Confessions of a fat girl

Fat doesn’t mean horrible

• 

I dropped by the post off the other night to get my weekly mail out of our PO Box. As I walked in, I heard some woman in the back of the post office talking about a customer. Where I live, anyone that lives in town has to use the post office for all the mail. So, their customers are my neighbors, business owners or my friends. But, this is what I heard…

“Yeah, it’s that short, fat girl that comes in here all the time,” said one of the workers.

“Oh, yes. I know the one- that one with the big spare tire around her waist and she dresses like she is young and thin,” said the other one worker.

Well, naturally, I thought they were talking about me until they said that she wore clothes that a thin person would wear. But, really they could be talking about any woman in town. Who isn’t a little overweight? Who doesn’t want to be thinner than we are? Who doesn’t want to feel younger than we really are?

It was more of their tone in how they said – “short fat girl”. Like it was a horrible four letter word that most people just whisper. Like it was a horrible disease that would spread if said too loud.

I was furious! Not so much because they said this person was short and fat, but because they were talking about her like her feelings didn’t matter because she was overweight. Just because she is overweight doesn’t mean that she is a horrible person or not worthy of someone’s love and respect. It doesn’t mean that she is not a loving person who would have your back if needed. What made these women think they were any better than this customer?

People talk about prejudices in the world. But, most of the time it’s white versus black. But, let’s be honest, there are a lot more prejudice in the world than that. There are foreigners versus natives. There are gays versus straights. There are unusuals verses ordinary. There are men versus women. And – there are thin versus fat.

What are your thoughts on this issue?