
“I thought we were supposed to judge in proportion to our defects? Isn’t it the first hand experience that permits us to better judge?”
The above comments are from Looney for my blog post Walk. The image that elicited this response is this:

Looney has got my creative juices flowing with his comments that I thought it best that I get Shackman also to offer his two bits on the same topic without the background of Looney’s comments to get a different perspective. You can see what he has to say on this, our Friday 2 on 1 blog post here.
Let me start by looking at it from my imperfections or defects, keeping the blog post Walk in context. Both my hip joints have been replaced and revised, I walk with a limp and with considerable difficulty. This handicap also prevents vigorous exercise and so I find it difficult to reduce weight using normal routines. I am also blessed with COPD. I am not giving excuses but, this are facts of life for me. Before the second revision of one of the replaced hip joints and the onslaught of COPD, I was an avid walker and had managed to keep my weight down. After that surgery, it has not been possible for me to that.
When I see some one else obese, without a similar background, I find it difficult to understand why that person cannot exercise to lose weight. On the other hand, when I find someone without such handicaps exercising and / or dieting, I cannot help feel jealous while at the same time applauding them.
So, to answer Looney’s question, yes, first hand experience permits us to better judge.
Proceeding further, while the health issues of obesity need not be overstated, the aesthetic aspect of it has taken alarming proportions due to an industry that hopes to gain by condemning large bodies. I would like to introduce here a remarkable phenomenon called Wabi Sabi from Japan that celebrates imprefections which in my opinion includes plus sized human bodies! I quote – “In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”

To conclude however, I would like to sign off with my own preference. Be non judgemental in all situations and just accept people, things and situations as they are. I am not there yet but, hope to reach there ere too long.