<p>People who just talk crap about obese people really tick me off. My parents are both pretty big. My mom grew up in a very southern house and ate a lot of fried food and what not, but that was the diet back then. You ate that everywhere you went. She looked great until a few years after her wedding when her metabolism stopped being able to keep up with it. Now her and my father eat plenty healthy and exercise but it’s just not as easy as that.</p>
<p>People see a fat person and they automatically dismiss them as idiots. Both of my parents have PhDs and are pretty highly regarded in their respective fields. But I still have to hold myself back when someone mutters something about my parents in public. If you’re healthy, good for you. But it doesn’t give you a right to feel superior to anyone else. 99.999 percent of the people who have said things about my parents are usually vastly under qualified in comparison.</p>
<p>But I do think that putting people under federal protection is dumb. My parents have fended for themselves very well up to this point. I’m extremely proud of them and love them dearly. They paved their ways without any government help… putting people on disability just gives them that much more inspiration to be complacent.</p>
<p>Two pounds a week is anguish for someone who has 100 to lose. I would compare this to the poor guy who has to go through rehab and learn how to do the simplest things again- walk, move fingers, etc. Seems simple to the rest of us who can do it, but for him it’s agonizingly hard work.</p>
<p>I think that the thing that people in this situation need is compassion and support. And to know (and for people to recognize) that what they are going through in the dieting process is unbelievably difficult, that what they are doing is admirable and worthy of respect.</p>
<p>After thinking about this thread and the stupid things that I had said, I realized what a hypocrite I had been with my kids. I have always insisted that they be kind to others, especially those who were different or suffering in any way. If I caught them making fun of someone, they were punished. I told them that even THINKING cruel thoughts or dismissing someone because they were different was wrong.
I realized that what I had taught my kids needed to apply to me. Although I had never taunted or said cruel things to an obese person’s face, I thought those things. I wrote those things here, and I joined in in discussions about this topic at work etc. When I realized this, I was really sick to my stomach. I was truly disgusted with myself.
I can’t take back the things I said, although I wish I could, but I’ve decided to try to turn around my attitude. Someone here said that they often feel like people just look past them, they don’t meet eyes with them and they feel ashamed. Today while I was at the mall, I made a point to meet eyes with and smile at any obese people that I saw. It may sound silly, but it was one way that I could feel that I was affirming someone and it was a good step for me.</p>
<p>Sarahsmom, it doesn’t sound silly. Sounds genuine and heartfelt to me (and reminds me that I have a whole lot of work to do on myself :eek:). Welcome to the sinner’s side of the room. We may be imperfect but it’s in recognizing that we are imperfect that we become truly human. Remember- we are all in this leaky boat together. Congratulations. ;)</p>
<p>I may be just a sinner
and I wouldn’t say I ain’t
but I know I’ll never get to Heaven
thinking I’m a saint. ;)</p>
<p>“I may be just a sinner
and I wouldn’t say I ain’t
but I know I’ll never get to Heaven
thinking I’m a saint”</p>
<p>That’s cute. Is it a Curmudgeon original, or a song lyric?</p>
<p>“We’re all sinners, that’s why we go” was always my Mom’s answer when I complained about going to Mass & watching the hypocrites receive Communion.</p>
<p>
I can’t blame that one on anyone but me. (Cute? Dang. I missed that mark. LOL.)</p>