I never really realized how much body image was important to people in our society until I met a few people who, through their stories, showed that people can be cruel and all of a sudden be nice solely based on your waist size. Personally, I have never been really skinny or really fat. I do workout and I choose to because I like it, it is good for me, and just to look good really. I admit that I was somewhat brought into the working out thing from images on TV, magazines, and other guys at school who worked out. However, in my mind, I didn't think working out and getting muscular would maybe make me liked more or that I would become popular.
This post is addressing people who were fat or skinny at one time and decided to lose/gain weight and lift weights for social reasons. Everyone says they workout for health benefits, etc, but let's face it, cosmetic reasons, whether they are the number one priority or on the bottom of the list are always part of it. I cannot speak for people who were obese or skinny before, so I will say what I have seen and what I conclude from people who have told me their stories. I can give some perspective into being picked on based on physical appearance since I am shorter than average (although weight can be changed and height cannot).
It is no surprise that being overweight, especially during adolescence, is hard. Kids are not easy on people that are "different." It is hard being overweight or even too skinny. In high school, people were not afraid of offending people and hurting their feelings. Throughout high school I would see kids being called names for being overweight or even too skinny. I can imagine that years of that verbal abuse would make someone either very depressed or angry and bitter. Maybe some kids just decide to lose/gain weight and even try to act differently to fit in.
In my experience, and I am mostly going off my experiences so don't get all worked up cuz I am not making a generalization, I have seen kids who have, let's say lost weight and toned up a lot end up acting like total assholes. The people who used to be funny and who had some morals and values now had way too much confidence and no morals or values. Now they are in a different crowd and they use their little story to make people feel sorry for them. I can't believe people notice you just by some physical change. Do they really care about the person?
Out of school, you see this on TV as well. All those ads with people looking like crap and acting unhappy and then they lose weight and BOOM they are popular and happy and have this attitude all of a sudden. As if they are worth something now. And now they kick ass and don't care what anyone thinks about them.
Besides the health reasons for someone loosing/gaining weight, I think that people do care about what people think about them. People don't want to be teased just because of their weight. I always feel, however, that weight is something that CAN be controlled for the most part and you can change it. As long as you remain who you are, then a drop or increase in weight shouldn't change your personality. If anything, it may make you more confident but if anything more than that then I feel like people lose their originality. There are some things you cannot change though. I know that everyone has preferences about what they like physically in the same or opposite sex, but for me, it's a weird issue.
According to this site, the average height of males in the USA is around 5'10. However, European countries win with having the tallest males in the world. The U.S. falls right after Europe. That's great and all but I have no roots in Europe or anything. The average heights for other regions such as in the Middle East, East Asia and South America are much lower than that. Maybe me being Colombian has something to do with my height or my upbringing, etc. At the end of the day the height I end up being before I stop growing was pretty much determined at birth.
I always knew I was smaller than the other kids back in grammar school, but it never had a huge effect on me. Or I didn't really think about my height as being a problem to people or myself. In addition to being shorter, I was somewhat quite in middle school and high school, so I was pretty much a prime target for bullies. I was not bothered as much as other kids you hear about but I had my share of bullies and mean kids in school. Not understanding why these kids did what they did I just shrugged it off and as time went on I developed a backbone and used my words to fight back. I think my confidence rose when I realized that what I said to people made a difference and people left me alone. Looking back, I think that being short was something that was normal to me. It didn't make me feel unwanted or bad. I did wish that I were taller sometimes but at the end of the day I was and still am happy with my height. In fact, I don't want to be taller. I am 5'4 and proud to say it. I think American guys are too tall anyway. I mean there are 14-year-old kids who are taller than guys that are in their 30s what the hell? I guess it's the opposite extreme, but being short is awesome.
Sure, I have been turned down by girls who say they don't like short guys, but I don't care. It probably wouldn't even work out with them anyways. I do agree that being with a woman who is somewhat taller than me would look weird but I am not opposed to being friends. If I do meet a girl that is like 5'6 or something and we really like each other and she doesn't care about height, then I am sure that I will overlook the height issue as well. I feel like my personality should outweigh my height and my build. I feel like I am confident enough that my height shouldn't get in the way of anything.
At the end of the day, all the wishing and hoping you will look a different way doesn't matter because you should realize that you are where you are now BECAUSE of who are you, not what you look like. Even if I was 5'11 and skinny, it wouldn't have had a huge effect on my personality. I would have been raised the same way and everything. I am sure it would have changed my social life but I still feel like it wouldn't affect me. There is always someone out there who is taller, shorter, prettier, fatter, uglier, cuter, skinnier, more muscular, etc than you. The best thing is to like who you are now. Even if you do choose to lose/gain weight or get plastic surgery just remain true to you. Getting caught up in these things just makes your life miserable.
01 December 2009
What Is Being Smart?
Being educated. What does that mean? According to dictionary.com, is having undergone education, especially one above average and characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning. From that, I would interpret being educated to mean that you have a college education and you are aware of the world's situation. It is hard to really define though. No where in the definition does it mention knowing something versus understanding. Nor does the definition mention being smart.
Being smart as defined by dictionary.com is having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability, being shrewd or sharp, as a person in dealing with others or as in business dealings and being dashingly or impressively neat or trim in appearance, as persons, dress, etc. With this, I would conclude that you can be smart but not educated and educated but not smart right?
I do not consider myself a super smart person academically. I did do very well in high school but I never got straight A's. I was never in AP this and AP that or any honors crap. I do consider myself a smart person though when it comes to street smarts and common sense. I cannot do quick math in my head and I can't tell you history. I can tell you about experiences and weird stuff in life and everything I have written in my blog so far.
I consider street smarts more valuable than any book smarts. Sure, books smarts and all that stuff can get you a high paying job but I doubt I would even like the job I would get with knowing all this math, history or politics. The people I have talked to who have real common sense and streets smarts were way more interesting than talking to some know-it-all kid. I feel like, for some people, it's all surface knowledge. There is no depth. Knowing things like what to do in an emergency or how to find your way home when lost using little to no technology is much more handy than knowing a bunch of science or complicated stuff that no one ever uses unless they are specifically in a field of work that requires such knowledge.
Being "smart" can get you anywhere really. For example, a lot of singers/entertainers are very smart and their team is smart in what they do to make us follow them. They have the smarts of the business and just basic knowledge of how to use the system to suit them the best. They may have dropped out of college and high school but they what good are book smarts for them? What good is talent if you can successfully become famous using marketing tactics, etc.
Being dumb or stupid, to me, is not someone who can't answer some crazy math equation or someone who can't name all sorts of court cases related to a certain issue in society. Being dumb is not realizing obvious things around you. It's not being able to answer things that should be considered common knowledge. Things like geography and basic finance and politics should be common knowledge, but unfortunately most people don't know all that. I even admit to not knowing all the basics of finance and some politics. Maybe you are not dumb if you don't know where Uzbekistan is, but you could be dumb if you don't know where England or China is. Being stupid or dumb also shows in everyday behavior. For instance, when people try to pay credit when there is a sign clearly in front of them saying that the place takes cash only. Just a complete disregard for their surroundings and the people they may be disrupting is a stupid thing in my opinion.
The people who understand, not just know, things in life, are the ones that I truly respect. I'd rather listen to someone talk about their experiences and what they have learned and little things about the world rather than someone's knowledge of cars or sports. Experiences and observations can be used in every situation. They can be used to help to further understand things around you. I feel like to many people are analytical and miss the simple things and the basics of life. Most people, including myself, know A LOT, but don't necessarily understand a lot. If we can increase that knowledge into understanding, I think we would be a lot better on in this world.
Being smart as defined by dictionary.com is having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability, being shrewd or sharp, as a person in dealing with others or as in business dealings and being dashingly or impressively neat or trim in appearance, as persons, dress, etc. With this, I would conclude that you can be smart but not educated and educated but not smart right?
I do not consider myself a super smart person academically. I did do very well in high school but I never got straight A's. I was never in AP this and AP that or any honors crap. I do consider myself a smart person though when it comes to street smarts and common sense. I cannot do quick math in my head and I can't tell you history. I can tell you about experiences and weird stuff in life and everything I have written in my blog so far.
I consider street smarts more valuable than any book smarts. Sure, books smarts and all that stuff can get you a high paying job but I doubt I would even like the job I would get with knowing all this math, history or politics. The people I have talked to who have real common sense and streets smarts were way more interesting than talking to some know-it-all kid. I feel like, for some people, it's all surface knowledge. There is no depth. Knowing things like what to do in an emergency or how to find your way home when lost using little to no technology is much more handy than knowing a bunch of science or complicated stuff that no one ever uses unless they are specifically in a field of work that requires such knowledge.
Being "smart" can get you anywhere really. For example, a lot of singers/entertainers are very smart and their team is smart in what they do to make us follow them. They have the smarts of the business and just basic knowledge of how to use the system to suit them the best. They may have dropped out of college and high school but they what good are book smarts for them? What good is talent if you can successfully become famous using marketing tactics, etc.
Being dumb or stupid, to me, is not someone who can't answer some crazy math equation or someone who can't name all sorts of court cases related to a certain issue in society. Being dumb is not realizing obvious things around you. It's not being able to answer things that should be considered common knowledge. Things like geography and basic finance and politics should be common knowledge, but unfortunately most people don't know all that. I even admit to not knowing all the basics of finance and some politics. Maybe you are not dumb if you don't know where Uzbekistan is, but you could be dumb if you don't know where England or China is. Being stupid or dumb also shows in everyday behavior. For instance, when people try to pay credit when there is a sign clearly in front of them saying that the place takes cash only. Just a complete disregard for their surroundings and the people they may be disrupting is a stupid thing in my opinion.
The people who understand, not just know, things in life, are the ones that I truly respect. I'd rather listen to someone talk about their experiences and what they have learned and little things about the world rather than someone's knowledge of cars or sports. Experiences and observations can be used in every situation. They can be used to help to further understand things around you. I feel like to many people are analytical and miss the simple things and the basics of life. Most people, including myself, know A LOT, but don't necessarily understand a lot. If we can increase that knowledge into understanding, I think we would be a lot better on in this world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)