There are going to be some people who
will not like me much after reading this post but I am hoping that there will
also be people who understand that the truth, although painful sometimes, will
indeed set you free. Not only will it
set you free but it will save your life.
What I am talking about is FAT people.
Yes I said that terrible word; that politically and socially incorrect
word in describing people who are extraordinarily large. In some people’s mind that makes me a horrible
person with no feelings and no soul.
Just plain mean. Someone posted these exact sentiments about me on Facebook. In fact that’s
why I decided to post about the state of being FAT and the painful truth.
Ok, Ok I need to give you the
back story. A friend of mine posted this
picture one day and a whole lot of people commented in various non-flattery
ways about her size and let’s just say her outrageous outfit. I also commented, basically saying something to
the effect that the woman in question was really huge and had really bad taste in
clothes. All of a sudden other folks
came out of the woodwork to let me know in no uncertain terms that I was the
most terrible person on the planet because I was discriminating against larger
women. I had to think about this for a
moment and examine myself and my true nature.
Was I really that much of a bigot?
I didn’t see how I could be since I was also overweight. True enough I am in the process of trying to
lose weight and has had significant success but the fact remains that my body
fat of 28.3% is just a little bit under what is considered obese. It was probably not a good idea to make fun
of someone but it is also not a good idea to coddle a person and not tell it
like it is. In our society today we are
all so scared of sounding politically or socially incorrect that we invent very
creative ways to describe a situation or a person. The entire American society has found ways to
make being FAT not only acceptable but even beautiful. We have television reality shows glorifying
fat people and their antics. We have
magazines glorifying being big such as BBW (Big Beautiful Women). We have
clothing catalogs called “Big & Beautiful”.
We use “Queen” to designate large size panty hose. Stores that call their clothes “Plus Size”
instead of extra-large. The list goes on and on all the while people are
getting larger and larger; I mean fatter and fatter. And
all the diseases associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, etc.
have become epidemic. Why are we not
telling the plain and painful truth which is …. Being fat is not
beautiful. Being fat is not
healthy. Being fat is a sure way to get
a myriad of chronic diseases that cause you to have a terrible quality of life
when you get older and will shorten your life.
There is nothing good about not being able to do the simplest things in
life such as running if you had to, or bending over to tie your shoes or going
up the stairs without having to stop to catch your breath or being able play
energetically with your children. All of
these things and so much more is what the human body was designed for. Being fat robs you of these simple
abilities. What is good about that?
How about as a society we tell
the truth for once and look the problem in face as it really is. There is one thing that I absolutely know and
that is you can’t fix a problem if you don’t first admit there is a
problem. I can absolutely relate to how
painful it is to acknowledge that I was obese.
I tried to shut out the voice inside of me, the voice that was
whispering the truth to me. Believe me I
understand as much as anyone how easy it is to pretend that I didn’t have a
problem. I understand as much as anyone
how desperately I wanted to believe that I wasn’t really that fat; that I was
just a little overweight and that I still looked good.
And here is the proof.
See, even I can wear something
so completely inappropriate for my weight and look like a fool. I just wished that someone had pulled me aside
and told me the truth. I looked hideous. I wished that my
husband would have said to me “sweetheart, you know that I love you but I
really feel that you need to rethink that outfit”. Yes it would have hurt for a minute but it
would have given me the kick that I needed to face the truth, the wake up call a
little sooner to do something about my FAT. I don’t blame my husband; he didn’t
want to hurt my feelings. My FAT is MY
responsibility. However, we as a society
are NOT doing anyone any favors by coddling their feelings on this matter. We have to find ways to convey how important
it is for them to not only do it to look better but to do it to get
healthier. That is the role that we can
play and should play. If we don't do this the people we care about will fall to diseases of obesity and they and us will have to pay for the associated medical cost either directly or indirectly. The people on Facebook who criticized
me about being mean saying that they didn’t believe that I had the guts to tell
someone to their face about their size.
Well I do have the guts. I have a
couple of good friends who I gently but firmly told them that they needed to do
something because they were getting too large to be healthy. Their reaction at first was one of hurt but
then they realized that I told them because I cared about them. Both have taken action and have started on
their own journey toward fitness. I know
that what I said was not the only catalyst that started them but it played a part. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the
person who needs to change but our responsibility as friends, family and society
is to tell the truth and to encourage. There
is no denying that the Truth Will Set You Free to be the person that you know
you can be.
