What can be annoying

The idea from this post is actually not mine. I took it from someone else's blog because I felt compelled to write something on that topic myself.

Imagine you see a very overweight woman in the street or on the bus. Imagine she might even be eating a sandwich - or a hamburger. Would you comment on that? Admittedly, some people might have mean thoughts along the lines of "Why is that fat person not eating vegetables?" or "How can someone that obese eat a hamburger now?!". Hardly anyone would say that out loud, though. It would be extremely offensive and hurtful and rude. You just don't do that, you don't comment on someone's weight. It is too easy to be rude or offensive, especially with women. I think the only situations in which it is okay is with babies (I'm sure every healthy mother likes hearing from other people that her baby has grown bigger since that's what babies are supposed to do) or with someone who really is working on losing the weight - who might be happy to hear that someone else can see their progress.

In any other case, however, just don't do it! I myself have had comments in the other direction. I have a delicate, girlish figure, but I have a healthy weight and a healhty BMI - I'm just at the bottom end of healthy. My boss in a facility where I tutor kids after school commented several times. One day I came in and she asked whether I was losing "even more weight" when in fact I have maintained my weight for years. Another time I mentioned that I'm learning medieval swordfencing with real swords and she asked: "What, with your weight?!". The problem is that her comments sounded so negative, like she was basically telling me I'm too thin. You can make many comments on a woman's look which are not offensive. "Wow, you look pretty today!" might be one or "I like your hairstyle!", but stating reproachfully that you're too thin to hold a sword is not nice and makes me feel like a freak. I'm built this way. I eat normally and I like eating and I even have sweeties every now and then, but I'm just naturally this way, the way other women might be naturally heavier. The best thing is to just allow people to be the way they are and not to make comments which suggeest that something might be wrong with them. That counts for thin people as well. A thin person does not like it if people make comments on their weight, espcially when those comments imply that something must be wrong with a person because they are thin.

On a different note: I've been having headaches for the past two days because of the weird, sticky-hot weather. I don't do well with that. We've been having thunderstorms as well and there will be more thunderstorms on the weekend - which I'm fine with as long as our cellar doesn't get flooded again the way it happened a few weeks ago. We spent a whole day tidying up and drying the cellar room and I was so extremely achy the next day!