imsometaeventhisacronym:

Shirley Bennett. The most under-appreciated character on Community, in my humble opinion.

Shirley is one bad-ass lady. She was a stay-at-home mom of two kids when her husband left her for a stripper, but somehow she found the strength and gumption to not only raise her kids alone, but to go to college and take business classes so that she could eventually own a small business and better support them! Because you KNOW that Shirley’s kids come first. And even when life was, honestly, kind of shitting on her when her husband left, she doesn’t feel sorry for herself! She just keeps on going and being nice to people and working hard. She really hardly, if ever, complains about the difficulties she must be facing as a now single mother who is going to school. Because that’s not the way Shirley rolls. She does it because she loves her kids, she wants what’s best for them, and she wants to better herself, too. 

And THEN you get into the whole reconnecting with Andre and having his-or-Chang’s baby, which I thought she handled so well. Because honestly, what would you do if you thought you might give birth to a Chang-baby? But Shirley knew she would love it no matter what. AND at the same time she was pregnant, she had to deal with maybe getting back with her husband who cheated on her! How do you get past something like that? With grace, compromise, and understanding, if you are Shirley Bennett. 

Now let’s address her Christianity, because that’s a big part of Shirley. And you know what? PROPS TO HER. Sometimes it’s really difficult to be a Christian in today’s society, and apparently especially so at Greendale. Sure, sometimes Shirley is overly judgmental or a bit evangelistic. But she learns from her friends’ reactions to what she says and does to tone it down and to be be accepting. Sometimes she doesn’t always succeed, but she does try. She’s come a really long way in terms of accepting others from the first Christmas episode, I think.

People always talk about how Annie and Britta are great examples of females on televison. But how can we discount Shirley? A hardworking single mother (at the beginning) going to school to become a business woman, while staying true to her values even when faced with others judgement and disbelief. You might not agree with what she does or says all of the time, but you absolutely have to hand it to her for being strong and brave enough to have such firm beliefs. And not only staying true to her beliefs, but changing as she learns about differing viewpoints from her own, which she does or at least tries to do.

SHIRLEY IS AWESOME AND DOES NOT GET ENOUGH LOVE (or storylines, but that’s another blog post)