Have you ever noticed how some people just can't tolerate silence? They always have to have noise around them, whether it is the television or music on in the background, or they are actively talking to someone. It is almost like the silence unnerves them and weighs too heavily for them to be comfortable or something.
I love silence. When I am home alone, I rarely have music or the TV on. I love to just sit and focus on whatever it is that I'm doing while the silence just enfolds me like a blanket. It lets my mind clear out all of those random thoughts that we all get every day. It goes through them, sorting them out and throwing the irrelevant ones out while filing the good ones away for deeper thought. Sometimes I make plans for the future in my head, things I want to do around the house or for my business, and with the silence around me I can just drift from idea to idea without my train of thought getting interrupted.
Sure, I like to watch movies, and am a Music Based Lifeform, but when I am home alone and everything is silent around me except for the normal house noises of HVAC, the ice in the icemaker dropping, and the jingling of the bells on the cats' collars, I just feel so very content.
I'm not sure if that makes me strange or not. But really, it is who I am, and I'm okay with that.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
LiveBlog: Reading "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
These are notes from my second session of reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It is slow going as I am taking notes, and, quite frankly, haven't been in the right mindset to read this particular book for the past few days. But onward we go!
Peter Keating - Perfect in every way, at least outwardly. Inside he is unsure. Unsure of himself, unsure of his skills or talents, and unsure of his place in life. There are so many who suffer these same insecurities without the advantages he has. I'm not sure yet if I should feel pity for him or empathy. His mother is passive-aggressive and manipulative. His friends don't seem to really be friends because his facade, his public face, is too impenetrable. I'm curious to see where things go and what he ends up representing.
Page 38
New word: Pilaster
Definitions: The pilaster is an architectural element in classical architecture used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other elements. - Wikipedia
Page 45
"The Columbian Exposition of Chicago opened in the year 1893.
The Rome of two thousand years ago rose on the shores of Lake Michigan, a Rome improved by pieces of France, Spain, Athens, and every style that followed it. It was a "Dream City" of columns, triumphal arches, blue lagoons, crystal fountains and popcorn. Its architects competed on who could steal best, from the oldest source, and from the most sources at once. It spread before the eyes of a new country every structural crime ever committed in all the old ones. It was white as a plague and it spread as such."
Rand demonstrates a serious contempt of history and tradition with this passage. It almost seems as though she has gone past the point of "we shouldn't be slaves to tradition" and into a realm where nothing traditional holds any value, it just holds mankind back from necessary growth.
That seems to be a very extreme line of thought to me. I agree that traditions need to be re-assessed on a regular basis to determine whether they are still applicable to our lives, still relevant in some way. But I am definitely not in the camp that would throw the baby out with the bath water.
Traditions can be updated, changed, or even left behind if that is needed for growth. That said, it should never be done lightly or summarily. Maintaining a connection with the past is equally important as laying a path toward the future.
That's as far as I've gotten right now. More to come as I continue reading!
Peter Keating - Perfect in every way, at least outwardly. Inside he is unsure. Unsure of himself, unsure of his skills or talents, and unsure of his place in life. There are so many who suffer these same insecurities without the advantages he has. I'm not sure yet if I should feel pity for him or empathy. His mother is passive-aggressive and manipulative. His friends don't seem to really be friends because his facade, his public face, is too impenetrable. I'm curious to see where things go and what he ends up representing.
Page 38
New word: Pilaster
Definitions: The pilaster is an architectural element in classical architecture used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other elements. - Wikipedia
Page 45
"The Columbian Exposition of Chicago opened in the year 1893.
The Rome of two thousand years ago rose on the shores of Lake Michigan, a Rome improved by pieces of France, Spain, Athens, and every style that followed it. It was a "Dream City" of columns, triumphal arches, blue lagoons, crystal fountains and popcorn. Its architects competed on who could steal best, from the oldest source, and from the most sources at once. It spread before the eyes of a new country every structural crime ever committed in all the old ones. It was white as a plague and it spread as such."
Rand demonstrates a serious contempt of history and tradition with this passage. It almost seems as though she has gone past the point of "we shouldn't be slaves to tradition" and into a realm where nothing traditional holds any value, it just holds mankind back from necessary growth.
That seems to be a very extreme line of thought to me. I agree that traditions need to be re-assessed on a regular basis to determine whether they are still applicable to our lives, still relevant in some way. But I am definitely not in the camp that would throw the baby out with the bath water.
Traditions can be updated, changed, or even left behind if that is needed for growth. That said, it should never be done lightly or summarily. Maintaining a connection with the past is equally important as laying a path toward the future.
That's as far as I've gotten right now. More to come as I continue reading!
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
LiveBlog: Reading "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
I've never actually read either The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, and yet 'Randian Philosophy' is referred to on a constant basis in the political world. This made me decide that it was important to go to the source material and try to use it to understand where those who use it as a basis for their outlook are coming from. I started just taking notes in my Commonplace Book, but when I mentioned it, people on my Facebook page said that they would be interested in seeing my notes. Thus, here I am, typing them up as I go.
Just a warning, I'm a fast reader when it is fluff, but when it is something I am really trying to digest and am taking notes on, I tend to go a lot more slowly. So this will probably be a fairly extensive series of blog posts. I will tag them all with the book title and author, so that if people want to go right to them, they can, and those who want to avoid them can easily do so.
The notes will be typed in here exactly as written in my Commonplace Book, no editing, so you will be able to get my reactions as they were in real time rather than reactions modified by reflection on what I had already written.
So...we begin:
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 @ 12:45 p.m.
Ayn Rand's books are the cornerstone of much of the Neo-Conservative philosophy so prevalent in our country today. I want to read this source material to get a better understanding of where they are coming from. I will NEVER agree with them, but understanding is the first step toward defeating their mindset.
Introduction, Page X
"The man-worshipers, in my sense of the term, are those who see man's highest potential and strive to actualize it. The man-haters are those who regard man as a helpless, depraved, contemptible creature - and struggle never to let him discover otherwise." - Ayn Rand
This passage already confuses me. I am not sure how the Far Right, with their Conservative Christian views of man as a sinner and God as his only path to redemption can reconcile the dissonance between these two stances. Or do they even try? Is this one of those conveniently ignored aspects of the whole?
Page 23
"You must learn to understand - and it has been proved by all authorities - that everything beautiful in architecture has been done already. There is a treasure mine in every style of the past. We can only choose from the great masters. Who are we to improve upon them? We can only attempt, respectfully, to repeat." - The Dean
What this says to me at this point is that Rand is setting up "The Establishment" to represent stasis, and Roark to represent change. She is heavily implying that the past holds nothing of worth and only forward progress is worthy of our attention.
To this I have to reply, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Not in the sense that The Dean talks about, sure that there is nothing better left in man, but in the sense that if we don't take an honest look at the mistakes of the past, we will just keep repeating them over and over. I do not believe in stagnation, but I also do not believe in change just for change's sake.
Page 27
"He did not care. He had never learned the process of thinking about other people." - referring to Roark
That is a very telling passage, and it sums up the modern Neo-Conservative philosophy very neatly. They have never learned the process of thinking about other people. Other people's needs,wants, and motivations are irrelevant to them. "I have mine, who cares about yours?"
I cannot imagine how hollow life must be when living that way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is the end of my notes for Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Feel free to discuss, debate, and consider...as mature, rational adults. Flame wars and personal insults will not be tolerated.
Thank you for your consideration. :)
Just a warning, I'm a fast reader when it is fluff, but when it is something I am really trying to digest and am taking notes on, I tend to go a lot more slowly. So this will probably be a fairly extensive series of blog posts. I will tag them all with the book title and author, so that if people want to go right to them, they can, and those who want to avoid them can easily do so.
The notes will be typed in here exactly as written in my Commonplace Book, no editing, so you will be able to get my reactions as they were in real time rather than reactions modified by reflection on what I had already written.
So...we begin:
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 @ 12:45 p.m.
Ayn Rand's books are the cornerstone of much of the Neo-Conservative philosophy so prevalent in our country today. I want to read this source material to get a better understanding of where they are coming from. I will NEVER agree with them, but understanding is the first step toward defeating their mindset.
Introduction, Page X
"The man-worshipers, in my sense of the term, are those who see man's highest potential and strive to actualize it. The man-haters are those who regard man as a helpless, depraved, contemptible creature - and struggle never to let him discover otherwise." - Ayn Rand
This passage already confuses me. I am not sure how the Far Right, with their Conservative Christian views of man as a sinner and God as his only path to redemption can reconcile the dissonance between these two stances. Or do they even try? Is this one of those conveniently ignored aspects of the whole?
Page 23
"You must learn to understand - and it has been proved by all authorities - that everything beautiful in architecture has been done already. There is a treasure mine in every style of the past. We can only choose from the great masters. Who are we to improve upon them? We can only attempt, respectfully, to repeat." - The Dean
What this says to me at this point is that Rand is setting up "The Establishment" to represent stasis, and Roark to represent change. She is heavily implying that the past holds nothing of worth and only forward progress is worthy of our attention.
To this I have to reply, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Not in the sense that The Dean talks about, sure that there is nothing better left in man, but in the sense that if we don't take an honest look at the mistakes of the past, we will just keep repeating them over and over. I do not believe in stagnation, but I also do not believe in change just for change's sake.
Page 27
"He did not care. He had never learned the process of thinking about other people." - referring to Roark
That is a very telling passage, and it sums up the modern Neo-Conservative philosophy very neatly. They have never learned the process of thinking about other people. Other people's needs,wants, and motivations are irrelevant to them. "I have mine, who cares about yours?"
I cannot imagine how hollow life must be when living that way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is the end of my notes for Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Feel free to discuss, debate, and consider...as mature, rational adults. Flame wars and personal insults will not be tolerated.
Thank you for your consideration. :)
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Election Night 2016
It is election night in the United States of America tonight. I haven't been watching the polls, but I haven't had to do so as my Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of reports from those who are. Right now it doesn't look good for those who believe that Donald Trump is the wrong choice to represent our country on the world stage.
I am one of those people. I have made my feelings about him clear on many previous occasions to my friends and family, so I have no need to repeat the specifics here. I just have to say that I am sad right now. I'm sad that so many people voted for fear, for hatred, and for division. I'm sad that so many people who had the opportunity to make a difference for others voted from a position of privilege, feeling that their vague principles about the political system and how it is weighted against third parties were worth more than the actual lives of the people that a Trump Presidency will negatively effect in a very visceral way.
But all of that said, there is one thing I am NOT. I am NOT going anywhere. There's talk (as there always is) about moving out of the country if one person or another wins. That isn't me.
I'm here, and here I'm going to stay until they drag me away and lock me up for being who and what I am.
I'm here to keep fighting against the hatred that divides people of different color skins.
I'm here to keep fighting against the misogyny that tries to keep women from having an equal say in the world around them, and in their own lives.
I'm here to keep fighting for those who work multiple jobs and still can't afford to feed themselves or their families, or to keep a decent roof over their heads.
I'm here to keep fighting for those who are ill or suffering and are cast aside by the medical profession and insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry because they are "unprofitable".
I'm here to fight for the flora and fauna of this world who have no voices of their own and are slowly disappearing because of man's greed.
I'm here, and I'm staying here. I am going to be a thorn in the side of those in power. I am going to take my frustration, and my anger, and I am going to turn them into determination and stubbornness. They will begin to wince whenever they see my return address on a letter, my name on an email, my face in the hallway, or hear my voice chanting outside their windows.
I will not let them forget that their time is fleeting, their power not as great as they would like to imagine. My time, the time of those who fight with me, and our power, is greater than any hatred, any greed, any selfishness or misogyny, greater than any institutional racism or ableism, greater than their oppression of anyone different will ever be.
I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not alone.
I am one of those people. I have made my feelings about him clear on many previous occasions to my friends and family, so I have no need to repeat the specifics here. I just have to say that I am sad right now. I'm sad that so many people voted for fear, for hatred, and for division. I'm sad that so many people who had the opportunity to make a difference for others voted from a position of privilege, feeling that their vague principles about the political system and how it is weighted against third parties were worth more than the actual lives of the people that a Trump Presidency will negatively effect in a very visceral way.
But all of that said, there is one thing I am NOT. I am NOT going anywhere. There's talk (as there always is) about moving out of the country if one person or another wins. That isn't me.
I'm here, and here I'm going to stay until they drag me away and lock me up for being who and what I am.
I'm here to keep fighting against the hatred that divides people of different color skins.
I'm here to keep fighting against the misogyny that tries to keep women from having an equal say in the world around them, and in their own lives.
I'm here to keep fighting for those who work multiple jobs and still can't afford to feed themselves or their families, or to keep a decent roof over their heads.
I'm here to keep fighting for those who are ill or suffering and are cast aside by the medical profession and insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry because they are "unprofitable".
I'm here to fight for the flora and fauna of this world who have no voices of their own and are slowly disappearing because of man's greed.
I'm here, and I'm staying here. I am going to be a thorn in the side of those in power. I am going to take my frustration, and my anger, and I am going to turn them into determination and stubbornness. They will begin to wince whenever they see my return address on a letter, my name on an email, my face in the hallway, or hear my voice chanting outside their windows.
I will not let them forget that their time is fleeting, their power not as great as they would like to imagine. My time, the time of those who fight with me, and our power, is greater than any hatred, any greed, any selfishness or misogyny, greater than any institutional racism or ableism, greater than their oppression of anyone different will ever be.
I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not alone.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Letting Go
The Husbeast and I did more Purging Of All The Things today. Of all the things to sort through and decide what to keep and what to release into the wild, books have to be the hardest for me. But we're going through our book collection and determining what we absolutely HAVE to keep in hard copy because we just can't be without it in paper form, what is not yet available in e-form, and what we can replace with e-books. It isn't a happy decision, but we just have too much STUFF in the house, and we need the shelf space.
Some of the books going into that large box to my right have been with me since I was a teenager. They are over 30 years old. I grew up reading them, escaping into them when the world got too mean for the Fat Kid to handle. They took me to other worlds and other times. Those books were a balm to my soul and a spark to my imagination. Without them, I think, I would have turned into just another average person plodding through life with no idea of the wonders that surround me or the potential that the world holds.
Seeing them go into that box is difficult. I almost started crying at one point. But there does come a time when we have to let go of things while keeping the lessons they've taught us and the memories they've given us. It feels like part of my soul is going away, but it also feels good in a way. In doing this, we're making room for more memories, more lessons about the world and life and the possibilities therein.
I think that's why occasionally going through and doing a purge of your possessions is a smart idea. We need room to breathe, and to grow. If we're trapped in a cage of our own making, then there's nowhere for us to spread our wings and explore new ideas or new experiences.
I love my books. I love what I learned from them. I love the comfort I received from them. Now, now I'm sending them out into the world to teach those lessons and give that comfort to others. I hope that they find loving homes somewhere and bright eyes to read their words.
Thank you, dear books. I would say that I will miss you, but you will always be with me.
Some of the books going into that large box to my right have been with me since I was a teenager. They are over 30 years old. I grew up reading them, escaping into them when the world got too mean for the Fat Kid to handle. They took me to other worlds and other times. Those books were a balm to my soul and a spark to my imagination. Without them, I think, I would have turned into just another average person plodding through life with no idea of the wonders that surround me or the potential that the world holds.
Seeing them go into that box is difficult. I almost started crying at one point. But there does come a time when we have to let go of things while keeping the lessons they've taught us and the memories they've given us. It feels like part of my soul is going away, but it also feels good in a way. In doing this, we're making room for more memories, more lessons about the world and life and the possibilities therein.
I think that's why occasionally going through and doing a purge of your possessions is a smart idea. We need room to breathe, and to grow. If we're trapped in a cage of our own making, then there's nowhere for us to spread our wings and explore new ideas or new experiences.
I love my books. I love what I learned from them. I love the comfort I received from them. Now, now I'm sending them out into the world to teach those lessons and give that comfort to others. I hope that they find loving homes somewhere and bright eyes to read their words.
Thank you, dear books. I would say that I will miss you, but you will always be with me.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Controlled (?) Chaos
We're in the middle of a cycle of purging at our house. When we moved here from an apartment, it seemed like our stuff would never fill the space. Over time it has grown exponentially, and our home is now threatening to burst at the seams. Thus, as with all logical creatures, we decided to start culling our possessions in order to ease the pressure on the walls of our abode, and on my straining nerves.
I hate feeling cluttered. I know that there are those of you reading this who are laughing right now because you've seen the state of my personal space over the years, but really, it is true. It has gotten more true as I have gotten older. My preference is for clear spaces and room to walk and move around without knocking things over. I don't hate THINGS, per se, I just want everything to have a place and to BE in that place. I don't mind that The Husbeast collects Transformers, as long as they are on the shelves that are designated for them when he's not actively using them or showing them to someone. I don't mind that we have a ton of books (because really...books!) as long as they're on the shelves when they're not actively being read. Mementos, knick knacks, tchotchkes, whatever you want to call them, they all have a reason for being around and as long as they bring back good memories and don't get so numerous that they become an indistinguishable blur, I'm all for them.
But when it comes to functional spaces like counters, tables, desks, and so on, well...they need to be clear and ready to be used. It frustrates me to no end that whenever I clean off our coffee table in the living room, it immediately gathers another load of pelf all over it. I grit my teeth when I walk into the kitchen and can't find enough space on the counter to make a sandwich or prep dinner. When things are piled so high on the dresser that there's not even a spot for my deodorant, my day begins with a growl of annoyance.
Recently both The Husbeast and I reached our saturation point and agreed that it was time to start clearing the house of some stuff and making sure that everything remaining has a place to "live" other than simply the last place someone set it down. So I started working one room at a time, beginning with the game room. It isn't perfect, there's still the game closet and the paint station to reorganize, but for the most part it is one thousand percent better than it was. I have been moving to other rooms and beginning to work on them. My goal is to have most of it done before we have our big Thanksgiving shindig.
The thing is, I had forgotten how much worse things get when you are in the process of purging. When everything gets pulled out of a space to be sorted and checked over, the chaos factor rises amazingly fast. When that happens it can be difficult to keep the end goal in mind and not freak out over the huge mess that used to be your home. Right now there are pantry items on the kitchen counters and the dining room table, with more to come as I pull everything out of there over the next couple of days and sort through what we have. Some things will go to the local food bank if they are still within their dates. Some things will get thrown out if they are unusable. Some things will go back in, but they will go back into the pantry in an organized manner. I have containers to put small items in, and chalkboard labels to write contents on then stick on said containers. And WOE BETIDE the person who goes into that pantry and just throws anything anywhere on the shelves. I WILL END THEM!!!!
*ahem*
I mean, the entire household will participate in the concentrated effort to keep the pantry neat and organized from here on out.
After that, there's the breakfast nook, the dining room, the kitchen, the living room, and the Fat Lady Room that all need to be done. And if I'm REALLY on a roll, I hopefully will be able to get the master suite done before Thanksgiving too. Then...the hall closet. I'll need boxes for the hats, more stickers to label said boxes, and we'll need to go through our swords and decide what to do with them. If we keep them, then they need to be displayed somehow. I don't want them just to be shoved in a closet somewhere.
I would really like to start 2017 with an organized home, an organized mind, and a plan of attack to make it a blowout year for Fat Lady Foods.
I just have to wade through all of the chaos first. Wish me luck...I'm going in!
I hate feeling cluttered. I know that there are those of you reading this who are laughing right now because you've seen the state of my personal space over the years, but really, it is true. It has gotten more true as I have gotten older. My preference is for clear spaces and room to walk and move around without knocking things over. I don't hate THINGS, per se, I just want everything to have a place and to BE in that place. I don't mind that The Husbeast collects Transformers, as long as they are on the shelves that are designated for them when he's not actively using them or showing them to someone. I don't mind that we have a ton of books (because really...books!) as long as they're on the shelves when they're not actively being read. Mementos, knick knacks, tchotchkes, whatever you want to call them, they all have a reason for being around and as long as they bring back good memories and don't get so numerous that they become an indistinguishable blur, I'm all for them.
But when it comes to functional spaces like counters, tables, desks, and so on, well...they need to be clear and ready to be used. It frustrates me to no end that whenever I clean off our coffee table in the living room, it immediately gathers another load of pelf all over it. I grit my teeth when I walk into the kitchen and can't find enough space on the counter to make a sandwich or prep dinner. When things are piled so high on the dresser that there's not even a spot for my deodorant, my day begins with a growl of annoyance.
Recently both The Husbeast and I reached our saturation point and agreed that it was time to start clearing the house of some stuff and making sure that everything remaining has a place to "live" other than simply the last place someone set it down. So I started working one room at a time, beginning with the game room. It isn't perfect, there's still the game closet and the paint station to reorganize, but for the most part it is one thousand percent better than it was. I have been moving to other rooms and beginning to work on them. My goal is to have most of it done before we have our big Thanksgiving shindig.
The thing is, I had forgotten how much worse things get when you are in the process of purging. When everything gets pulled out of a space to be sorted and checked over, the chaos factor rises amazingly fast. When that happens it can be difficult to keep the end goal in mind and not freak out over the huge mess that used to be your home. Right now there are pantry items on the kitchen counters and the dining room table, with more to come as I pull everything out of there over the next couple of days and sort through what we have. Some things will go to the local food bank if they are still within their dates. Some things will get thrown out if they are unusable. Some things will go back in, but they will go back into the pantry in an organized manner. I have containers to put small items in, and chalkboard labels to write contents on then stick on said containers. And WOE BETIDE the person who goes into that pantry and just throws anything anywhere on the shelves. I WILL END THEM!!!!
*ahem*
I mean, the entire household will participate in the concentrated effort to keep the pantry neat and organized from here on out.
After that, there's the breakfast nook, the dining room, the kitchen, the living room, and the Fat Lady Room that all need to be done. And if I'm REALLY on a roll, I hopefully will be able to get the master suite done before Thanksgiving too. Then...the hall closet. I'll need boxes for the hats, more stickers to label said boxes, and we'll need to go through our swords and decide what to do with them. If we keep them, then they need to be displayed somehow. I don't want them just to be shoved in a closet somewhere.
I would really like to start 2017 with an organized home, an organized mind, and a plan of attack to make it a blowout year for Fat Lady Foods.
I just have to wade through all of the chaos first. Wish me luck...I'm going in!
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
The Power of Words
We all go through different phases in our lives when it comes to our physical state. My phases have all revolved around weight (big shock there, right? *LOL*), and I know many others who have had the same sorts of phases. My current, and final as far as I'm concerned, phase is acceptance. I am who I am, and I have no plans to deliberately attempt to alter my weight. I am making a concerted effort to eat a more nutritionally balanced diet, and to listen to my body in regards to its wants and needs. Currently it tends to scold me when I slack on fruits and vegetables, so there has been an increase in those over the past few months. I have found myself wanting less meat in my diet, which is a bit of a surprise because I've always been a bit of a carnivore-leaning omnivore, but if that's what my body wants, that's fine too. There are other times when my body demands a Milky Way bar, so I eat one and that is completely fine as well.
I know many others who are making their own choices regarding their bodies, as is their right, and some of whom are actively dieting to try and lose weight. I support their choices, and as they achieve goals they have set for themselves, I cheer for them because they have accomplished something they set out to do. My thoughts on those goals are not relevant to them, so I do not share them, I just share their joy in achieving something they have wanted to achieve. If they ASK for my thoughts, I will share, but until then, it is not my place.
It can be difficult at times to be a bystander, though. It isn't difficult so much because I disagree with the basic philosophies behind their choices. I have friends whose political philosophies are 180-degrees from my own and we get along just fine. It is difficult because there is a pattern of behavior that I have seen occur in those who are losing weight, that has happened to me when I was temporarily successful in losing weight, that can cause me to clench my teeth and force my hands away from the keyboard until I get myself back under control. It is a completely understandable phase, and one that is really quite inevitable and is NEVER meant to cause bad feelings or hurt to anyone else but is, instead, fueled completely and totally by enthusiasm and the desire to share a feeling of joy that they are experiencing and have not felt in a long time...if ever.
This enthusiasm for the choices that they are making tends to lead to inadvertent shaming of others choices in a myriad of ways. Usually it is through word choices. The most common that I have seen is the assignment of moral judgment to food items. This food is "good". That food is "bad". Eating this food requires that the person in question work out extra tonight, carrying the implication that their workout is their punishment for eating said food. Walking past this food in the break room multiple times in a day makes this person virtuous in their restraint, carrying the accidental implication that those who did NOT walk past and who "indulged" are not as virtuous.
This can also lead to further discussion of such things as "the obesity problem". That phrase makes me want to reach out and do violent things because without meaning to do so, the person who says it suddenly turns me, my body, and the body of everyone who looks like me, into a problem. We're suddenly bad, something to be avoided or changed. We become people who need to have a war waged against them. Of course, the majority of people who use the phrase "the war on obesity" do not intend to imply that obese people need to be eradicated or destroyed, they simply mean that obese people's FAT needs to be eradicated, but stop and think about that for a moment. REALLY think about it. My fat is a part of me, it isn't some fat suit that I put on while the cameras are rolling and then take off again. I'm not a thin person trying to get out. I am me, fat and all. So when someone says that they want to wage war against my fat, they are saying that they want to wage war against me. When someone says that obesity is an epidemic that needs to be eradicated, they are saying that they want to eradicate me. When someone says that the obesity problem needs to be eliminated, they want to eliminate me. They may not realize that is what they're saying, but there it is, black and white, plain as day to the person who has the joy of being the problem to be eradicated.
Words have power. They can hurt and they can heal. They can support or they can destroy. We hear all of the time that we are all too focused on political correctness, and that people need to toughen up and not take everything so personally. That isn't the point at all. The point is that we are growing up as a species, and humanity is finally starting to realize that maybe...just maybe...we should be more aware of these things. We're going through the growing pains of it all, and pain is the correct word, because I know it is an ache in my heart when I realize that I have accidentally said something that has caused another person even a moment of injury.
Very few people enjoy truly causing others emotional injury. I believe that most of the time if we had the power to take any words back that caused harm, we would do so in a moment, without hesitation. So I'm suggesting that since this is not possible, we instead take those moments and use them to consider our words BEFORE we throw them out into the universe. It doesn't take long to just pause and evaluate how the words we're about to say or type or write might be taken by people with viewpoints that are different than our own. Not to mention that this kind of exercise helps us open our own minds up to new views and ideas, and expanding points of view are rarely bad things, really.
So please, enjoy achieving your goals, and cheer along with others who are doing so, but be aware of how you are stating your support and enthusiasm. What you mean as a positive may read very differently to others. Just consider that, and even consider asking someone you know who has a different point of view "How does this read to you?". You may be surprised at how what you meant to say differs from what others heard. Being aware of that is a good thing, because it lets you decide if you want to leave it that way or if you want to make changes.
Because, again, words...they have power.
I know many others who are making their own choices regarding their bodies, as is their right, and some of whom are actively dieting to try and lose weight. I support their choices, and as they achieve goals they have set for themselves, I cheer for them because they have accomplished something they set out to do. My thoughts on those goals are not relevant to them, so I do not share them, I just share their joy in achieving something they have wanted to achieve. If they ASK for my thoughts, I will share, but until then, it is not my place.
It can be difficult at times to be a bystander, though. It isn't difficult so much because I disagree with the basic philosophies behind their choices. I have friends whose political philosophies are 180-degrees from my own and we get along just fine. It is difficult because there is a pattern of behavior that I have seen occur in those who are losing weight, that has happened to me when I was temporarily successful in losing weight, that can cause me to clench my teeth and force my hands away from the keyboard until I get myself back under control. It is a completely understandable phase, and one that is really quite inevitable and is NEVER meant to cause bad feelings or hurt to anyone else but is, instead, fueled completely and totally by enthusiasm and the desire to share a feeling of joy that they are experiencing and have not felt in a long time...if ever.
This enthusiasm for the choices that they are making tends to lead to inadvertent shaming of others choices in a myriad of ways. Usually it is through word choices. The most common that I have seen is the assignment of moral judgment to food items. This food is "good". That food is "bad". Eating this food requires that the person in question work out extra tonight, carrying the implication that their workout is their punishment for eating said food. Walking past this food in the break room multiple times in a day makes this person virtuous in their restraint, carrying the accidental implication that those who did NOT walk past and who "indulged" are not as virtuous.
This can also lead to further discussion of such things as "the obesity problem". That phrase makes me want to reach out and do violent things because without meaning to do so, the person who says it suddenly turns me, my body, and the body of everyone who looks like me, into a problem. We're suddenly bad, something to be avoided or changed. We become people who need to have a war waged against them. Of course, the majority of people who use the phrase "the war on obesity" do not intend to imply that obese people need to be eradicated or destroyed, they simply mean that obese people's FAT needs to be eradicated, but stop and think about that for a moment. REALLY think about it. My fat is a part of me, it isn't some fat suit that I put on while the cameras are rolling and then take off again. I'm not a thin person trying to get out. I am me, fat and all. So when someone says that they want to wage war against my fat, they are saying that they want to wage war against me. When someone says that obesity is an epidemic that needs to be eradicated, they are saying that they want to eradicate me. When someone says that the obesity problem needs to be eliminated, they want to eliminate me. They may not realize that is what they're saying, but there it is, black and white, plain as day to the person who has the joy of being the problem to be eradicated.
Words have power. They can hurt and they can heal. They can support or they can destroy. We hear all of the time that we are all too focused on political correctness, and that people need to toughen up and not take everything so personally. That isn't the point at all. The point is that we are growing up as a species, and humanity is finally starting to realize that maybe...just maybe...we should be more aware of these things. We're going through the growing pains of it all, and pain is the correct word, because I know it is an ache in my heart when I realize that I have accidentally said something that has caused another person even a moment of injury.
Very few people enjoy truly causing others emotional injury. I believe that most of the time if we had the power to take any words back that caused harm, we would do so in a moment, without hesitation. So I'm suggesting that since this is not possible, we instead take those moments and use them to consider our words BEFORE we throw them out into the universe. It doesn't take long to just pause and evaluate how the words we're about to say or type or write might be taken by people with viewpoints that are different than our own. Not to mention that this kind of exercise helps us open our own minds up to new views and ideas, and expanding points of view are rarely bad things, really.
So please, enjoy achieving your goals, and cheer along with others who are doing so, but be aware of how you are stating your support and enthusiasm. What you mean as a positive may read very differently to others. Just consider that, and even consider asking someone you know who has a different point of view "How does this read to you?". You may be surprised at how what you meant to say differs from what others heard. Being aware of that is a good thing, because it lets you decide if you want to leave it that way or if you want to make changes.
Because, again, words...they have power.
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