Stepped on some toes, did I?
Feb. 16th, 2003 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsMy, I seem to have stepped on some toes with my last commentary about Lily having no muscle tone. I think that's a very unfortunate physical state for any human being to be in.
And everything said about "fat acceptance" could also be said about "smoking acceptance" or "barebacking acceptance." The difference, that one must have food but one does not have a need for cigarettes or sex, doesn't fly. It means that making decisions is harder because the temptation is always there, but that doesn't alleviate the need to actually make decisions.
I'm a parent. I live in the United States. My child is confronted with a million temptations regarding what to put into her body and her mind. We don't exactly make it easy around here: advertisers make a profit off vices as well as virtues and bombard us all with thousands of messages every day about what is and is not tasty to eat, what is and is not fun to watch, or read, or hear. It is my responsibility-- and mine alone-- to teach her how to defend herself against these temptations. To provide both the right message and set the right examples about what to put into her body and her mind.
If my kid takes drugs, smokes, joins some wacked out cult, commits murder, I think it would be perfectly acceptable for others to look at me and ask if I did everything I could to prevent it, to teach her right. That's my responsibility. I'm going to do my damndest not to fail her.
And if she gets fat, the odds are high that it will not be genetic. Neither of her parents is heavy. If she makes it into adolescent without the habits of thought that make for a healthy diet and active life, yeah... that'll be my moral failing, too.
People can change. We don't accept from a driver, "Sorry I was speeding, judge; it's in my genes." Nobody would ever put forth that argument, either-- they'd never see their license again if the judge accepted it. We're all moral agents. We all have moral responsibilities. Some are harder to accept than others, and failings in the past can't be undone. But the future is not and is never set.
And everything said about "fat acceptance" could also be said about "smoking acceptance" or "barebacking acceptance." The difference, that one must have food but one does not have a need for cigarettes or sex, doesn't fly. It means that making decisions is harder because the temptation is always there, but that doesn't alleviate the need to actually make decisions.
I'm a parent. I live in the United States. My child is confronted with a million temptations regarding what to put into her body and her mind. We don't exactly make it easy around here: advertisers make a profit off vices as well as virtues and bombard us all with thousands of messages every day about what is and is not tasty to eat, what is and is not fun to watch, or read, or hear. It is my responsibility-- and mine alone-- to teach her how to defend herself against these temptations. To provide both the right message and set the right examples about what to put into her body and her mind.
If my kid takes drugs, smokes, joins some wacked out cult, commits murder, I think it would be perfectly acceptable for others to look at me and ask if I did everything I could to prevent it, to teach her right. That's my responsibility. I'm going to do my damndest not to fail her.
And if she gets fat, the odds are high that it will not be genetic. Neither of her parents is heavy. If she makes it into adolescent without the habits of thought that make for a healthy diet and active life, yeah... that'll be my moral failing, too.
People can change. We don't accept from a driver, "Sorry I was speeding, judge; it's in my genes." Nobody would ever put forth that argument, either-- they'd never see their license again if the judge accepted it. We're all moral agents. We all have moral responsibilities. Some are harder to accept than others, and failings in the past can't be undone. But the future is not and is never set.
