It seems to me that the latest trend is to blame everything on fat people.

• Hospitals overcrowded and understaffed? Too many fat people are placing an enormous burden on our health system. (Let’s ignore the fact that far more people are in hospital due to the effects of alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.)
• Public transport not running on time? Fat people are slowing the trains and buses down. They should get off and walk, and leave the skinny people to ride in peace.
• Floods washing away rural townships? Probably caused by fat people getting into public swimming pools and taking too many baths, causing a tidal overflow.
• Plane crashed? Shouldn’t have let the fat passengers fly.
• Syria’s disintegrating? Probably started by some fat dude.

Do I sound a little bitter? Oh, that’s right, we fatties are supposed to be jolly not matter what snide, sarcastic, cruel, abusive things are said or done to us. Fatties are supposed to sit there, cop it on our chins and then be thankful for the attention.

I’ve been a fatty all my life. You name the diets, I’ve done them; some of them many, many times over. Before the back finally gave way (and no, it wasn’t because I’m fat!) I used to be really active. In my younger days I played tennis, netball, basketball and hockey. I loved to swim. I enjoyed long walks. The Old Boy and I often tramped along beaches or through the countryside.

Of course, as the kids came along and the back got worse, some of those activities disappeared and some were replaced with other things. For a few years a similarly endowed friend and I swam regularly in a gym. (My back prefers warm water.) I chose to ignore the well-meaning comments from other women at that establishment; eg: Gosh, you’re fat.  Fancy letting yourself go like that! These days there isn’t enough money in the world to entice me to be seen in public in a bathing suit.

If I told you every instance that someone made me feel like the gum on the bottom of their shoe because I’m fat, we’d be here for the next ten years. I’m sure that every person who doesn’t fit the norm – the geeks, the nerds, the gays, the fatties, the wrong colour for their society and all the other misfits – would understand what I’m trying to say. It’s NOT COOL to judge, criticise, abuse or condemn someone because they don’t fit your version of okay.

It’s time we stop doing this to each other.

PS. Nobody picked on me this week. I saw a commercial for “Biggest Loser” and something went ping! in my brain