r. Five by Five

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

A close friend of Lady Angela’s mentioned that a man she had been dating was very sensitive about his size. His name was James Skiler who, unfortunately, was dubbed with the nickname Mr. Five by Five because of his size. He was about 5’7” tall and his weight was over 300 pounds. The unfortunate nickname stuck and the more he heard it the worse he felt.

Lady Angela consulted Professor Hamblin and asked for his suggestion on how to get people not to call Jim Mr. Five by Five.

The Professor called in a friend from Vienna who specialized in problems like this one. Dr. Schmitt was his name and he agreed to meet with James Skiler to discuss the situation. After several meetings it became clear to Jim that the more people called him Mr. Five by Five, the sadder and more frustrated he became and, thus, he ate more and more to make himself feel good.

Dr. Schmitt said that if a person ate three meals a day in one year, he would consume 1095 meals and, with snacks now and then, that would add up to more food than one could imagine. Dr. Schmitt also informed Jim that after food is eaten, it takes approximately 15 hours to pass completely through the digestive system and eliminated. That means that his system was working overtime, all the time.

Before Dr. Schmitt returned to Vienna, he left Jim with two things to do. First, take a walk for an hour each day along the lakeshore, or do easy mountain trails, and second, before eating the food, think of it not on the plate, but all ground up in your stomach.

When Dr. Schmitt left he had a brief conversation with Professor Hamblin and said that the success or failure of this plan was now entirely up to Jim.

One year later when Dr. Schmitt returned for a brief visit to Lilliland to visit with his friend, the Professor, Jim was there to greet him. Dr. Schmitt did not recognize Jim at first. Jim said that he was no longer called Mr. Five by Five, but Mr. Slim Jim.

The Baron was pleased about the results and asked the Professor what lesson was to be learned from this experience. The Professor said, “Moderation in all things.”