Dwight Schrute's Perfect Valentine's Day

February 14th...the day when we are all inundated with pink hearts, sappy Instagram posts, and endless chocolate.  For many people, it can be an exhausting, annoying, disappointing holiday (the chocolate's not bad, though).

Photo Courtesy of Brent Moore

I miss the elementary school days when Valentine's Day simply meant classroom parties, candy, and collecting Nemo, sports, and dinosaur-themed Valentines from the entire class.

 'Timmy gave me the brontosaurus card, do you think he likes me?!' or 'Ew, Steve's cards all have hearts on them, he's got cooties!!' were common threads of conversation throughout my second grade class--threads that I would love to have back.  These conversations all show the bliss and excitement of childhood that comes with any holiday (especially a holiday that lets kids miss a day of class).

But, as time goes on, something changes.  As we age, we tend to react in one of three distinct ways to Valentine's Day:

1. We await the day with great anticipation and enthusiasm.
2. We feel lonely.
3. We are completely indifferent.

Dwight Schrute, of "The Office" (my all-time favorite TV show), has his own way of coping with Valentine's Day: "My perfect Valentine's Day?  I'm at home, three cell phones in front of me, fielding desperate calls from people who want one of the fifty restaurant reservations I made over 6 months ago."  I suppose Dwight's reaction would fall under the "indifferent category" (cold indifference, yes, but indifference all the same).



The point is, Valentine's Day in this day and age is very flashy and heavily commercialized.  It seems as though this day is more about eating at the fanciest restaurants and buying the most expensive bouquet than actually showing the people closest to you how much you love them.  A friend told me, "Valentine's Day was created by Hallmark to make a killing off of cards and chocolate."  While this is completely untrue (February 14th is the feast day of St. Valentine), it is quite easy to see the logic behind their viewpoint.

Back in elementary school, I would always save my favorite Valentines for my best friends and make sure that they got the best color of Fun Dip attached (probably the most touching gesture that anyone can make).  In these very small, trivial ways, I could communicate to my friends how much I cared for them.

Photo Courtesy of Han N

Can't we translate some of this mindset to our own lives?  It is certainly important to express how much you care for your loved ones every day of the year, but on Valentine's Day, try to do something little that lets them know that they are extra special.  Whether that means remembering to send your Mom a card, or taking your best friend out to breakfast, any small gesture counts.

So, if your Valentine's Day fell short this year, try to make the most of next Valentine's Day; and even if you don't have a "Valentine," remember to be grateful for the people who love and care for you unconditionally every single day of the year.

“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” ~Ferris Bueller

Many people take life for granted.

So often, we wake up feeling drowsy and think, "I don't want to get out of bed, today is going to be rough."  And, as we're going about our day, we complain, "Today is the worst day, everything that could go wrong is going wrong."  When we come home, we say, "Thank goodness that's over."

I caught myself in this kind of mood today.  Sometimes, we may act and think negatively and not even notice it.  And I know that, whenever I am in a bad mood, I often just want to feel sorry for myself and mope because it is easy (and occasionally oddly satisfying).

However, I think that bad moods, negativity, and moping do not solve anything, and they certainly do not allow us to live our lives to the fullest.

Iconic movie character Ferris Bueller says it best: "Life moves pretty fast.  You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."



There are so many things that we miss when we're set on brooding.  Lousy moods bring our eyes down and hunch our shoulders.  For instance, today was a beautiful day on campus with lightly falling snow gently coating the trees and sidewalks, but I didn't even notice until I snapped out of my sulking.

Photo Courtesy of Penn State

Life does move fast, and many times, we just want it to move faster.  Whether we just want this week to be over so we can be done with our exams, or if we can't wait for spring so that the days are lighter and longer, or even if we are wishing for the whole semester to be over because we are stressed, we should try as best as we can to live in the moment and appreciate life for what it is right now.

Of course we are stressed, tired, and occasionally unmotivated--that is just the nature of being a college student.  It is our choice, though, whether or not we want to act stressed, tired and unmotivated, or if we want to live more positively and always look for the good things in our worst days.

When you have an exam, sit in the coziest lounge with your favorite hot beverage and enjoy being comfortable and at ease.  When you need to write a paper, take five minutes to call a friend you haven't spoken to in a while just to catch up.  When you're late for class, make sure to keep your head up so you can still take in the beautiful scenery as you rush down the sidewalk.

Don't be so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that you don't stop to see what's going on every now and again.  The truth is, we don't know how much time we have left on this planet.  It could be a day, or it could be a million, but the only thing that's certain is the present, so make sure to live in it.

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.” ~Vernon Sanders Law

Think about the hardest test you ever took--the test with the most red slashes, dashes, and corrections; the test that gave you an awful, sinking feeling in your stomach; the test that made you feel like you might need to drop out or at least move to Canada.

For me, this test was in eleventh grade, in AP Calculus with Mr. Burkhardt (seeing the combination of these two names on a schedule at the beginning of the year meant certain peril).  Mr. Burkhardt was an extremely intelligent man who loved calculus and who loved teaching.  Yet, he was easily the most difficult teacher in the entire school because of his extremely high standards.

His tests were hard.

And I fought those tests with all my might.  I used to go to Mr. Burkhardt at all hours of the day for help, I worked meticulously on the homework, and I watched an immeasurable number of Khan Academy videos.  Yet, a majority of the time, the lessons always came after the test.

The test that sticks out to me had to do with taking the volume of the cross-sections of 3D objects (some application of integrals that has not crossed my mind in a good two and a half years), and I was absolutely terrified to get my grade back

As soon as the paper landed on my desk, I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I took one glance at all the red marks and my less-than-stellar score, and quickly stuffed the exam in my backpack, out of sight.  At that moment, I swore off math completely, gave up, and wallowed in disappointment.

The next day, I took the test to Mr. Burkhardt for one last look-over, and he helped me to understand every last problem better than I could have ever expected.  Although I was frustrated at myself for not solving the problems correctly in the first place, I gained a greater understanding of the concepts on the test by seeing those humbling red slashes and seeking out help.

In the words of Vernon Sanders Law, "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards."

Like Mr. Burkhardt, life gives the lesson after the exam.  In life, we must constantly learn by trial and error.

Sometimes, we have days when we get everything wrong.  Our recollection of these days is riddled with red slashes--we say something hurtful to someone we care about, we forget appointments or responsibilities, or we get a mediocre grade on a test.  Our memories from our entire lives have countless red slashes as well.  The overarching, large, memorable mistakes we've made are the ones that we can learn from the most.  When we make a huge mistake and are angry, embarrassed, or ashamed, our negative memories of the event drive us to improve and avoid making the same mistake again.

That is the wonderful thing about mistakes, missteps, and mishaps: we hardly ever make the same mistake twice.  Even though we may feel irked that life doesn't just give us all the answers right away, it is much better to learn from experience and to take the test by simply living our lives, accepting the red marks, and seeking improvement when things don't go our way.