Also as part of my taking charge of my health, I've lost a bunch of weight. It's cool, because I didn't put myself on a diet, I've just been changing my relationship to food. I'm eating a ton of unprocessed food, and cut out all processed stuff. Except diet coke, which is pure evil, but is well known to have magic powers. At the risk of stating the obvious, I feel really good. However, I saw a lot of people I haven't seen since September this week, and I was overwhelmed at how many people commented on how I looked. It was nice, I guess, but made me super uncomfortable, because I thought I looked pretty good before, and I'm taking care of myself because my body deserves to be treated well, not so I could look better for others. Hmm. I guess I need to think about it more.
We also just got back from a march for MLK's birthday. Only about 50 people showed up, which was really disappointing. It was especially hard to accept, since it was the ONLY MLK celebration happening in Berkeley. One of the city council members called Berkeley a "hotbed of hypocrisy" around social justice which was really highlighted by the pitiful attendance.
Whoo, this is really turning into a fun post, huh? I've been thinking a lot about this quote from Michael Silverblatt, the host of Bookworm:
I believe in the elaborate taking care of others. And we live in a culture where "I'm not my brother's keeper," "That's your responsibility," "Get a life" have become bywords, code phrases, anthems for elaborate indifference, selfishness, greediness, and the failure of empathetic acceptance. In the same way we need to repair the economy, we need to repair the effects of an economy of selfishness. And that isn't just the filling in of the big bucks that have fallen out of the system. The rescue that we need is emotional rescue, communicative, large-hearted.
Happy Martin Luther King Day. Hope yours was wonderful!
Well I, for one, thought it was a fun post. Certainly food for thought. Maybe people avoided the MLK march because it was so stormy outside (at least it was in Santa Cruz...)?
ReplyDeleteRegarding comments about weight: ugh, yes. My extended family aren't remotely the type to judge based on weight or looks, but I know that if I've lost more than 3 pounds since any last visit, everyone will comment on it. Which makes me so damn uncomfortable. Especially because I start to notice the lack. of comments once said weight comes back... Bah. We all gain or lose weight for different reasons, and it sucks to have the "looks" aspect be the only one that receives comment, because it's the least inspiring of the reasons!
You were definitely hot stuff before this, so no worries. That said, I really think that people love to give compliments, and any positive change in appearance makes it quick and easy for them. It's really all... well, positive. :)