Born This Way.

Most of you know that I've been a GLEE fan since it's conception. Between the performances and the offhand one-liners from Sue Sylvester, I'm always entertained. Last night's episode blew me out of the water. Now initially I wasn't overly excited about it. From the previews and the episode's title, "Born This Way," I was under the impression that it was going to be Gaga-centered. I found myself rolling my eyes. A) I'm not a huge Gaga fan, and B) They've already done Gaga. Can we please move on to someone else? However, from the beginning of the episode I found myself falling in love. Each week Mr. Schuester gives the Glee club a musical assignment based on a theme. This week's assignment was to name what they considered their biggest flaw and put it into song. As the episode unfolds, we watch as they begin to wrestle with these so-called flaws and embrace them. They learn the valuable lesson that we all need to learn: those "flaws" in ourselves that we hate are the very things that make us unique in who we are created to be. The episode wraps up with the Glee club performing Gaga's "Born This Way" dressed in white t-shirts with a word or phrase depicting what they were once ashamed of at the beginning of the episode. Pure genius.

Sadly, it's getting a lot of criticism because the issue of gay bullying comes up again as Kurt decides to return to McKinley High. Some are saying this episode, along with others, is promoting Ryan Murphy's "gay agenda" as it seeks to bring about gay tolerance. I completely disagree. Although this episode did deal with homosexuality, it also dealt with Emma's OCD disorder, Rachel's desire to change her nose, Lauren's campaign to be Prom Queen despite her atypical appearance, and a host of other things. We can't downplay what's happening around us. Gay bullying has been a huge issue as of late. If anything, I think Ryan Murphy is trying to get us to take a new approach of not just tolerance, but acceptance of real people who struggle with real issues. Is that not who we are called to be as the Body of Christ? The truth is we were all born with the need to be loved and accepted for who we are, even those parts of ourselves that we find ugly. The transformation that occurs when we begin to accept ourselves is just plain beautiful.

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me
~Sammy Davis Jr.