Today is Esther Day and it celebrates her life and contributions to the Nerdfighter community. After Esther passed away, a really fantastic charity called This Star Won't Go Out was started to help families who are struggling with the expenses of having an ill child. Many people don't realize the massive expense that comes with having a sick child, but oftentimes at least one parent has to quit their job to stay at home and care for the child. This means less income, coupled with the crazy expensive medical bills from things like chemotherapy, pills, surgeries and more. So if you would like to help support this awesome charity, please check out tswgo.org and considering donating. You can also do what I did and buy a super awesome wristband for only $5.00 - all the proceeds go to This Star Won't Go Out!
Here's the Tumblr post:
Happy Esther Day, Nerdfighteria
Today, on this Nerdfighter holiday celebrating the life of Esther Earl, I want to talk to you guys about community. We as Nerdfighters are lucky enough to be a part of a welcoming, active, charitable community, and I think that’s pretty incredible. One thing that Esther talked about in a few of her videos was this awesome community and how when she was alone in her room, she wasn’t truly alone because of all the friends she had online.
A lot of people discredit online friendships, saying that your friends online aren’t “real” friends because you haven’t met them. I think that’s absolutely stupid. By having that stance, you are dehumanizing the person at the other end of the friendship by implying that they are somehow less than worthy as a friend simply because they are not physically present. Countless times, lives have literally been saved by online friends and even strangers responding to a cry for help posted on Tumblr. Online relationships can be extremely meaningful, sometimes even more so than face-to-face ones.
This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about making this project a success. Bringing people together with even just one commonality (in this case, an awesome nerd-tastic community) can change people’s lives for the better forever.
I am so grateful that Esther was also passionate about the realness of online friendship, and she is evidence that online friends can be the best of friends. So in honor of Esther, reach out to someone online today. Make a friend in this community. They can live right by you or half a world away, it doesn’t matter. This community is a force to be reckoned with an we should utilize that to its fullest.
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