Moral Autobiography
My Moral Autobiography
Junior year of high school I was diagnosed as having an eating disorder; I was anorexic which can be defined as "a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight-loss" (http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org). This definition does not mention that the effects of this can range anywhere from death to the inability to have children. This medical definition is broad and does not really encompass any of the mental side of the disease. In my struggle with anorexia I was faced with both the moral issues that anorexia inevitably brings about such as lying, self destruction, and societal pressure and the distorted body image that the disease causes. Anorexia itself is not the moral situation I plan to discuss; I will explain how throughout my illness how I was challenged morally and after I came to terms with my illness how I had to examine my beliefs and morals. I can not be one hundred percent sure that I will be able to because of the damage I did to my body. What I will discuss in this moral autobiography is the journey through my illness and I will connect this to my own moral character and how it changed and progressed. Anorexia, although a disease is somewhat of a choice, or at least in my case it was. My Junior year of high school I was starting to develop as a woman. My whole life I had been extremely thin due to my fast metabolism and my tall lanky frame. I was used to this role, and enjoyed it. I used to enjoy when people would tell me I was skinny, and it came to the point where I felt this characteristic almost defined me as a person. When I was fifteen I finally went through menstruation; it was the summer going into my sophomore year of high school when it happened. This is late for most girls and especially for my family because both my sisters had gotten it by the age of ten. This late start had caused me to grow to about five foot seven or so and gain
Junior year of high school I was diagnosed as having an eating disorder; I was anorexic which can be defined as "a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight-loss" (http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org). This definition does not mention that the effects of this can range anywhere from death to the inability to have children. This medical definition is broad and does not really encompass any of the mental side of the disease. In my struggle with anorexia I was faced with both the moral issues that anorexia inevitably brings about such as lying, self destruction, and societal pressure and the distorted body image that the disease causes. Anorexia itself is not the moral situation I plan to discuss; I will explain how throughout my illness how I was challenged morally and after I came to terms with my illness how I had to examine my beliefs and morals. I can not be one hundred percent sure that I will be able to because of the damage I did to my body. What I will discuss in this moral autobiography is the journey through my illness and I will connect this to my own moral character and how it changed and progressed. Anorexia, although a disease is somewhat of a choice, or at least in my case it was. My Junior year of high school I was starting to develop as a woman. My whole life I had been extremely thin due to my fast metabolism and my tall lanky frame. I was used to this role, and enjoyed it. I used to enjoy when people would tell me I was skinny, and it came to the point where I felt this characteristic almost defined me as a person. When I was fifteen I finally went through menstruation; it was the summer going into my sophomore year of high school when it happened. This is late for most girls and especially for my family because both my sisters had gotten it by the age of ten. This late start had caused me to grow to about five foot seven or so and gain
Cited: Connors, Russell B. Jr. and Patrick T. McCormick. Character, Choices & Community. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. National Eating Disorders Association. 2002. National Eating Disorder Association http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org Gula, R. Reason Informed By Faith. New York: Paulist Press, 1989