Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr Back in the twentieth century, it still felt okay to ridicule fat people. They seemed so cartoonish. Who could resist poking fun at them behind their backs? Today, I know that gossip is despicable. The obese are the last objects of scorn and prejudice, aren’t they? What did we ignorant people know of their inner lives? In a memoir I read, the author talks about being sexually abused while she was growing up; she binged to build a wall for protection. How common is that backstory to the current obesity epidemic? Too common! My disdain for supersized people took another hit recently when a youngish man stomped into our Twelve Step room. When I heard his heavy footfalls, I felt like I was hiding from a giant in a fairy tale. But when I greeted him, he confessed, “I lack the courage to kill myself, so I binge on junk food all day into oblivion.” This young, handsome gentle giant found a convert in a public library meeting room. I salute his honesty. There, but for the grace of God, go I. — N.T.
