Heroes

My daughter and I just went to see a movie called Eighth Grade. She is going into her second year of high school, but the reviews I read gave me the impression that she would be able to relate to the main character. The film is centered around a young lady graduating eighth grade and definitely held true to who the filmmakers were trying to capture.

My daughter was glued to the screen. She laughed. She cried. She laughed. She really related to the movie. I knew that she was going to like it, but I never thought that I would relate to the film as well.

Insecurities come in all forms. Body positivity, if it used to be, is no longer just for the overweight. It's about everyone.

It's about the teen that hates their face because of the acne, the young lady that just hit a growth spurt. It's that little doubt in our head that we keep feeding into and feeding into. It's when we compare ourselves to our on-screen heroes, whether it's conscious or sub.

Why is it so easy to instinctively just want the physical traits of someone we look up to or admire? Do we ever take the non-physical things that we love about something or someone and gravitate towards that?

When was young I wanted to be like Superman. Not f***ing Clark Kent, but Superman. I was a chunky little boy and knew I didn’t look like Superman, or at least not his body. My hair could have been an exact replica of my hero— I had to have that little swoop in the front or else it was back to the drawing board.

Point is, I never really thought about what he stood for: justice, equality, and the bettering of mankind. Perhaps some of those things rubbed off on me, but it wasn’t what I gravitated towards. I mean, let's be honest, those aren't exactly the first things they market, either.

So, the question comes down to: Whose responsibility is it to focus on that-- the maker or the watcher?

Would our perceptions of ourselves change if the things we were watching told us differently? When we stopped watching Sesame Street and started watching South Park, did we not have enough PBS and too much Cartoon Network? Should we be taking that much responsibility for the things that we are watching?

I guess there are a ton of things we could blame for the way that we are. Truth be told, it's each and everyone one of our responsibilities to hold each other accountable and hold each other up. What people may not often realize is that the majority of people that talk down to others seldom really have something against you, but more so, there's something going on with themselves.

That is not an excuse, and we don’t deserve that. We could hold each other to a better standard, and not accept anything less than that.

It never hurts to believe in the better parts of people. To let them know that the way you feel about them has nothing to do with the way they look. That the person that just hurt their feelings isn't an a**hole but just has his or her own sh*t going on. And when it comes to the physical, it’s not just fat people that need to learn to love their bodies— it’s all of us. Then, maybe we can love each other.

As always,
Be well, be happy, be kind, be loved
-Sam

When was the last time you told someone how you felt about them that had nothing to do with their appearance?
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