Standing up with love (when you might want to slink away)...

I had a wonderful conversation today with an amazing woman in my business.  She is smart, witty, caring and compassionate.  And obese. Her words, not mine.  She told me that she had been asked by an organization who trains professionals in our industry what they could do better.  She told them that she noticed that with their women’s event that not one speaker was full figured. They did take note of her observation. In addition, she said to me that a woman had told her that she would have signed up in this lady’s business earlier if she had seen a significant weight loss from my friend. Hmmm I thought. 
This conversation was on the heels of the Oscar award scandal, #OscarsSoWhite, that took place three nights earlier.  And the whole thing just made me really sad. It was the combination of my conversation with this beautiful and talented woman, coupled with the sting of the Oscars, and throw in the absolute disgracefulness of the political LEADERS vying for our votes and I slipped into a heavy heart.  Diversity.  Why in the world in 2016 is diversity and MORE IMPORTANTLY our acceptance of diversity, an issue??!!  Why is it that someone’s sex, weight, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, and/or political beliefs an issue that continues to separates us?

After a long pause I said to my friend, “This just makes me really sad that we are having this conversation at all.  To me, the size of your waist means nothing, it is the size of your heart that I care about. AND the fact of the matter is that 30% of the country is obese and they are looking for YOU to show them that it is not their SIZE that matters!  It is their happiness, their health, their self esteem and what they do in the world to make it a better place that MATTERS!  They are looking for you to give them inspiration and courage to show up in the world and most importantly to demonstrate to  them how to LOVE themselves, no matter what their waist size is.” She took all this in and I could tell that she was touched and moved. Her entire motivation is to end suffering in the world, two legged and four legged beings!  What an incredible mission.
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I heard from different conversations around the Oscar awards that people where just tired of the “whining” around the issue.  Jaw drop, double take.  WHAT??!!  WHINING?!  If I had been present in that conversation (I wasn’t, this was second hand), I would have asked “when, pray tell, in YOUR life have you ever been discriminated against?  Oh never?  Well then, my dear, you don’t get to complain about the “whining!”  But of course, I would say this with love. Wink. Because the bottom line is that this is really just an issue of education.  And sometimes we need to firmly but lovingly EDUCATE those around us. Speak up.  Don’t be silent, especially when you get that knot in your stomach that makes you want to run away and not say anything. Be brave.  Do it for those who need to be spoken up for and most importantly, do it for yourself.  AND if you can say it with love, bravo, you just moved up one more rung on the enlightenment ladder!