John Y’s Musings from the Middle: My Diet Strike

A friend on Sunday I hadn’t seen in a while said to me, “Hey, you’ve put on some weight recently, haven’t you?”

It was a gentle, friendly comment. Not insulting.

I said, “Well, I’m involved in a international protest and am on a “diet strike” until justice prevails. This is day 14 of not going on a diet.”

My friend paused for a moment and then realized it was safe to laugh–and did.

“What protest?” he asked?

“Well, that’s sort of fluid right now….I haven’t exactly decided yet. But I was ready to commit to my form of protest and wanted to get a head start.”

“You ain’t right” came back the answer.

I get that response more often than I care to report.

The important point is “You ain’t right” isn’t the insult it seems at first blush. In fact it’s kind of a back handed compliment.

Anyway, that’s my status update. And I’ve narrowed my choices for protesting. And today is day 19 of my “diet strike”—and there is no turning back at this point.

Whatever I end up protesting.