Jackie Trottmann.com » A Friendly Rant

Christmas Sticker Shock – A True Story of how one Public School Celebrates the Holiday Season – Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Winter!

Jackie Trottmann — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:02:55 +0000

So far I have been blogging about food, ideas and other inspirational thoughts, but I haven’t done a friendly rant. I changed the subject of my blog to a friendly rant about life, love and food. This is my first rant about life. I find some stories a little hard to believe as far as where our society has gone and this is one of them.

My friend Denise and I have been getting together for decades for our annual Christmas dinner together. We met last night and she told me this true story. I thought it was funny, yet sad and shocking, so I had to share it..

She works for the public school district tutoring children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

Always thinking of special things she could do for her kids, she found some really cute and festive holiday stickers to reward them during the month of December.

It is school policy that anything brought in from outside the school’s curriculum is reviewed by the principal. So, Denise brought her enthusiasm and her stickers into the principal for review.

The first sheet of stickers had images of Santa. Denise was told that she couldn’t use them.

The second sheet had images of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. The third sheet had images of candy canes. On both she was also told she couldn’t use.

The fourth sheet (I told you she was enthusiastic. Did I mention persistent?) was full of Christmas trees. She was told that she couldn’t use those either. After this last rejection, Denise finally asked why she couldn’t use any of the stickers. The principal replied because they resembled a Christian holiday.

With her attitude changing from enthusiasm to getting annoyed at this point, brazen, she held up a sheet of stickers with images of Menorahs to symbolize Hanukkah. The principal was not pleased. She nixed those as well. Denise would have purchased Kwanza stickers too, but the store didn’t have any. Just as well.

The principal explained that there could be nothing presented that was at all religious in nature. What the school did celebrate as its holiday was winter. Merry winter!

Not to be totally thwarted, Denise presented stickers of snow flakes and snowmen. Ah, the principal nodded and gave her approval.

Denise then blurted out, “Wouldn’t the snowmen insult the global warming enthusiasts?!!?”

The principal looked at her with a combination of part irritation and part sneer and told her that she would not at all be surprised if some parents complained about the snowmen.

I don’t know about you, but this story has encouraged me to curl up in front of my Christmas tree with a large glass of eggnog, watch the movie – It’s a Wonderful Life then go to bed reading the Christmas story from the book of Matthew with an extra layer of blankets to keep me warm and finish the day praying for peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Susan Boyle from Britains Got Talent – A True Beauty

Jackie Trottmann — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:17:45 +0000

You’d have to be totally unplugged from electronic media to have not heard this story over the last week. Susan Boyle is a 47 year old, single, unemployed woman who has always had a dream of singing in front of a large audience. She got that opportunity by singing on Britains Got Talent television show. There are three judges, Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and American Idol’s Simon Cowell.

When Susan stepped onto the stage, the audience and judges made an immediate “judgment” based on her appearance. Everyone rolled their eyes and snickered. The audience was also laughing and making comments complete with whistles and cat calls.

Unaffected, Susan proceeded to answer questions in her own quirky way and said that she wanted to be like Elaine Page, heralded as the First Lady of British Musical Theatre. This statement created more eye rolling and smirks from the judges.

The moment had come for her to sing, and appropriately enough, her song choice was I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables. As soon as she opened her mouth and her amazing voice filled the theater, the snickers turned to pure awe and wonder. In that moment she changed from the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan. The judges and audience changed their tears of laughter and jeering into tears of being so moved by such a beautiful voice.

At the end of her performance, Piers Morgan said, “Everyone was laughing at you – no one is laughing now.” Amanda Holden had commented that everyone was against her. “We were all cynical and that was the biggest wake-up call ever.”

How often have we all made our judgments and missed an opportunity to have met an incredible human being? Our society puts so much of an emphasis on youth and beauty.

This video is so inspiring that I’ve included the link in case you haven’t seen it, or if you want to watch it again. I don’t think I could ever get tired of watching it!

Let me finish this entry with an appropriate text – “Pay no attention to his looks or to his splendid height, for I have passed him by. It is not what man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

My Take on the Oprah Show – Celebrities – Losing Weight in the Public Eye

Jackie Trottmann — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:32:02 +0000

April first Oprah had Valerie Bertinelli, Marie Osmond and Star Jones on her show talking about their weight losses. All three of these women are beautiful and all three women were successful in reaching their goal weights. But you could still see the emotional pain on their faces talking about being overweight.

Valerie Bertinelli said, “I have obsessed about my weight in some sort of way all of my life.” And when asked if she felt like she had succeeded once and for all with maintenance, she said, “I won’t know if I’ve conquered maintenance until the day I die.”

Marie Osmond said, “I started dieting at the age of 10.” She said that she tried, “Everything from diet pills to starving myself, to bulimia. You name it, I tried it.”

Star Jones went from 300 pounds to 160 pounds. She says, “I’m still 300 pounds in my head some days.”

Not only did all three women still look tortured, but Oprah was emotionally touched as well. I sat there and shook my head in sadness. My story is their story. I tried everything to lose weight. I spent forty years of my life obsessing about my weight and body image. How many other millions of women share this same story – those in and out of the media spotlight?

When I talk to people from my past, friends or business associates about my book, The Freedom to Eat, and tell them about my story of how I struggled with weight and low self-esteem and how I overcame that struggle, every person has said, “I didn’t know you had all of those issues. I didn’t know you went through everything you did.”

Of course no one knew! We suffer in silence. All of these women are bright, beautiful and talented. This preoccupation of not being good enough has to come to an end. This obsession with beauty and thinness and meeting unrealistic standards has to end. We need to turn our self loathing into self love. We need to take care of ourselves first instead taking care of everyone else. If we need to lose weight, we need to lose weight because it means being healthy and happy, not losing weight at all costs.

Join me in The Freedom to Eat – to eat, live and love your life.