body may also be an advantage towards your health. If you have got a slim body using a healthy way, you are mostly a healthy man. The problem is, not all the Hong Kong people think in this way. They seek for faster but destructive ways. Lots of problems, like the points I mention in the following, arise.

4 In Hong Kong, many slimming companies promote “thin is beauty”. Almost none of them mentioned inner beauty. Why? It is because selling outer beauty is always easier selling inner beauty. For this reason, they use tons of medicine, pills and bizarre treatments, in addition to unhealthy diets and an overload of exercise. Although most of them take effect after some time, you will turn into a miserable starving stick, leaving you feel like being tortured, for days and days.

5 Another disadvantage is about self-confidence. If you always think about being fit, you will never be happy about your body. Therefore, you will be afraid of appearing in places like swimming pools and gyms, where your whole body is exposed. You would be angry with people with slimmer bodies and sweeter faces. Although beauty is only skin deep, who cares?

6 The last point is about money. Of course, Hong Kong is a wealthy city. Everywhere you see money. Everyone talks about money. Everything you see is about money. When everything is expensive and unemployment and inflation rate is high, it is unbelievable that people, especially women, are willing to take out wallets and pour red and brown notes into the sea without regret. Isn’t it stupid? They starve for beauty! I utterly admit that money spent on slimming companies is wasted. Why not save the money and have a healthy dinner? Why starve for skin-deep beauty?

7 To conclude, I stand for keeping fit, but not in a blindly way. Not every road leads to Rome. If you want to be thin, hard work in a sensible way is necessary. I strongly believe that nature is beauty. I wish that all the Hong Kong people understand a saying: “Clothes do not make the man”. Beauty is not the only thing we should care about. Let us develop a healthy lifestyle instead of starving for a slim beauty!

Yours faithfully,
William Ngo