If we’re friends on Facebook, you know that this column has been the bane of my existence this past week. I’ve dedicated at least five statuses to the question, “EVERYONE, what do I write about?”
I got a lot of responses, too. My favorite ones were boobs, Rachel Freeman, 15 tons of meth being found somewhere and about how my mom is the best. But so often, the goal of us on The New Paltz Oracle E-board is to be sincere and heartfelt; to show you a little piece of ourselves that no one really knows.
Or, you know, pooping on the floor of a train in the middle of the Grand Canyon and hoping the train derails.
Anyway.
I’m writing this on Valentine’s Day in case you were wondering. I think the day is pretty silly, and I’m not just saying that because I don’t have someone to sit down with in a dimly-lit, “intimate” restaurant and have a ridiculous conversation about how much we love each other and collapse into mush while staring into one another’s eyes. Watching a movie and killing a pizza sounds so much cooler.
I told myself I wasn’t going to write a Valentine’s Day column, and I’m not. However, I am going to write a column about how people need to stop being so defeatist.
I’ll be the first to tell you that I shouldn’t talk, because I’m really goddamn defeatist. I’m very quick to go, “Oh, I don’t know why they’d be interested in me, I’m not funny or pretty or interesting, waaaah.”
But I, and pardon my language, know that’s bullshit. And I know that it’s bullshit when you say it, too.
Chances are, you’re probably very beautiful and you could probably make me laugh and, hey, you go to New Paltz. There HAS to be something weird or interesting about you. You go to New Paltz for crying out loud.
You’re probably very intelligent and have a vivid imagination. Maybe your creativity is buried in one of the darkest corners of your mind, but we both know that it’s there.
And you know, I’ll bet that you have some sort of talent that no one else has. If this were the 1990s, you’d be on Nickelodeon’s “Figure It Out” in a second.
Finally, you probably are a really cool person. I know we’re a small campus and everything, but if you put yourself out there and someone came along to listen, they’d probably be intrigued by what you had to say.
Is this sappy and really disgustingly heartfelt? Hell yeah, but it’s true. I know it’s hard to find good things in yourself when you feel alone on a day meant to celebrate couples, but I hope you know it isn’t anything you’ve done wrong. Whoever you are, you’re probably a really great person and I don’t want you to think otherwise, ever, no matter what day of the year it is. You know that all of the negative things you say about yourself don’t compare to all of the wonderful things about you.
This is really sweet Cat!