with Mark de Roo

Do us all a favor. Get rid of the “victim” card.

OK, this essay is more difficult and clearly more delicate.
So, I’m at a conference on a health care issue and notice something pretty paradoxical.

Over half the people in attendance are obese. At the meals, 50 per cent of the participants are piling on the salt, taking an extra roll, pouring mountains of sugar in their coffee, and downing their dessert as though it was a NASCAR sponsored race.

Following the conference, I mustered some courage to contact one of the conference planners with this suggestion: maybe, it would be appropriate to have a break-out session (I didn’t want to go to the jugular with suggesting the keynote speech) on the topic of “Obesity & Health Care Workers.” This person’s response was that health care workers are nurturing by nature. This person went on to say that many workers are victims of a lack of nurturing. Consequently, they find their own personal nurturing through food.

To which I say: bull crap!

 

It’s clearly time for America to shed the “victim” card on multiple levels. I found it particularly evident several years ago when descendants of slavery sought reparations for how their ancestors experienced horrible, overt discrimination.

And it doesn’t have to be something this heinous or on this shameful scale. People feel victimized when they didn’t receive the job they desired. Or, when their program got less than 50 per cent of the required funding. Or, when it appears that a “favored” son or daughter got an heirloom that you really wanted.

The good Lord gave each of us 100 billion neurons

Let’s be honest. It’s time for people to grow up, to act mature – and more importantly to take ownership. When people are willing to acknowledge something that needs to be changed, including one’s health, education, or profession, then just do it. Inside everyone is a support structure ready to tackle change. The good Lord gave each one of us 100 billion neurons that are just itching to be expressed in creative and persistent ways.

Maybe, these words from Ralph Waldo Emerson say it best:
Sow a thought and you reap an action; Sow an act and you reap a habit; Sow a habit and you reap a character; Sow a character and you reap a destiny.

Pizza photo by rob_rob2001; brain photo by brewbooks