"Societal Ed talks loudly to men and woman, adults and children. His voice is especially strong in the United States and other Western cultures (where everything from billboards to radio ads reinforces it), and no one seems to be immune from seeing and hearing his message. Only extreme isolation (like living underground or in a cave somewhere) could prevent exposure. We all hear Societal Ed, but we don’t all have to listen."*
All in all, the book is full of useful information for everyone (kind of like "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters") and provides great advice for all aspects of life. It inspires me. She inspires me. I have never met someone who will openly say that they are "Recovered." There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it with Jenni; I hope to meet her someday, and when I do, I hope to be able to tell her that I am recovered. Period.
While I'm on the subject, what actually inspired me to write this makes me sick. Let me paint a picture for you. (:
I'm sitting on the couch in the living room thinking about absolutely nothing in specific. My brother is laying down next to me switching between a war game on his Xbox and the Disney Channel on TV. I'm not really paying any attention but I keep hearing the sound switch from depressing gunfire and yelling to annoying ten year old girls (and boys that sound like girls) as well as the typical Disney Channel announcer talking about Monstober and all the promotional Halloween shows they're playing.
To be honest I have no idea what show he's watching, but out of nowhere I hear a young girl, dressed as a cheerleader tell another young girl dressed as Medusa to stop looking at her. "You're going to turn me into stone! ...And then I'm going to be ugly and weigh like two thousand pounds or something," she said.
Maybe I'm wrong to think this way, but what in the world makes the producers of this show think that it is okay to present this to a bunch of prepubescent girls?! To make matters worse, the Medusa girl proceeded to talk about how they needed to sneak something into the punchbowl to add a "kick to the punch".
Knowing me, you can probably imagine how I was feeling about this show. If it were a show on MTV or even Cartoon Network then you know what, maybe it would not make me so angry. ...But a channel that caters to very young girls (and apparently 18 year old boys..?) should not allow a show to say something like that. Ever. And then people wonder what it is that makes all these young women think they are not good enough, that they can be prettier, perfect, more beautiful.
If this is Disney now, I'd rather not know what my children will be watching in the future.
I don't know if any of this matters to anyone else but me, but I guess that the fact that it means something matters. I guess.
I hope things start looking up soon, I'm getting tired of feeling crappy everyday.
“To me, filling the hole with God meant I had to get out of myself and find a way to look at life as a gift and not a constant battle. I had to look at people as blessings and friends, not my competition or enemies.”*
*Schaefer, Jenni (2009-07-19). Goodbye Ed, Hello Me : Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life (Kindle Locations 988-989). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.
