Obesity & Hair As Spiritual Problems
I saw my beautiful sister’s picture on Facebook yesterday. She’d attended some event, somewhere. She was HUGE. 5′ 4″ and pushing 2 and a quarter, maybe more, her features bloated, her smile distorted, the tears of a clown – streaming through the digital capture – when no one’s around.
What has to occur – in the heart, in the soul, in the spirit – in order to go from a size 6 to a size 26?And be comfortable with it, pretend that its cute, sexy, pretend that you are owning your girth and somehow, that is a virtue???
My other sister, a carbon copy, feigns acceptance of her fate…or is it resignation?
During the ’60’s and 70’s, both of these intelligent women wore the hell out of their Super ‘Fros, proudly, fiercely as did many beautiful sisters. I sat looking at previews of the film, “Good Hair” starring Chris Rock, saw the scene where Hollywood starlets admitted their use of weaves, bugged my eyes out at the aluminum can disintegrating in a vat of the product black women put on their hair — and into their brains and body!!
What kind of beating does one have to take, psychically, in order to become complicit in their poisoning, their burning and scarring, their embalming…
Their degradation?
I wanted to pick up the phone and I may yet still and scream at my sister, ask her if she does not see the squandering of her youth, her beauty, her health. Our family grew up playing tennis, so getting and staying in shape comes naturally. Becoming a human pinata is the most unnatural of behaviors.
Why and why do we lie about it? Why do we kill and degrade ourselves and make friends with that degradation, that lie? Don’t even mention what KIND of food we eat to get the way that we are, food processed, genetically engineered, Stepford food, robotic, food made for human doings, not beings.
Take back your hair, your dignity, your self respect. Look in the mirror and see the rolls of fat as a crime, and yourself as an accessory to that crime and vow to do community service on your on damaged self.
Kick your drug habit: your chicken bone, relaxer, hot comb, chittlin’s, Colt 45 and all the rest of that jazz you shake, sweat and sniffle for. We need rehabs for both gorging ourselves on bad food and the self-mutilation that we engage in every time a sister gets a perm.
PERM? Like the Department of “Defense”, a perm at nothing but another lie that tells that black is white and night is day. Problem is, the perm also tells us that we are beautiful when it is the antithesis of beauty. Beauty is what you had before they lay the conk on you in the barber’s chair…
And its what God gave you.
5 Responses to “Obesity & Hair As Spiritual Problems”
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thefreeslave 
I am with you brother, let’s take back our dignity!
peace freeslave,
the “spirit” of the post is on point, but shouldn’t we first disaggregate all of the various causes of obesity? you seem to presume that it can be reduced to poor dietary choices. “choices” and “spirit” might be a good starting point in some instances but genetics, for example, can also play an important role in weight management. i think we should try a little harder to walk in other people’s shoes…
i ain’t gonna go into hair but i sorta feel like the collapsing of these two issues into “spirit” might be an oversimplification. kzs
wow so true…enuff said
Very sad and unfortunate. As much as we like to blame the white man, much of it is on us. Lust almost always preceed deception. How on earth is wearing a phony version of another man’s image 9 billion dollars worth of cute. If straight hair or phony hair weaves and wigs look better on black women than our own hair then God is not all knowing; if He is not all knowing, then He couldn’t be God. It is not possible to humiliate yourself sitting under another man’s image and be treated with equality. Whatever image you exalt above yourself will rule and trample over you, be it man or beast. The only way to disempower a people is to mess with their hair (get a clue from the story of Sampson), “get them to denounce their crown”, meaning leadership over their lives. Any thinking person should be able to figure out that putting poison on your head is not haircare and never will be. Wearing a lie over the top most part of your being will rob, kill and destroy you. Only the truth shall set you free, enlighten your mind and uplift your total being. You would think those who have that hair like Lamb’s Wool” would flaunt it.
TheFreeSlave,
Right on! mental and spiritual well being is a large part of many symptoms people face. I am posting because I really liked your site and I am interested in building a relationship with your site. We want to spread public awareness regarding obesity and nutrtion. I hope you can help me out. I found you site interesting and your site is a very useful resource too.
Please email me back with your URl in subject line to take a step ahead. To avoid spam.
Thank you,
Lindsay Ferrigno
lindsay.ferrigno@gmail.com