A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: "That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen." The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: "The driver just insulted me!" The man says: "You go right up there and tell him off - go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you."
There are two reasons I feel comfortable using this joke in today's column. The first is that it won third place in a contest dubbed "the world's funniest jokes". The second will become clear as you read the column.
In preparation for a homily on Trinity Sunday I recently searched the internet for the most inspirational story to share and came up with the incredible story about of Lizzie Velasquez, who has the title of "the ugliest woman in the world".
Lizzie has a condition that does not allow her body to have any body fat. Her condition is extremely rare; just one of three people in the entire world have it. Lizzie weighed just 2lb 10oz at birth, and she has to eat 60 meals a day, every 15-20 minutes, but yet she weighs only 56 pounds (25 kg). Her parents say that they had to buy dolls' clothes for Lizzie because baby clothes were too big.
Some cyber bullies dubbed her the "ugliest woman in the world," because of her appearance, she said. Some you-tube watchers told her to kill herself, called her an "it" and a monster.
"It's not easy, I will be the first to tell you it's not easy," Velasquez says. People say of me, 'She can handle everything, she's dealt with this for so long,' and to be honest, I'm human and of course these things are going to hurt."
But Lizzie went on to become a motivational speaker, and to write several books, the first of which is entitled Lizzie the Beautiful.
"I think the biggest thing I have to deal with is people constantly staring at me as soon as I walk into a room," Velasquez says. "Recently, it's been a lot of adults I've been having to deal with who will slowly walk in front of me and turn their heads, and look me up and down. So the stares are what I'm really dealing with in public right now."
But "instead of just sitting by and watching these people judge me, I'm starting to want to go up to these people and introduce myself, or give them my card, and say, 'Maybe you should stop staring and start learning.'"
Why am I sharing this story with you? Because you and I have fewer real obstacles in our way. Lizzie is such an inspirational example of courage. How easy it should be for us to have a good self image, to know we are loved by God. To know we are beautiful.
I repeat! We are beautiful! You and I! We are blessed! We are filled with grace as we live our lives as Christians. God is literally in us. And that should give us a happy and rewarding life.
