Rants. Rants. More Rants.
It seems as though everywhere you turn these days, someone is ranting about something. Talking heads ranting about this or that on the “news”, talk show hosts giving a diatribe about something, even entire TV series devoted to delivering well scripted (and often humorous) rants (I’m looking at you John Oliver and Hassan Minhaj). And with the spread of social media and podcasts, everyone seems to have a voice in this noise storm. I suppose you could almost say this is my rant against rants.
But my actual point is that I’m tired of all of the negativity. This spurned a little seedling of an idea. This is now my attempt at watering and nurturing that seedling to see if it will take hold. Going forward, I would like to write posts about positive things that I see going on in the world. Let’s talk about the good rather than continue to dwell on the negative. This, then, will be my first Power of Positivity post (or PoP!)
Earlier this week, I was dismayed to hear about a clip making the rounds of Bill Maher saying that fat shaming needed to make a comeback. In response, James Corden, host of The Late Late Show, also spoke up on the subject matter. James’ comments spoke to me on many levels, not only because we share a birthdate (August 22, 1978), but because I could have spoken much of the same speech myself. (I highly recommend taking the 8 minutes to watch the video below.)
I was a fat kid. I was teased, bullied and picked on by some of my schoolmates throughout most of my childhood. While most of it was your typical childish joshing, it was still something that I learned to put up with from a very young age. Over the years, it caused me to turn to humour as a defence mechanism. If you can’t beat them, join them right? Or even better yet, make the joke first so that they can’t.
The teasing lead to me being ashamed of my body. I’d eat to comfort myself. Which lead to teasing. Vicious cycle. After many years of ingraining this into my very being, it left me with a lifelong struggle with my weight. I’ve tried numerous diets and various exercise regimens, all to varying success. But nothing has stuck. In the back of my mind is the little fat kid saying “they’re just going to make fun of you anyway”. I’ve learned to love my body and no longer feel as ashamed. There are some days when it’s better than others, but by and large, I’m finally comfortable in my skin.
I’m happy to see someone with some notoriety and a voice who is taking a stand against this idea of organized bullying. Let’s face it – there’s enough sadness, pain, suffering and anger in the world without adding to it. So thank you, James, for using your platform to speak up for all of us fat kids.
This fat guy appreciates it.
