Sometimes the internet is very bad. Okay, more than sometimes. Often.
Often it is, in fact, a receptacle for all the more grody garbage the human mind can conjure and spew up, coagulating in grotty gobs of hate speech, uninformed opinions, and Donald Trump‘s tweets.
But sometimes – just sometimes! – it is a force for the purest good.
Take, for example, the blessed meeting of two very unlikely but very good mates, who somehow met through glorified Scrabble app Words With Friends, and embarked on a long and enriching internet friendship.
22-year-old Spencer, a guy from Harlem in New York, says he “randomly met” 86-year-old Roz on Words With Friends, and played more than 300 games with her – a collegiate rivalry that blossomed into true mateship.
Then, apparently thanks to Pastor Amy Butler of The Riverside Church, and her #relationshipschangeus initiative, Spencer got to fly to Florida this weekend and meet his mate, who lives in a retirement village there.
She’s 86 & lives in a retirement community in Florida. He’s 22 and lives in Harlem. They met online playing #wordswithfriends. Tomorrow they’ll meet in person. I get to be there. #relationshipschangeus pic.twitter.com/xNJjK3ga6H
— Amy Butler (@PastorAmyButler) December 1, 2017
so last summer i randomly met this 80 y/o woman on words with friends. we played 300+ games together and she actually ended up becoming a good friend of mine. today i got to go to florida and meet her in person💜 pic.twitter.com/VXDbNS4eUo
— ☔️half-empty☂️ (@half___empty) December 1, 2017
huge shoutout to @PastorAmyTRC for making this possible tho
— ☔️half-empty☂️ (@half___empty) December 2, 2017
Sweet day today with Spencer and his #wordswithfriends friend, Roz, watching them bond in person for the first time. #relationshipschangeus pic.twitter.com/9sW0ojE318
— Amy Butler (@PastorAmyButler) December 1, 2017
life is fucking crazy i’ve never been to florida yall
— ☔️half-empty☂️ (@half___empty) December 1, 2017
The two appear to have easily made the transition from game-based relationship to IRL BFFs. And yes, the entirety of the godforsaken wasteland we call the internet is absolutely infatuated with this beautiful, pure, intergenerational platonic romance.
— Jessica Webster (@A2Jess) December 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/LennyFrmDaBlock/status/936794064648781824
After watching non stop , mind twisting, jaw dropping news. This is a great pick me up and feel that there is hope for humanity.
— Lydia Hannibal (@LCHWS) December 2, 2017
Sitting in a restaurant here totally choking up. My family’s like “what just happened to mom?”
— Jessica Webster (@A2Jess) December 2, 2017
HI THIS IS WHAT IM SOBBING ABOUT https://t.co/9Xpon2ZPaI
— Mariel Salcedo (@MarielSalcedo) December 2, 2017
I made a beautiful friend on WWF many years ago. I am American, she was from UK. We vacationed together here and in Perú. Then cancer took her a little over a year ago. So grateful for her presence, however short, in my life—and grateful you got to meet your WW Friend! God Bless!
— mademoiselle nobs (@patriciaturner) December 2, 2017
That’s super dope.. technology bringing people from different places and different generations together
— Ant (@Authenticity24) December 2, 2017
Even Words With Friends has given the friendship their blessing.
We can’t get enough of this! Amazing. Thank you for sharing your story with us. #WWF2 #UseYourWords https://t.co/oXSv2sHYkB
— Words With Friends (@WordsWFriends) December 2, 2017
There you have it, folks: the internet. Thanks to people like Spencer and Roz, it’s not all an absolutely reprehensible quagmire.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a tissue.
