
The author of "Junk Food in Schools Contributes to Obesity and Threatens US Security", William Christeson, is an active member of the nonprofit organization, Mission: Readiness that aims to help America's youth.  Mission: Readiness is a group of retired military leaders who are trying to raise awareness and find a solution to the epidemic that is childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has become one of the biggest threats to the nation's children.  "Childhood obesity has tripled in the last four decades and is directly affecting enlistment into the military" (Christeson).  Obesity has become a rising epidemic in the United States and Christeson along with the other members of this nonprofit organization are trying to raise awareness and find a solution.  Through the use of pathos, William Christeson successfully educates readers on the severity of the obesity crisis in America; this is created by his sense of urgency, strong language, and his clear and concise plan of action to save the country.

Christeson is trying to argue that childhood obesity is America's problem as a whole.  His goal is to educate readers on what the true problem is and who is to blame.  "[Childhood obesity] is also the primary medical reason why people cannot enlist in the military: one in four young adults is too overweight to be recruited" (Christeson).  This statement is at the very beginning of Christeson's essay.  This statement evokes pathos because if young people cannot enlist, the entire country's safety is at risk.  After the quoted statement, Christeson follows it by blaming school district for serving junk food and sugary snacks.  This causes the reader to associate school and what they serve to children, with this gigantic issue.  Giving examples of how the schools are to blame will help guide the reader. Along with actually stating how the schools are to blame, the language that Christeson uses evokes much pathos.  Words such as epidemic, abrupt, excess all create a sense of urgency.  One of the authors main objectives, is to communicate how serious this issue truly is.  The targeted audience for this essay is parents of young children.  As they read through this essay, they will begin to feel a sense of urgency and ideally try to change what their children are being served while at school.  

Christeson doesn't only talk about the issues, he presents the reader with a clear cut solution.  Since he uses pathos throughout, the reader begins to feel the desire to help make a change.  After he describes how truly urgent this is, he then shifts into a proactive approach.  He presents his argument that schools are to blame by stating, "Children consuming an additional 130 calories in junk food sold at school each day is part of the obesity problem" (Christeson).  He argues that by educating each individual child on what is and is not good for their bodies will cause children to subconsciously become more aware of their health.  This can be done by initiating health courses and more physical education classes.  "When New York City combined limiting junk food in its schools with other improvements in nutrition, physical activity, and child- and parent-education that took place not only in the schools but city-wide, rates of obesity among its K-8 children dropped by 5.5 percent in just four years" (Christeson).  This example makes the reader associate the initiatives that Christeson suggested with success and ultimately a safer United States.  

Christeson uses the pathos appeal very brilliantly throughout his essay.  He begins with the background on how this issue has become so alarming, and then continues to tell of the statistics behind it.  After setting up the background and alarms the reader, he then presents how the obesity problem directly affects the United States military.  Not only does weight affect how many people are able to enlist, Christeson explains that it is forcing the military to spend a lot of money on medical expenses for retired veterans.  "The military's TRICARE health insurance system serves active duty personnel, their dependents and veterans. It spends well over $1 billion a year on treating weight-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease" (Christeson).  So along with pathos, the author is establishing some logos.  This huge amount of money is being spent on inactive military personal directly because of their weight.  This is taking money away from recruitment and active military personal's needs.  This is a direct cause and effect from public school system lunches. Throughout this essay, the reader constantly has a cause and effect mentality.  This is the proper use of both pathos and ethos.  While the reader is feeling the fear set up by the lack of available military, the explanation and statistical proof offers actual backing to his claims.  

William Christeson is very affective in his pathos approach to parents.  The organization of his points guides the readers through perfectly.  He does not stand on pathos alone; logos is clearly presented whenever he compares the amount of sugary snacks American children consume at school to the weigh of an entire aircraft carrier.  Ethos is established by his past military experience.  It is stated in the very beginning of the essay that the nonprofit group he is a member of, Mission: Readiness, is entirely made up of retired military leaders.  Since his previous experience in the military, the reader can assume that he wants to keep the United States safe and help the number of young people enlisting rise to the pre-epidemic numbers.  His argument is presented in all three appeals, but the one that is the most affective and the one he depends on the most is pathos.  William Christeson presents a clear plan of action that evokes fear in Americans and creates a call to action for school systems.

