Haha, quick note: the Bronx actually does have the highest proportion of public assistance in the country. Google it.

Anyway, I grew up in Missouri and it was very difficult to get dental assistance. Like I said, I and many other people were unable to afford orthodontic treatment and I didn't grow up in abject poverty or anything. My treatment now costs well over 6K (this is in NYC, btw) and this is the first time in my life I am able to afford that. I don't think my father would EVER have been able to "put up the cash" for the cost, and probably still would not be able to.

The YMCA costs money to join and so do running shoes. Moreover, if you grow up poverty-stricken and you only learn bad health habits from your parents, what incentive do you have to "run around the neighborhood"--especially if your neighborhood is dangerous, doesn't have adequate places to run, etc.?

The quality of your education depends on where you grow up, what your upbringing is--those things mostly hinge upon MONEY. It's great that you have the motivation to educate yourself and make sure you stay healthy--but from what you wrote, you probably had a decent public school education and a stable upbringing in a two-parent, middle class home in a large urban area that has a high amount of public assistance and education.

You are an exception. There are many, many people out there who have never learned why they should be healthy, or really had any opportunity to improve themselves because of the limitations of having enough money/status/good upbringing. These people are on Facebook because that's all they know about the Internet and it's a social outlet that may relieve some sense of feeling inadequate. They simply don't have the skills to read about nutrition and comprehend how to make a change, though they have the "same access to the same information."

Though there will always be lazy people (of all stripes), I don't think the majority of people who do not pursue health through things like fixing their teeth, going to a gym, etc., are making excuses or "being lazy." I think most are impoverished, overworked, tired, beaten down and ignorant as to how to truly improve their situation.