An Open Letter to Women.

 

Dear women of the internet,

I’m a skinny girl, and the truth is, I don’t work for it. Never have. It’s natural. I’m sorry that the fact that some people are thinner than you really upsets you. It’s not my fault. But you know, in some people’s cases, it is their fault, because maybe they worked for it. It’s all over facebook, pinterest, and the rest of the internet. People are bashing girls because they are “too thin” or “too skinny,” automatically diagnosing random girls as anorexic.

Things like this are popping up:

Awesome. I’m going to make a t-shirt that says, “18 is not a size.” I’m sure that would go over well. No, it wouldn’t---and I’m glad it wouldn’t. That would be totally wrong and offensive, to discriminate against larger people. But hey, if it’s a tiny girl, it’s totally cool, right? There is something wrong with this picture. If I commented on photos on the internet of big women and said things like, “nasty.” “gross” “quit eating sandwhiches.”  But if it’s a girl who is smaller than average, or hey, just smaller than you, it’s totally acceptable to bash. Awesome.

Here’s me, a size zero girl:

Does that disgust you?

My thighs don’t touch when I sit. I don’t have rolls in my stomach. My arms don’t spread out against my side. I have knobby knees. I have a flat stomach (not abs, believe me, there’s a difference.) I can touch my fingers around my wrist. I went to a summer camp one year when I was 10-11ish, and some random girl came up to me and asked “Are you anorexic?” um..no.. Anorexia is a psychological disorder, not something you, a random girl, label another little girl, because she is smaller than you.

Does that bother you? It shouldn’t.

Skinny girls aren’t disgusting. Overweight girls aren’t disgusting. Judgment for something as stupid as size is disgusting.

If you want to be bothered by a thin person, be bothered by the starving child, not by the teenage girl with a high metabolism or the girl who worked her butt off to look that way.

Why do you feel like you can weigh in on other people’s body type and weight, anyway? Insecurity?

 

but really, just because you are insecure about yourself, whether you be 300lbs over weight, healthy, or underweight, you don’t get the right to bash other people.

A person’s a person, no matter how small, big, skinny, pretty, ugly.

Sincerely,

Bekah

21 things you don’t need to know.

 

So. If you know me halfway well, you know I enjoy a good random fact. Dead or boring conversation? “FUN FACT! Did you know….”

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. The real Maria Augusta Trapp has a cameo appearance in the Sound of Music. She’s like a little blur walking by, but hey, she’s in there.

2. Bubblegum is pink because the guy who was making it didn’t have any other food colorings left.

3. None of the cast of the Cosby show really liked Lisa Bonet.

4. In Virginia, it’s legal to marry your first cousin. [um…ew.]

5. Ronald Reagan loved jellybeans and always had a bowl on his desk in the White House.

6. Air travel is 22 times safer than riding in a car.

7. Alfred Hitchcock had his bellybutton surgically removed.

8. [some] Crayons are made from cow fat.

9. About 150 million hotdogs are eaten in the US on the 4th of July

10. Divorces and new marriage numbers dropped during the Great Depression. They spiked back up after World War II was over.

11. Mohammed is the most popular name in the world.

12.  Elephants can’t jump [imagine it, please, it’s hilarious.]

13. The guy who wrote Jaws, Peter Benchley, was a speechwriter for Lyndon Johnson.

14. The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland is mad because in the 1800s, the felt hatters were using to make hats had lead in them, which eventually lead to brain damage in the hatters, making them go “mad.”

15.  Squirrels have a 44 day gestation period.

16. Finding Nemo is the most sold DVD. Ever.

17. China produces the most tea of any country.

18. Gerald Ford was president and vice president, but he was never elected.

19. The multicolored horse in Wizard of Oz? That’s not paint, thanks to an animal rights group, it’s gelatin.

20.  The dots on dice are called pips.

21. Wednesday is the most popular day to be born on.

And now, you are a wee bit smarter.

You’re welcom.

I’ll just continue.

 

This last week I met people who will struggle to make $100 in a YEAR.

I’ll continue to spend hundreds on lenses for my camera.

People will use water like this, everyday.

I’ll continue to complain when the only thing we have to drink is water.

CHILDREN will carry loads of wood on their back, everyday, to use or sell.

I’ll continue to complain about loading the dishwasher.

People will struggle to feed their families.

I’ll continue to (well, just yesterday) spend $10 without thinking, at Starbucks.

This bed will be shared by 3 people tonight.

I’ll continue wanting to paint my room because, “I don’t like that color.”

People will live here.

I’ll continue to want things I don’t need. I’ll continue to whine about petty things. I’ll continue to not keep things in perspective.

It’s not bad to buy an overpriced coffee or to buy yourself a new shirt. I’m just saying it is so easy to forget. It’s easy to shut it all out, to pretend everything is okay in the world.

On Good Morning America today there was a huge story on poor Demi Moore, and how she is dealing with seeing Ashton and Mila together. REALLY? Is that REALLY the best thing you could come up with? What about all the people dying from conflict in the Middle East? Or the thousands who die everyday from AIDS?

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.      -To Kill A Mockingbird

I can see all the things I’ve seen and genuinely hurt for those people, genuinely want to help them and make a difference, but at the same time, I can just continue on with my life. I don’t lead a totally frivolous wasteful life in comparison to most Americans. But in comparison to the majority of the world? Yes, I do.

I really, honestly, don’t think it’s wrong to spend money or time on things we don’t need. Just because others can’t have them doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

But sometimes, you feel guilty sipping on that $5 coffee, knowing that others can’t buy shoes, or don’t have access to clean water.

I don’t know what the answer is, I really don’t.

The Desires of Your Heart.

 

I wrote this post: http://ramblingsbybekah.blogspot.com/2011/06/life-isnt-fair.html a while back.

It wasn’t even that long ago, but I can look back and tell you how those feelings were just the start of what is happening in my life now.

I’ll go ahead and be honest, when I was preparing for that trip to Guatemala in 2010, my thoughts weren’t really about the people there, or how God was going to use this trip to change me, or others. Nope. It was more about going somewhere, somewhere new. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel, and I love going to new places, but I had it wrong, for that kind of trip at least.

I got there. It wasn’t really what I expected, I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it. That week, I saw so much…and I learned much more than I had anticipated. Life wasn’t really all about me. I don’t have it bad and sometimes, I just need to grow up and get over myself.

Romans 15:1-2:  We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

And then I came home, it wasn’t quite the parade and “ohhh Rebekah you are so incredible” like I had expected. Which now I feel like God was saying, P.S.: still not about you.

Then, in September 2011, I went to Ethiopia, we didn’t really do any “mission work” because I was there with my mom to pick up Teshale. But still, if you look right outside the window, and it’s there.

^that was actually taken from the window of the hotel we stayed in.

Then I went back to Guatemala this year, but with a little bit of a better mindset than before…and do you know the difference that made?

I have just recently started working towards a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies, the plan, after completing that is to “go-back” to school and get a second BA in Social Sciences.

Would I have made those decisions without having the opportunities to travel, like I have? I don’t know. I just know that I am glad that things have happened that have put me on this track. I don’t know if I’ll ever live in another country, I don’t know exactly what is going to happen in my life.

And that makes me think of this:

Psalm 37:5: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I heard/read it once somewhere, I don’t even remember where now, that instead of this verse meaning “Pray and get everything you want.” That perhaps, it might mean something more along the lines of delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart, he will show you what the desires of your heart should be. Because if you really are delighting yourself in the Lord, won’t the desires of your heart be something more than “I want to get an iPhone 5” or wanting to be able to eat out every night? I don’t know, I’m not perfect and I don’t know everything, but I think that the more we “delight ourselves in the Lord” the less earthly desires we will have..

okay, I’ll stop rambling now….

Take…three?

So, I’m back, to try this blogging thing again, only this time I’m not even going to try to do a 30 days of photos or whatever.

I’m just going to post randomly.

The end.