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Yesterday I was sitting at one of my favorite coffee shops in town, sipping a double chocolate mocha. I had taken a break from what I was working on and was scrolling absent-mindedly through Facebook, when a post caught my eye.
To paraphrase this post, it was essentially, “People who are overweight are lazy. Working out is easy. Losing weight is easy if you just put your mind to it.”
This is not the first time I have seen a post like this come across my newsfeed. I debated posting a comment, but to save myself the anger that would surely come from getting involved in an argument on Facebook, I just shook my head and continued to scroll.
But I have something to say about this; I cannot stay silent.
People around us are fighting daily battles we know nothing about. The person who diets and cuts calories and says no to the cupcake and works out tirelessly, yet the scale doesn’t change. The person whose fingers itch to light up another cigarette. The person in class whom everyone judges because they don’t smell great, but no one realizes slept on the sidewalk last night. The teenage boy who just wants to not be stick thin, and lifts weights incessantly without seeing change. The girl who can’t seem to keep weight on, and people call her anorexic. The person whose hands shake and mind races as they walk through a room full of people. The person who is terrified of failing and letting people down, so they lock themselves in their house whenever they get the chance. The woman who can’t get pregnant, or gets pregnant repeatedly and cannot carry to full-term. The person who is so depressed they cannot get out of bed, and people assume they’re just lazy.
Personally, I have not really battled keeping weight off, but I do have my own battles. Sure, my weight fluctuates and I keep clothing that fits me when I’m smaller and when I’m bigger; but truly battling weight is a fight I know nothing about. Before we look at someone and say that they’re lazy, or they just don’t want to work for something, let’s get to know them as an actual person. I can tell you from experience that last summer after being sick, I put on about 10 pounds. My heart was already breaking from not even being able to fathom running anything over a mile or two, and I can tell you if someone would have said to me that I was “lazy” or “needed to quit eating so much,” it may have been the tipping point that pushed me to never run again.
I have been so blessed to have people around me who care about me enough to push me appropriately and lovingly. When I have students who struggle, I push them appropriately and lovingly. When one doesn’t finish their homework because they were working last night till midnight and getting siblings ready for school this morning, I make an exception because they’re fighting a battle I know nothing about.
Friends, our world has enough hatred. Before we judge people (and let me be the first to say I am just as guilty of this as anyone else posting it on Facebook, thinking it, or saying it to a friend), let’s learn to love people where they’re at. Instead of accusing, let’s fight their battle alongside them, and allow them to help us fight ours. That’s what relationship is about, using the gifts we’ve been given to fight for one another and lift one another up.
