Queen of Rambles

I was just reading a funny story on one of the teacher blogs I follow. It was about a rotund little boy and wasn’t an offensive story at all. It was sad, but the writer was not mean spirited.

Then I clicked on the comments. The commenters were concerned that this boys parents let him become obese, and I can understand that concern. I am very concerned about the weight of my own future children because they may very well inherit a very slow metabolism and very big bones from me. I want to teach my kids to enjoy healthy foods and eat sweets in moderation on special occasions.

Then there was a stunning comment. Bad parents don’t care about their children’s weight at all and that is why there is (or might be, I’m not sure what the person meant) a negative correlation between obese students and their GPAs. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta love a teacher (this was a teacher) who perpetuates the stereotypes that fat people are stupid and lazy. I’d like to find that person and rip his/her face off. Then I’d like to smother him/her with my pendulous boobs, while rubbing my college transcripts in his/her face. Sure, there are fat kids who have shitty GPAs and don’t give a damn about their grades, just like there are skinny people who have shitty GPAs and don’t give a damn about their grades. Then there are really smart fat kids like me! I was always at the top of my class both gradewise and weight wise. In my personal experience, I find the fat kids are more likely to be geeky smart, but that is in no way universal.

I know childhood obesity is a serious problem in this country. Believe me, I know. I’ve lived it. My school years were an utter misery because I was often made fun of and had very, very few friends. I’m just happy I never developed any health problems because of my weight. I wouldn’t wish obesity, or even chubbiness, on any child. But for a teacher to make such a statement! It just illustrates a very obvious and underlying problem in our society–it is still perfectly ok to judge overweight people and treat them as second class citizens.

Hot button issue with me? You bet. Obviously this person touched a nerve with me. I just get so angry when I see off the cuff comments that make sweeping judgments about things the commenter obviously knows nothing about.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.