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| Kenlie Tiggeman |
Being comfortable in my own skin
has always been something that I struggle with. I wear a size two or four, in
pants, yet I still start to clam up when people at the clothing store ask me my
size. It’s the thought of people judging me based on my outer appearance that
makes me feel insecure. The backhanded compliments that I have witnessed happen
to people around me, thought out my youth, have made me overly cautious of
people’s true intentions (children can be very cruel to each other). Admitting
that I care about what people think of me is, definitely, something different.
I pride myself on being unique. The red rose in a field of yellow daises. Yet, it’s
in my DNA to want to be accepted. To be loved.
When I stumbled upon the interview
with Kenlie Tiggeman talking about the size discrimination that her and her
mother experienced in a Texas airport, it really struck a nerve with me (it was
stuck in my head the whole day after I read the article). It was the fact that
this article put me in the position of someone who I am terrified of becoming.
An overweight women. Not only that, but it solidified all my fears. Fears that
society is still unaccepting of things outside the norm. (I’ve always thought
that society wasn’t really as evolved as it should be by now).
Take Kenlie for example. She is a
grown women who has been struggling with losing weight (like most Americans)
and, in the airport, she gets humiliated for being “too big”. The thing that
she feels most insecure about is thrown right in her face. The Southwest
airline employee made NO effort in trying to handle the, obviously,
embarrassing situation with discretion. Having a grown women being told that
she has to announce her weight and what clothing size she wears is far beyond
degrading. In addition to having to announce her weight, she was forced to have
to purchase a second plane ticket. We are in a recession and plane tickets aren’t
cheap (I wouldn’t even be able to afford even one plane ticket now).
This issue is one that had arisen
more than once in the recent years. With obesity now being a national epidemic,
I am sure that is will come up again. All we can do is hope that next time the
matter is handled more professionally and with more concern for the customers’
emotional well-being.
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