Obesity isn't a health problem.

I hate it when people think obesity causes health problems.  That is an absolute lie and it doesn't make any sense.

When I was born I was a small baby.  I was also extremely sick.  My parents were told I would die.  I didn't obviously.

My illness had nothing to do with my own weight.  I was just an infant, and I was small for an infant. My illness had nothing to do with my mother's weight.  She was 5 feet exactly and 99 lbs before she got pregnant with me.

I remained skinny throughout my live.  I was active in sports such as swimming, skiing, cycling, horse back riding, and walking.  I also remained sick.  After my surgery as a toddler, I didn't get as sick as that again, but I had frequent infections, and health problems related to the problems I was born with.

In my early 30's I got much sicker, and needed more surgeries.  It was after one of these surgeries, that I was no longer able to take the stairs two at a time (I had to use the elevator) or park a 20 minute walk away from my destination (I had to park closer).  I stopped all forms of exercise, except for walking, because I was too sick to do so.

I also started taking medication that causes weight gain.

I became too sick to cook, nutritious foods made from scratch.  My mother was progressively loosing energy due to her own health problems, and couldn't do that either.  Cooking from scratch takes a lot of time and energy, and Mom and I just didn't have it.  Some days we didn't eat supper, because we didn't have the energy to make it.  We grabbed potato chips instead.  To solve that problem we bought boxed foods, and made them regularly.

Sticking a couple of chicken fingers in the oven is easier than cooking from scratch, and better than eating nothing but potato chips.

And we started gaining weight.

But....

I am not unhealthy because I gained weight.  I was sick for decades before gaining weight.  I am overweight because I am sick.  I don't have the energy to exercise like I once did nor do I have the energy to spend and hour making each meal as I once did.

Obesity is not a health problem.  Health problems can cause obesity, but obesity in itself is not a health problem.

I am not a mistake and neither is anybody else.

"People can't be transgendered because God doesn't make mistakes".

I've heard variations of that statement several times while watching countless videos about transgender people.  The last time, was when somebody from the catholic school board was explaining why their schools would never included transgender children.

Like many people, I am extremely offended by that statement, but unlike many people it's not because I'm transgendered or even know anybody whose transgendered.

I was born sick.  My parents were told I would die.  I didn't.

That's an extremely short version of my infant and toddlerhood, but it will do for what I want to say.

If being transgendered or homosexual means God made a mistake, then what about the sick baby, whose organs weren't quite constructed in the typical way, and needed several surgeries by the age of three?  Does that make me a mistake?

Did God not intend to make me?  Was he maybe just not paying attention when he made me, and messed up my organs in some way?  Maybe he intended me to die before birth?  Is my very existence a mistake?

I vehemently say "NO!".  I scream it.  The very thought of my existence being a mistake is extremely offensive.

I am not a mistake, and neither are those who born with missing limbs, or those who are born transgender or homosexual (and yes they are born that way), or those who are born as little people, or blind, or when learning disabilities, or those who for any reason are born differently than the typical person.

I do believe in God.  I don't know why I wasn't perfectly healthy at birth.  I have theories, but none of them are tested or even half way believed.  (Hey I've had years to think about my health problems that still bother me to this day).

Does God make mistakes?  It's an uncomfortable question to ask.  It's one I don't like even thinking about.  My gut says "no", but then how do you explain me, the baby doctors believed would die?

Just as I don't know why some people are born with red hair, some have feet size 11 1/2, some love the colour yellow, and some hate the taste of ketchup.

We are all different.  And yes, we are all the same.  But is any one of us any better or worse than anybody else?  Does any one of us have a difference that is so huge it must have been a mistake?

I believe my health problems have given me qualities that other's don't have.  I'm not going to explain them here, but...

Did God make a mistake when he made me?  No.  Did he make a mistake when he made the little transgender girl who wanted to wear a girl uniform and go to the girls bathroom in her catholic school?  No.  Did he make a mistake when he made anybody.  No.

Why are those people that way?  I don't know.

I do know that when you say that a transgender child simply can't be because God doesn't make mistakes, you are insulting me.  You can't deny that I had many surgeries before I was three.  My scars prove it.  You can't deny that my parents were told I would die.

I am prove, that people can be born different than the typical person and not be a mistake.

Oh and that guy who said that...  Well the human rights commission made him eat his words.  His school was made to acknowledge transgender people, and allow them to be the gender they are at school.  Unfortunately the little girl, ended up leaving the school before that happened.