In a special four-minute comment that aired during this morning's news broadcast on La Crosse, Wisconsin's CBS affiliate WKBT, news anchor/reporter Jennifer Livingston responded to a viewer who wrote in to the station to chide Livingston for not providing "a suitable example for this community's young people, girls in particular," by appearing on television despite being overweight.
"The truth is, I am overweight," Livingston acknowledged. "You can call me fat - and yes, even obese on a doctor's chart. But to the person who wrote me that letter, do you think I don't know that? That your cruel words are pointing out something that I don't see?" Proving that she was most certainly "a suitable example for this community's young people," and "girls in particular," Livingston concluded her necessary rant with an appeal to bullied children everywhere.
"To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. Do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies. Learn from my experience - that the cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many."This woman has class. Seriously, what poise and elegance she showed. I have never bought into the whole idea that because you are on camera you owe the world perfection as a role model. This woman's response to insensitivity is far more valuable to young women than her waistline. Girls in particular? I'd love to hear them expand on what they meant by that.
I don't think the person who wrote the letter realized how shallow they would sound. I hope her answer gave them new insight into how thoughtless and silly we can be.
Click the link and you can watch her deliver the lines, and say a whole lot more. Well done, madam.
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