put in my place

Today, I was "put in my place".  It was painful and humbling.  Since I've spent so much of adulthood being obese, I feel as if I have absolutely no right to judge others who are overweight.  

There is a lady at work who is rather overweight.  We'll call her Marie.

I've never really thought about it, but if I had I would have assumed that she is heavier than I am.  Though I know that it can be hard to guess someone else's weight.

Marie  has recently been in the hospital.   She came back to work today, and she is now on oxygen.

One of my co-workers asked her how long she would need to use portable oxygen, and Marie responded "the rest of my life, unless I lose 100 pounds.  I know that won't happen"

Different thoughts came to mind at about the same time.  "That's so sad."  "I'm glad I'm working on getting healthy so I won't face this issue"  But the one that I'm ashamed of is....."100 pounds??!!!  I have more than that to lose - do I look as bad as she does?"

I'm not proud of that thought.  I'm quite embarrassed.  I've always consider myself to be a relatively non-judgemental sort of person.  I need to take a harder look at this.  I did judge Marie.  I judged her because she doesn't bother to dress nicely, fix her hair and wear make-up like I do.  I judged her because she dresses in a manner that I feel that many normal weight people find awful.  Knit tops that don't fit well or flatter.  Stretchy knit pants.  I judged her because I thought that I looked better than her and am not as heavy as her.

I will work harder on this.

What is that old quote?   Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins?