Friday, May 10, 2013

Tweets Fly on Their Own Wings



     I’m so tired of the news cycle; it goes round and round and gets repeated ad nauseum. Sure Chris Christie’s too fat, so the press found out that he had lapband surgery. Will it make him a better governor? Shouldn’t the electorate decide that? Is he too fat to be healthy? Isn’t that between him and his doctor?
     Why do we look across the room and judge people before we know anything about them? Look at the watch, look at the shoes, how about the clothes? Are they too fat, sure they are, isn’t everyone too fat in this era. If you’re bigger than a Barbie Doll, you too are too fat.
      Then I thought about the article I read in Elle Magazine in August of 2011. The author had to choose between gaining 80 pounds from psychiatric medication and a living hell. As she gained the weight, the former stick thin young woman couldn’t wear a scarlet letter, nor could she hide; 80 pounds is the weight of a very large dog. 
      My daughter, who battled eating disorders while she battled the normal issues as she grew up, found herself in the same position. No one understood. I didn’t even understand until I read the article in Elle. I had even called the drug companies to try to find out if there was anything she could do. Their answers were to be expected: eat less and exercise more. In other words, there was nothing she could do.
      I don't Tweet very much so I didn’t understand the power of Twitter, but I tweeted the link to the Elle article. That was this morning. I keep getting notices from all the people who have re- tweeted the link. Elle even re-tweeted it to their millions of followers. I guess that’s what’s called “going viral.”
http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/gaining-weight-to-cure-depression?src=soc_twtr

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

We Can’t Blame it All on Race



     I’ve been reading Hillary Clinton’s Living History, the book she wrote about her life before she became Secretary of State. She was a superstar in her own right before she met Bill. Her intellect, on full display since President Obama selected her to serve as his Secretary of State, was evident from a very early age.

     Hillary tells a fascinating story about her life, a story that so many of us can identify with, though hers has reached higher highs than most of ours have. She was a great student and went through all the angst of growing up and trying to make the right decisions about her education and her future. The charismatic Bill Clinton won her over and together they tried to improve the healthcare system for our country. 

     Reading the account from Hillary’s viewpoint is fascinating and sheds  a different light on the entire era. All that is history and can be ascertained in news accounts and a myriad of books.

     What has shocked me into reality and forced me to take another look at my current view of our political system is that the pushback and virulent attacks on the Clintons and their attempt at reforming healthcare was no less vile than what has gone on since the election of our first Black President. It has been so easy to blame everything that has been going on in DC on hatred directed at Barack Obama because of his race. They did the same thing to Bill Clinton, a good old white southern boy.

     The Clintons didn’t pass healthcare reform. President Obama did. How he did it against all odds, who knows?