I've never had any personal experience dealing with a pornography addiction, but I have seen some of the heartbreaking effects of it in the lives of people I know.

The summer after my junior year of high school, I dated a boy who had a pornography addiction. I didn't know it at the time, but I found out later on down the road. He was a kind, funny, and down to earth guy. But slowly I saw that began to change. He seemed withdrawn at first, not his normal self. I just attributed it to his working long, late night shifts at his job.

I noticed he wasn't his happy, cheerful self anymore. He seemed indifferent to everything, including me. His eyes lost their sparkle and there was something unsettling about them. His eyes were no longer the warm, friendly eyes I had once known, but had become cold and guarded. I may not have known what was going on, but I didn't like the changes I was seeing so I broke up with him. A few months later, I found out what had changed the boy I loved into someone I didn't even know. Pornography.

The summer after my senior year I was helping a young family get ready to move. I didn't know but the husband was struggling with a severe pornography addiction. I noticed the same dull, lifeless quality in his eyes as I had seen in the boy I dated. He had a darkness about him that I couldn't describe, except to say I felt sick to my stomach and incredibly uncomfortable every time he entered the room.

In my few experiences with those who have been affected by the viewing of pornography, I've learned something. Pornography changes a person. It can change someone you love into a complete and total stranger. Pornography kills your spirit, the part of you that makes you who you are. The inner light within you can be extinguished completely by pornography if you let it. It will destroy relationships, marriages, and families if we do not fight it.