The Beauty of People

I love websites like this. I honestly do. Even if you don't make a connection or meet that "one," you have the absolutely invaluable opportunity to meet people you would never have a chance to come across in real life, and there's something incredibly endearing about that.

Once you get past the text speak and the silly smilies, there's an awful lot to learn-- about culture, about different countries, languages, individual people. Perceptions and religions and rituals. Stereotypes, whether true or false.

And there's a lot to learn about strength.

Participating fully in websites like this takes a lot of trust, confidence, and personal strength. You're putting your heart on your sleeve and bearing yourself for an entire world to see. The most amazing part is the response. It can do miracles in boosting someone's confidence, but it can just as easily destroy it. It's such a fine line, and I have infinite amounts of respect for those of you-- of us-- who can take the good with the bad and still shine on.

This website, and many others like it, show the true beauty of the human race. How we can all come together as equals, share our lives, our hopes, our dreams, our good and our bad, and just.. be. To befriend and potentially love one another regardless of race, gender, culture. To educate ourselves about people and things we've never dreamed of.

An intellectual and personal microcosm.

And that's beautiful.