It' a testament to the pervasiveness and success of YMCA that it's become its own term in Japanese and Korean, so if you want to say it in those languages just use different stresses for those 4 letters. I'm embarrased to say that for the longest time I didn't know the significance of the YMCA in American culture, just knew that at the Chicago Shedd Aquarium the song "YMCA" by the Village People (I didn't know it was by the Village People until recently) and I would spell out the letters with my arms. Yup, I was that kid, and I still did it unironically at baseball stadiums in my twenties. I also went on an Alternative Spring Break trip partly supported by the YMCA, which was actually quite a nice experience as a college student to help worthy causes, and learned the college student/ budget living lifestyle of camping out in churches and other public shelters and showering in YMCAs and calling it temporary living (that's actually my preferred style of travel when I'm traveling alone, as long as it's safe and I don't get bedbugs).
Speaking of camping, I felt varying emotions about the Supreme Court's decision last week to overturn Roe v. Wade, and MJ made me feel the pain of women who have to go through childbirth, go through menstrual pain, and suffer through things men don't have to, which are important considerations when assessing whether they should be forced to keep their babies and not get a abortion (the type of bans that many states immediately ratified as soon as the SCOTUS decision came down), and then there are legislative angles as to whether Roe v. Wade was even a good decision to begin with, why the US can't get legislation passed to make abortions a right (it's because it's not as popular as it needs to be and politicans aren't willing to lose votes to fight for it), and then Ken Jennings (my first reference point for everything!) viewing it as women aren't being forced to have abortions (they can choose to have the baby), so the inverse should also apply that they can choose NOT to have the baby. What's NOT helpful, I don't believe, but which I saw a lot of, was plenty of social media posts saying "To my friends in other states, please feel free to camp in my guest room/ couch/etc." I get the urge of wanting to show strong support for women adversely affected by the abortion bans in other states, but how many women like that are out there right now who really need that help? Do you really need to post it on social media? And what are the chances they need help specifically from YOU, someone in another state who is part of the privileged class who likely can afford trips to other states? The people who are really affected are likely lower class people who can't afford to drive or take a plane to the next state, somewhere deep in a red state like Texas or something. So all the "come camping here!" posts are just really showing how good a person you are to offer, not actually helping the cause or advancing the conversation about whether abortions should be allowed.
YMCA stands for Young Men's Christian Association, which I never got the vibe of strong religious presure or heavyhandedness, when I went on my college trips religion rarely came up (certainly the controversial topic of abortion never came up, an issue most religious organizations take a strong stance on) and everyone worked together just for altruism and because it seemed like other people needed help.
I visited a YMCA and triggered many of the memories of those past trips: the swimming pools, the locker rooms, the basketball court, the showers, the air conditioning on a hot summer day, the treadmills where dozens of people march side by side, the families taking their kids to the pool to teach them their first steps toward swimming. YMCA's are usually placed in the hearts of communities, and they reflect the general population of people in the surrounding area, so it really feels like going to a community center, and at least filtered a little bit for people who are genuinely there to work out, meet others, and generally be polite, not like a hospital where if anything it filters for physically unhealthy and likely psychologically unhealthy people who can be rude and bitter due to thei illness/other problems. So yes, I did feel like I could get myself clean, that I could have a good meal, and I could do whatever I felt, because it was fun to stay at the Y.....M....C....A.!
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