Body shaming has been a forever battle for people who are suffering from insults referring to the size of their body. It is also referred to as “bullying” when someone throws out undesirable remarks about your body, may you be fat or thin.
For some, it’s a life-long battle they have to endure not unless their body becomes “right” to the eyes of these cruel people.
According to Wikipedia:
“Body shaming is the act of deriding or mocking a person’s physical appearance. The scope of body shaming is wide, and can include, although is not limited to fat-shaming, shaming for thinness, height-shaming, shaming of hairiness (or lack thereof), of hair-color, body-shape, one’s muscularity (or lack thereof), shaming of looks (facial features), and in its broadest sense may even include shaming of tattoos and piercings or diseases that leave a physical mark such as psoriasis.”
This is exactly what happened to a mom on a plane.
Her name is Savannah Phillips and she boarded a flight from Oklahoma City to Chicago. According to her, she prefers to be alone in a row, not because she doesn’t like talking to strangers but because she has this fear of being judged by others.
“I’m not the biggest person on the airplane, but I’m not the smallest. My worst nightmare is someone being uncomfortable because they have to sit next to me.”
Unfortunately, her fear became a reality when she was seated next to an unkind elderly man. The man looked to be about in his sixties and shared that he was a comedian. However, what he did was nowhere near what most people would call funny.
The man texted someone and it was a downright an insult for Savannah.
On a Facebook post, she wrote:
“The flight attendant started the safety speech and he got his phone out (with huge font and the screen brightness turned all the way up). His phone was maybe 12 inches from my face and he proceeded to text someone that he was sitting next to ‘a smelly fatty.’”
The poor mom was devastated by what she saw.
She couldn’t even finish reading it.
“I don’t even know what the rest of his text said. I turned my head away as fast as I could. I was shocked and it was like confirmation of the negative things I think about myself on a daily basis. Before I knew it, I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face. I sat and cried silently, hoping this guy didn’t try to make small talk, because I didn’t trust how I would react and I didn’t want to get kicked off the plane. I was so hurt.”
Fortunately, a capeless hero also happened to be seated near them and saw what she saw.
Chase Irwin from Nashville was quiet in his seat and he saw the same exact rude message the old man wrote. He saw the effect of what the mean man did as Savannah was quietly wiping her tears.
He decided to record the incident and posted it on social media with a caption:
“This guy just text his wife that he is sitting next to a smelly fatty and is going to vomit. I watched her read his text and is now looking sad.”
For Chase, help doesn’t need to be asked, so he stepped up to help Savannah.
He, too, was shocked by what happened. He told Inside Edition that he felt “sick to his stomach” too. Without thinking twice, he did the necessary to save the poor mom.
Chase confronted the man, grabbed him by his shoulder, and said, “Hey, I need to talk to you.”
The rude man removed his earphones, and that’s when Chase told him, “We are switching seats. Now.”
Savannah said the man was shocked as to why he was being asked by Chase to switch seats, but then, Chase emphatically told him:
“You are texting about her, and I’m not putting up with that.”
The help from Chase didn’t stop there.
Chase tried his best to comfort Savannah. The mom wrote in her post:
“He encouraged me not to let that guy get to me and that everything was going to be fine. We talked about Ross and the kids, his two year old son, our jobs, amongst other things.”
She was so thankful because Chase was there ready to help a stranger like her:
“I told him thank you for what he did and that it meant the world to me- and that he would be my husband’s new favorite person. The flight attendant kept trying to give him free drinks and told him that he was her hero. He wasn’t her hero – he was mine.”
Savannah’s story online went viral and inspired a lot of people.
https://www.facebook.com/savannah.rust/posts/10100328094803864
People went on leaving positive comments about Chase for being Savannah’s guardian angel on that flight.
“Thank you Chase for [being] the gentleman and hero you are! Savannah you are beautiful and don’t let anyone tell you any different! Stay strong and always keep your head held high!!”
Another Facebook user wrote:
“This story gives me hope that we can change the way we judge people by appearance. This man is such a wonderful example of how we as individuals may promote this change! Fantastic story!”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100448230915134&set=pb.168300631.-2207520000..&type=3
The world definitely needs more stories like this and we hope that Chase isn’t the last person on Earth who would unhesitantly help a stranger in need. This is such a beautiful story of kindness and an eye-opener to people who are so quick to judge a person by the way they look.
Watch the video below to see Inside Edition’s interview with both Savannah and Chase.
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