Don't Feed the Animals!

Last night my youngest daughter said something to me that I didn't really take as seriously as I should have. I am sure everyone knows by now what happened in my home state of Virginia on Saturday. I even wrote a post about it just a couple of days ago. I have to say I have become a little obsessed with reading all the articles, and interviews, and tweets about the event and the "president's" (lower case intended) response to the entire situation. Along with reading that news, I am also reading comment after comment from people about each article, etc. etc., the good and the bad. She looked at me and said, "I don't want you on your phone all of the time reading all this negative stuff." I put it away until I was by myself much later last night, and I began to look through Facebook again. Opening up each MUST READ. I came upon an HBO documentary about last Saturday's events, an inside look at what led up to, and all during the monstrosity from the perspective of the "Alt-Wrong" It was truly terrifying! Every word out of these people's mouths was hurtful and hateful and disgusting. They are so angry, and with the empowerment and approval of the "president" they are ready to "Take back their country" by FORCE. There are 2 words missing from that sentence, "if necessary." The reason they are missing is because they are planning on using force. They want to. They can't wait for the next time to see how they can top last Saturday. Killing one girl wasn't enough. In their leader's own words, they showed restraint Saturday. To me that means one death was not enough, they want more. They are blood thirsty animals, and they scare the shit out of me! I was more frightened by Saturday's events than I was after 9/11. I had a hard time going to sleep last night. My little girl was right. How can I function when every free moment I am reading about hate and evil and violence? Will Smith said, "Racism isn't getting worse. It's getting filmed." That's it! It has always been there, but now we literally have the ability to see everything that is going on everywhere every minute of the day, and we have become addicted to it, at least I have. The monkey on my back is Facebook. Facebook started out for me as a way to see friends and their kids and to connect about shows and to make up funny things to be my "status, " and scrolling through, I saw much of the same, but, like everything else, it has evolved, and I don't really like what it has become, but I can't let go. Not just about this issue, but I have seen friends attacked verbally, and, no, I am not exaggerating, for posting a video or quote that they believe in or find poignant, or thought-provoking, and people tear into them as if they had challenged them to a duel. I will guarantee those same people would not have the guts to blast with both barrels if they were having a conversation face-to-face, but hiding behind the phone or computer screen they are empowered. Well, I'm sick of it! ALL of it! Now, please don't take this as me putting my head in the sand and pretending none of this is happening. I'm not! I have other ways of finding things out, keeping abreast of current events. I do not need it in my face every waking moment. Can we go back to the days of "Film at 11?" I know it's out there, and I want to make it go away, but I will be honest, I don't want to put myself in harm's way, nor do I want my children to put themselves in harm's way. If that makes me a coward, well, paint me yellow. I am all about standing up for what is right and what I believe in, but these people aren't Westboro Baptist Church. They are armed and dangerous, and they want to fight! They also want attention as does their inspiration, DJT. You can't fight these people with love, not as an organized group at least. You fight all of this by not engaging, not paying attention. If no one is there to film their ridiculous behavior and their words of hate and disrespect, it takes the wind out of their sails. "If a tree falls in the forest..."
When all of this happened Saturday, and there was rumor that it would happen here as well, someone commented to let them show up to a literal Ghost Town, no businesses open, no one on the street, nothing, including NO MEDIA! To whom would they spew their hate then? It would be as if they had never been there. I like that idea, a lot! I just wish that we could all agree to do exactly that. I am, at least going to start by trying not to dwell on the negative. If you starve the animal, it cannot live! Don't feed the BEAST!

On the Flip Side

For my readers that don't know me, I am considered, in palatable terms, big and beautiful, curvy, or plus sized. I have struggled with weight issues most of my life. I have yo-yo'ed up and down the scale, and been on more diets than I can count. Let's face it. Even though we live in a country that has a massive amount of the population considered overweight, the world is not made for us. Blah, blah, blah. You've heard it all before. It is a concern of mine, and I have a lot to say about it, but this post is not about that. It's a different kind of body image concern. I have 2 beautiful daughters. My youngest is very petite in every way. She takes after my grandmother who never grew to over 5 feet. At 20, Georgi is 5'1" tall, and that is where she will stay. In the past 7 or 8 months, she has lost a healthy amount of weight. She looks amazing! She has worked hard to eat healthy and get fit. She works out and not in an obsessive way, but a healthy amount. She has an adorable figure, and I am so proud of her. She lost weight, something this country is consumed with, by the way, (US News and World Report puts the cost at over 60 billion dollars a year) but because she wasn't fat to begin with, or what we think of as fat, all kinds of interesting things started to happen.

About 5 years ago, I lost almost 50 lbs. Now, I certainly needed to lose weight, and I lost it under the advice of my doctor. People praised me, told me they were proud of me, and that I looked GREAT. Some even told me they looked at me as an inspiration. Yay! for me, right? At 50 lbs. gone, I still could have lost 50 more, and been at a healthy weight, but everyone's reaction to me was positive, encouraging and re-enforcing. Georgi met with different reactions after just losing a little over 30 lbs. It started with a family member who jokingly, and I use the term loosely because it wasn't funny, asked her if she was bulimic or anorexic. Countless people have come up to her  and me at church or at events and made a comment of how thin she was and asked was she going about it in a healthy way. No WOWs! No You look great! No pride. All negativity. All skepticism. Why? because she's petite to begin with? Because she wasn't "fat" she has no right to work out and get healthy? STOP! Don't answer those questions. IT DOESN'T MATTER! The point here is why do people feel the need to comment at all? How dare you come up and imply that, because she is at a great weight, and looks great in her clothes, and except for the fact that she's 5'1",  she could probably walk any runway, she's going about it in an unhealthy way. That would have been like people coming up to me before I started to lose my weight or even now and say, "Gosh, you're so fat! Are you being healthy?" No one would think of doing that!!!! Why do they feel it's justified to ask that of Georgi? It is just plain rude. It is insulting to Georgi and all of us that live with her and love her that she would take that path, and that we would let her. Here's a wonderful idea! Let's stop commenting about each other's bodies all together. Fat, thin, skinny, overweight, it's really nobody's business but our own. We should never feel ashamed about the way we look, so don't make us!