Life in the fat lane

In today’s world we are told, taught and brought up not to discriminate, not to judge and not to ridicule others.

I’m fat and have been for the past 13 years. It has brought on me all sorts of verbal abuse. Many a time I have been the subject of discussion – right from friends to family to almost anyone I meet. It is from a young age that you are made fun of, laughed at; right from school through university and middle age. Why this obsession with perfection. Why are we fed with this image since childhood?

What is this obsession with weight, outward appearances? Pick up any fashion, self-help or gender targeted magazine and you will see that it dictates how and what we should look like, eat and behave. A simple glance at last months issue of GQ or Cosmo reaffirms my case as 70% of problems or products advertised range from Slim-fast to Dr. Atkins which claim to be a sort of magical cure for the ‘ugliness’. Just consider the U-turn that the billion dollar diet industry has taken in the last 3 years. What began with the insurgence of the non dairy, non sugar and the discovery of carbohydrates as the perfect substitute has now led to today’s “Say no to Carbs” plans.

People who you consider friends talk behind your back about your size… your ugliness. Isn’t there much more ugliness in the world… take into account the girls who suffer from anorexia due to peer pressure, malnourished children, murderers, rapists and child molesters. Isn’t this what we should be focusing on?

If I have learnt anything, it is to be prepared and expect such behavior from people. It is to this phenomenon that I attribute my sense of humor, well this and my mentors ‘Robin Williams’ and ‘Eddie Murphy’ for it has become a sort of, for lack of a better word, protective shield that helps me overcome such low cracks.

Growing up I was used to the image of the salesmen at clothing stores who would wince at the thought that they did not carry clothes in my size. What I could only call reverse psychology is the fact that I walk into such stores now, walk up to the sales person directly and before he or she gets a chance to speak I declare “I know you don’t have anything in my size…”. You may say that this does not help anyone but I consider it a small victory at the thought of making that person think twice before snubbing one of ‘us’.

What pisses me off the most is the stereotyping of us FAT people, the two most common being:

He’s so fat so he must eat anything and all the time
He’s so fat so he must be lazy as hell

To the contrary, I neither eat anything I find nor am I lazy. In fact, I am one of the most pickiest people when it comes to food and I know many who eat substantially more that I do and not put on a pound. I do enjoy sports and am a tennis freak that still harbors the love of the game.

The light at the end of the tunnel, for those who still haven’t gotten the point, is that I have learned to understand others and love people for what they are on the inside. I do not regret what or how I am, I only feel sorry for those who are too shallow and superficial to recognize and appreciate the person under the bulk.

It is not your sympathy I seek. It is merely to inform you that I am also human. For it is this shallow world that proves more than anything… SIZE does matter.

(As a footnote I would only like to say that there is a negative in being so obese that it prevents you from carrying out your daily requirements to sustain your livelihood. I am a strong opposer of this, however, I only ask that we approach the person as a human being, a friend and help him overcome)