Have you always been...well...big?

I love people. I really do. Why else would I major in Behavioral Science? I am always shocked & amazed by people's actions (or inaction!) and reactions. So I have to wonder, when did we (we as a people) decide not to be polite...to toss manners out the dirty window?

Being that I live so close to New York City, people just take it in stride that everyone is rude. It was never more apparent to me than when I moved back to NY after living in TN for 3 years. Crossing the George Washington Bridge into the city I noticed the noise for the first time in my life! The cacophony of blaring horns, truck engines, people yelling at each other, and the consistent hum of the city itself do a number on one's ears. But that doesn't explain why people are rude. That only illustrates some of the rudeness.

What I'm talking about is the general daily things people do or say to each other. For instance, when did a pregnant woman's belly become public property? What thought pops into a person's head that says it is OK to rub a stranger's body? And what do they - the rubbers - hope to get from this experience? I think this is a fairly new phenomenon. I just can't picture Victorian era people popping the bubble of personal space to rub a strange belly. Although pregnant women were probably secluded in some basement room in the house & only allowed to come out to use the bathroom.

I haven't experienced the pregnant belly laying on of hands thing, but I have personally experienced another oddity of people. The trying-to-be-politically-correct question, "So have you always been...well...um...big?" What kind of question is that? The best answer I have found to answer this is, "What do you mean? I'm big?" Thus putting the random ball back into their bizarre court.

OK - so everyone knows I'm on this new dieting/changing life routines kick. Fine. But it doesn't just end there. Every single day, people ask me how it's going! How much have you lost? Are you exercising? And then the winner, Have you always been big? You know they want to say: Were you fat your entire life or where you thin at one point & chose to get fat? That's really what they are asking! And really - how rude?! It's like asking, Have you always had that...what is it, a mole...on your face? Or even, Have you always had that overbite?