Why is it so common to comment on appearance? It's horribly insensitive that the hospital visitor in the story would comment on weight/size when a family member was suffering from cancer...unbelievable...yet I experienced it as well when my foster mother lay dying in the hospital from cancer. Her daughter-in-law could only comment on the weight she had lost: "Wish I could lose that much weight!" Really? I was just a child, yet that struck me as inappropriate and self-centered.
Even on the good days, we don't need to be reminded of our size, our gender, our height, etc. Thankfully, I now live in a region where there is no cultural tendency to comment on such things...not in front of the person, anyway...
|