"Hey fat boy" he said, as my son and I were walking down the sidewalk to go shopping. I immediately went dizzy. I clenched my fist. Every emotion in my body was triggered at once as I took in those words. What did you call my son? How does he feel, what should I do? We kept moving, but I felt like I'd just been poisoned. Later we were walking by the guy again, he complimented my son on his batman shirt. I couldn't believe my mistake; my son is a super hero. He is not me.
I've been called a lot of names. Mostly nicknames, like Benji, Benny, Bender, Baus. Others are more extreme; Ben Ladin wins for time sensitivity and cultural insensitivity. Ben Gay wins for overall effect on my eleven, and then again sixteen year-old psyche, while simply referencing a brand (owned by Johnson&Johnson no less!).
But the most hurtful have been getting called fat.
I vividly remember my cousin calling me fat. He was much younger than me, but it still hurt. I remember my uncle rephrasing it, just bigger is all.
Entrepreneurs need a chip on their shoulder and this would just end up being one more log for the fire. Now I need to ready myself for the next generation of name calling on my daughter and son.
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