When, exactly, did it become a high compliment to say "You look so thin!" Really, as an obese nation you'd think we wouldn't care as much about weight as we do. Anyway, the point here is, I walked into my first class today and the librarian said "Grace! You just look so thin today!" which may have been heaven for some people to hear, but I stand at 5'7" and weigh in at all of 110 lbs, so really, this is nothing new for me. I'd rather have heard, "Your outfit is so cute!" or "You look good today" or even "I like your hair like that" but no, they have to notice one thing that is ALWAYS true of me, I look thin.
Thinness, really, isnt' all it's cracked up to be. Healthiness is so much better than thinness even if healthy people are heavier. Because while I know I'm very thing and, pretty?, I'm so out of shape that is not in the least a funny joke. I really detest that looking thin and young are the highest compliments a person can get in America because there are so many better things than youth and anorexia. ALSO, the emphasis on weight is creating more and more eating disorders from anorexia nervosa and bulemia nervosa to morbid obesity and over-eating. It's all very disgusting.
How have we turned into a country obsessed with the way people look from a country that was founded on religion and to escape persecution from unjust rulers? The United States of America is widely viewed as one of the rudest, fattest, stupidest countries in the world by other nations when once we were respected and feared for our powers. Where have we gone wrong? Is in our leadership? I'm sure many people would LIKE to blame George Bush and his perceived stupidity but I don't think he's the problem. Is it in our culture? Possibly but I'm not ready to make that judgment. Is it in the people? DING DING DING, I think we have a winner. Our culture is the ONLY one in which both violence, repulsive language, nudity, and even sex scenes are acceptable in our everyday media, in fact, it is so much a part of our lives that I have seen mothers taking toddlers and young children to horror movies that I myself have had to turn away from. This is simply ridiculous. The standard morality of the average person in this country, and perhaps the world but I only really know of America at this point in my life, is simply disgusting.