A good read.........

...something I found on another board and it touched me so I thought I'd pass it on for more of us to read! As I spend my days meeting people in our ever growing (yet shrinking) weight loss surgery world I often meet those who have lost a feeling of personal worth. Perhaps obesity caused feelings of worthlessness. Maybe unkindness or abuse from others. Life experiences have a way of bringing us down and there was a day not so long ago that I believed myself worthless. Worthlessness, defined as devoid of worth, use or value, is a terrible place to be.

But I submit that each and every individual is born of worth and value; all humans are born priceless. Our experiences, our achievements, our mistakes do not change our worth: they build our character. They define our personality. We have wellness and illness but we never lose our worth.
 
Consider these two $100 bills on a billiard table:



The bottom one is old and worn, bent, crinkled and tired. The top bill is pristine with nary a blemish or scar. Which piece of currency is worth more? They are both worth the same: $100. Experience and wear does not diminish the value of the worn $100 bill: it tells a story. Perhaps that bill bought a single mother a basket full of groceries. Maybe a grandmother sent it lovingly in a card to a grandchild. Maybe a drug addict traded the bill for a fix.  Maybe a dad gave it to his son for his first date and said, "treat the young lady nicely."

Wear and tear tells a story.

As people recovering from and battling morbid obesity our bodies show some wear and tear. Our emotions and our hearts may be blemished and bruised, but our worth is in tack. We only need to recognize it.

Society would have us believe we are a people of lesser value, a people of sloth and gluttony. There are those who would diminish our value as we take-up space in a world of pretty people. But I beg to say that those people are equally blemished and have the scars of wear and tear just as profound as they perceive our obesity to be. If a person has been engaged in living then they have wear and tear: but they still have worth.

And let's not forget the pristine $100 bill. What potential it holds! Perhaps it will travel through a Salvation Army bucket or pay the bill to heat a cold winter home or take a child to Disneyland or buy the elderly a much-needed prescription. I hope it passes hands many times never losing its worth.

Today my friends I ask you to look in the mirror and appreciate the wear and tear. Celebrate it all - it is the journey of your life, it is not a measure of your worth. After all, there is no measure for priceless.

Very nice.  Definitely food for thought.

That is awesome!  I have to pass that on!  Thanks for posting!

This is good....I also copied it. Thanks for sharing honey. Hugs....connie d

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!!!

That touched my heart.....Thanks for posting that. Kelly

Beautiful sentiments, thanks for sharing. But....  am I the only person that read it and thought of my wrinkles and grey hairs?

You so should become a stand up comedian!!!  You totally crack me up!