Thanks, CC.
I downloaded Glow over a year ago to help me track my periods. I wanted to better understand my cycle and have firm grasp on my fertile window when the time came to TTC.
Little did I know I was downloading the app that would help me better understand the world and have a firm(er) grasp on different cultures and lifestyles.
For the first time, I pressed on the speech bubble icon titled "community" and I was transported into another world. Acronyms like "SO", "TTC" and "AF" flooded my feed and I had no idea what any of it meant. Pictures of cervical mucus, questions about ovulation windows and pregnancy tests all grabbed my attention and my curious heart wanted to know more.
But then Controversy Corner popped up, and my ignorant (then) 19 year old brain exploded in disbelief as I was exposed to ideas, opinions and lifestyles that were VERY different from my own.
At home, abortion is murder and should be treated as such, being gay is a choice and a wrong one at that (but we still love you, okay?), and Christianity is the only religion that actually makes sense.
On this app, abortion is accepted and choices are celebrated, gender is fluid and sexuality is embraced, and Christianity is one of MANY ways to connect to something bigger than yourself.
You can imagine my disbelief. You can imagine my confusion. You can imagine what terrible things I said out of ignorance. I had never heard these concepts, and yet here were these women of all ages, ethnicities, professions, sexualities that were patiently teaching me and celebrating every little bit of understanding I gained.
I had taken this understanding for granted until this weekend.
This weekend I spent time with a family I knew a few years ago (before I joined the CC community), they were old family friends. We all sat around a Bonfire and ate homemade ice cream while the kids played in the distance. The mother in the family tended to her youngest child, and the father of the family sat with us. And just as he always had, he spewed out hate towards every living being that was even an ounce different than he. But this time my heart was different than it had been last time we were together.
This man I knew and accepted years ago. This man I agreed with and laughed with and encouraged because before this weekend I had NEVER seen this hate.
I sat with my mouth agape as I listened to the horrendous things that came from his face. I sat in horror as I realized that I would have agreed with every word he spoke if I had not somehow been exposed to other opinions, ideas and beliefs as I have been on Glow.
My point is, Controversy Corner sucks sometimes. It's frustrating when ignorant people vomit bigotry and hate all over the place.
But guys, this work is important. It is so, incredibly important to patiently teach others what is truth both in real life and on Glow. It may not feel like others are grasping anything that you're saying, but if your words are full of truth, they will stick with those people for the rest of their lives.
Keep seeking truth and spreading it in all corners of the Earth (and Glow). The people are listening; change is coming.
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