Grateful + frustration

Recently, reading about
        -- the health disparities around the world

Waiting room at a clinic. Cholera epidemic in Haiti because of a lack of clean water system.

        -- the harsh reality of this:

Living as a girl in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

This makes me so grateful for the upbringing I had. And then I think about America's long standing problem with

Obesity.

If I end up being involved with global health as I plan to, I'm wary of the frustration that I might feel with patients who can't keep their weight down. I know it's a complicated issue. Obesity is a result of genetics, the environment, our culture, exercise, etc. etc. I know that every patient has suffered and deserves at the very least a doctor's respect, but on the inside, I fear I will be looking down on them. I will think, there are people fighting for their lives, living in disgrace, and here, you can't find the willpower to keep your weight down.

Every person is a human being.
Yet, I'm a little torn.

Does this make me a terrible person?
How do I deal with this?


Photo credits: Haiti & cholera, Michael Appleton for The New York Times; Shining Hope for Communities