Makes you stop and think...doesn't it?!

I was walking on the treadmill this morning and was scrolling down over the DVR list of shows that I had taped. I needed something to keep me motivated and interested for an entire hour. I came across, and decided to watch "The Biggest Loser"...It was the first episode for this season, so they introduced all of the contestants and told their stories. As I listened to them tell about their struggles with weight, I cried. I reflected back on my life and my constant struggle with my weight. NO..I have never been obese, BUT I have been over weight for most of my life, to some degree. I have been teased at school, teased at home as a teenager, and I have always felt very inferior about the way I looked. I remember having to get on the scales in the 7th grade in front of the entire class (boys and girls) and having my weight announced to everyone. When I got off...one girl came up to me and said "YOU WEIGHED "WHAT"? Isn't that ALOT!?"...from that day on I vowed to NEVER let anyone know how much I weighed again. It was mortifying...then as I sat there and watched these contestants stand on the scales in front of their peers, towns people and family, I felt their pain in a very small way. It had to hurt, it had to be humiliating and yes, probably a little motivating...BUT painful none the less. No one knows of the struggles these people have had, the struggles anyone that is over weight has had. No one has the right to judge. Being an over weight person before, I know that I judged myself badly enough that I didn't need others talking behind my back, in front of my face or to anyone else, about the way I looked, what might or might not have gotten me into that position and how I could diet and be so much happier. WHY not love ME for who I am, except Me as ME and leave the criticizing to Me....because heaven knows that I was and AM my own worse critic and I don't need someone else to make me feel like dirt...I can do that all by myself. Weight doesn't make a person likable or un-likable...the way someone looks doesn't make them who they are. My heart broke as these "Biggest Loser (girl) Contestants" talked about how they had never had a boyfriend, or loved anyone before....no one took the time to really get to know who they were. Maybe they are an amazing person on the inside....its sad that we sometimes look at someones size and THEN determine what kind of person they are....doesn't that show what a shallow society we really have? Its no wonder that so many young girls/women think that anorexia is the way to go. A person is a person no matter what size, shape or color of skin that they have. I think that what it all boils down to is the old saying that we have heard our entire lives..."Don't ever judge a book by it's cover, open it up and see what's inside"..... you might just be surprised!!!!