What shocked me most about GCU was not the swimming pools, the cleanliness, or the 100-degree heat, but the boys. Never have I had so many smiles, manners, and handshakes (lord the handshakes, SO many handshakes) from the male population. I couldn’t help but wonder if they went to some kind of mandatory training. Where did they come from? How have I not heard one sexist or demeaning comments come from their courteous lips? I might sound dramatic, but I lived in a small town with an even smaller number of boys that weren’t mean to you to show affection. The various catcalls, boys with swollen mouths full of chewing tobacco that say “‘Merica” and “Make America Great Again” while wearing a Bud Light shirt, has practically been burned into my brain and, has since created a reactionary eye roll and foul-mouthed comebacks. I thought I had lost all hope, convinced myself maybe cats are my only option and maybe I’m okay with that. Just as I was creating a metaphoric presentation in my head about how I was going to tell my family I will be riding solo till the day I die, I saw a family friend that recently graduated from GCU with her soulmate. He shook my hand, introduced himself and acted like a genuine human that knew how to complete coherent sentences. I have never encountered such a warm welcome from not just a boy, but any stranger.
Then I moved across the country into this utopian world of positive energy wrapped in purple, where people signal each other with a hand gesture representing an antelope. At the orientations and gatherings, I heard so many stories of “I found my husband or wife here,” and, “I just knew I would marry this girl one day”. It was commitment and faith in relationships that I have not witnessed in my lifetime. My parents are separated and I didn’t know if marriage was ever really forever. I mean how can you love that one person for the rest of your life? How do you know this individual is the one and only? This, I began to realize is where we as a society have gone wrong. It’s no wonder we struggle to commit when we are always wanting the next best and newest thing. We practically shop for our significant others on dating apps, discarding individuals with a swift left swipe. We compare ourselves and relationships to Instagram couples, striving for what others have and what we deem as the perfect relationship, based solely on a practiced picture.
https://images.app.goo.gl/PH4yQYrGWGp84aJA8
My mother likes to send me motivational videos throughout the week and recently sent me one about relationships, with the main point being courage and consistency, the two things that are vital to any form of success. Grand Canyon University holds not just this rare breed of boys and men, but encourages everyone no matter your gender, race, sexuality, and religion to be active in consistently trying to be a better version of yourself. So maybe this isn’t about GCU boys at all, but rather GCU humans, a group that I am proud to be apart of.