We come in all sizes. Understand it. Support it. Accept it.

Movin' along in the fat lane--

Have you ever really thought about the definition of "normal"?

If we use it as an adjective, "normal" means conforming to a type or group, common, standard, or regular pattern. The synonyms are average, natural, ordinary, regular, typical and usual.

If we use it as a noun, "normal" means anything that is normal or usual, the expected state, form, amount, or degree.  The synonyms are sane, stable and rational.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the origin of normal began about 1520–30 A.D. and came from the Latin word: normālis -  made according to a carpenter's square.

According to a severely obese person, "normal" is a condition that many of us strive to attain and more often than not die, never fully understanding or achieving.

There isn't a time in my life that I've felt "normal" or that I belonged to a common or conforming group of people. Please don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say. This isn't a pity party and I absolutely don't want anyone to feel sorry for me. I've had a life packed with more adventure and unusual experiences than most anyone I know. And believe it or not, I am thankful for the many blessings and opportunities that I've received. In the 61 years that I've been on this planet, I've done okay.

It's just that I'd like to see bullying of all types stopped.

So what does this have to do with being normal?

When you weigh 410 pounds you are anything but normal. When you've been fat your entire life - not just your adult life - you have no idea what being normal is all about. But I find it odd that with 33.8 percent of the U.S. adult population and additional 17 percent or 12.5 million children and adolescents ages 3-19 being considered obese, how can anyone look as people of size as anything but normal?

There are any number of laws and established policies preventing discrimination based on color, race, ethnicity, age, medical conditions and sexual orientation. However it's open season on fat people. I've been told I couldn't have a job because I was too fat. When I was eight years-old I wanted to join a Brownie troop. I got to attend one meeting and the leader told me I couldn't come back because I was too fat and would take up too much space in the meetings.

That was more than fifty years ago and I became a Brownie Scout, I also went on to become a Junior, Cadet, Senior Scout and ultimately a leader, you'd think that by now hurtful remarks like that were a thing of the past. But unfortunately, they're not.

Last week the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), a California based non-profit civil rights organization whose goal is to end size discrimination based on body size, reported that one of our nation's right wing political leader and former presidential candidate said hateful slurs and disparaging remarks about First Lady Michelle Obama's body.

One of our nation's lawmakers made a remark about the size of the posterior of the First Lady of the United States of America in a public place where it could be overheard and reported. A former presidential hopeful, once a fat person himself, called the First Lady "Mooochelle" on public radio. Taunting is a form of bullying.

Our nation is spending millions of taxpayer dollars on campaigns to end bullying in our schools while the leaders of our country openly and publicly bully our First Lady. This has to stop! If these individuals cannot set good examples for the children of our nation, they do not deserve to be leaders.

NAAFA calls upon these individuals to grow up. Act like adults. Apologize to First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to the people of this nation. Tell our children NOT to follow your example but to learn to accept one another and treat everyone with respect and dignity without regard to body size or shape.

Founded in 1969, NAAFA is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.