Today I was cringing as I was exercising at the Y. A tall, big man was 'coaching' two young teens in the weight area. In a loud taunting tone he kept repeating, "Who you wanna be? Are you weak? You wanna be fat forever? Who you wanna be?"
They were lifting weights and then doing pushups. One of the boys was overweight and having a hard time. That brought on more of the tirade.
I prayed for the mean spirited man to stop.I tried to think of how to help.
One boy went to the basketball court and the one that had the most trouble was sent up front to the treadmill.
The man stood across from where I was exercising. I said, "A little praise and encouragement goes a long way." He disagreed. I stood up and said, "I understand your tough love, but just telling them they did a good job would be great."
When he said he tried that I walked up and gave him one of my fake slaps. (That is when you put a hand on his arm and slap your hand a couple hard slaps to make it sound like you slapped the offender.)
I told him not to tell me any lies. Then I told him I would pray the boys would get encouragement to exercise and that he would have patience with them. He said that would be good.
Then on my way out I stopped at the desk and related what happened. I asked the weight room attendant if she would go up to the boy on the treadmill and tell him she saw how hard he was working out and to encourage him
Pray for them.
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