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Writer's pictureJade Taylor

Observations in my rear-view mirror.


BODY SHAMING



As you can probably well guess from the title, sub heading and image this blog is about body shaming.


Two words that carry very negative connotations. An act that carries monumental emotional & mental distress to the subject of ridicule. Bottom line. It SHOULD NOT happen. But it does.


MY EXPERIENCE

So, it was yesterday and i was traveling in my car. Submerged within my own thoughts. Impacted deeply in road work traffic. Saved from the edge of road rage by some 80's music on the radio. It was at this point, that i first made an observation in my rear view mirror. The car behind me seemingly wanted to park its bonnet into my boot. Anytime there was a few feet of road cleared up in front of me, i'd move along the in the waiting line - and the car behind would do the same, except every time it did it was too close for comfort. Now, i'm not a complete martyr. I understand that having to endure unnecessarily long waiting times in traffic queues is frustrating, and sometimes you do edge just that little bit further forward than you should to convince yourself that you are travelling further along in the line than you actually are. However. I endured this for around 30 minutes. That's about 29 minutes too long in my book! Usually i will flash the driver a discerning look in my rear view mirror to show how unappeased i am with their driving skills. But. My rear window is completely tinted, so i may as well be pulling silly faces at myself and getting nowhere at this point.


Anyways. This car full of young girls was now fast becoming 180 on my darts board. Increasingly more so as the lack of nonintellectual depth displayed by their humor in doing this to the car in front of them (me) was evident in my rear view mirror. Sorry. Not sorry. A few minutes later i had crawled along in the traffic slightly, and was adjacent to a shop. A lady exited the shop, with her goods, i assume - setting off home. Now. It is worth noting that this lady was overweight and was struggling to walk under the pressure of this. However. Equally as important to note is that i made zero judgement to this individual based on this visual analysis. As i would hope that naturally, anybody else wouldn't either. Her body does not define her. In my mind she was just another human being, getting through another day. As we all are.


Instinctively i just knew, that the pack of hyenas in the car behind would not be so non judgmental. And i was right. I observed them in my rear view mirror for around 2 minutes humiliating this woman. You may think 2 minutes is not a long time. But 2 minutes is an eternity when that time is utilized partaking in heinous acts that punish other innocent people. Quite honestly i was completely befuddled that anyone would do this to another human being, and do it so blatantly. Not only did they mock her, making cruel impersonations, blowing up their cheeks, mimicking an ape with their arms, they were knocking on their car windows to get her attention, and screeching with laughter, pointing whilst striking their gaping disrespectful maw's in her direction and mouthing OMG at her. Insults were shouted through open windows, which bizarrely was received by high 5's and even more screeching by these proton deficient atoms.


At this point i wanted to exit my car, drag them out of theirs and publicly humiliate them. By any means necessary. I somehow don't think the law allows this type of behavior, and as everyone instinctively videos everything they see these days - i think not! My problem is the judgement of this lady. Why does her body type matter to them? Why is it funny? Why do they think she deserves ridicule because of it? They do not know the history of this innocent woman. They do not know if she is medically impinged and therefore has no real control over her weight. They do not know her background, life experiences, the road she travels or has traveled and what it is that compels her to find comfort in food - if this is the case. What happened to the "Be Kind" movement? Are they not educated in the severity of mental health problems in this current era? Are they devoid of empathy? Because last time i checked, this is pretty much an inbuilt human emotion that the majority of us possess? Surely they couldn't have all been psychopaths, that have no compassion? I mean. Whats would the odds be? Or is it that they are so young and in-experienced, having the parents still wiping their backsides for them, that their un-evolved minds cannot possibly contemplate the outcome of their disgusting actions?


That being said, i would never have acted in such a way, at any age! So i'm still here a day later trying to fathom what has happened to this generation, why they do this to other people - Trolling, Fat-shaming/Body-shaming, Cyber Bullying. Is the saturated net of Insta 'worthy' influencer's, who flash a 5 minute staged and re-hearsed shot of their otherwise miserable, un-enjoyable and regimental lives to blame? Can they not understand that true happiness does not lie in having the whitest teeth, the biggest house, the largest lips, the fastest car, the most followers, the roundest derriere OR the most inflated bank balance?

Has society created generation shallow?


End message. We are ALL equal. We ALL end our journey at the same destination. We are ALL worthy. We are ALL beautiful.


STOP THE HATE. SPREAD THE LOVE.


It has never been, nor ever will be acceptable to damage another human being. We are all having our own short experience on this Earth. Make EVERYBODY'S experience as exhilarating and joyous and positive as you can - while you can. Tomorrow is not promised & you may just have to be answerable for the pain you have caused others.

Nothing else is as important as universal acceptance and love. If it's not hurting anyone else - then it doesn't need to be judged. Remove judgement and you remove hate.


RAISE YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS!




Don't forget to leave a like if this resonates with you.

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