Under the Raydar

While trying to decide how to write A Valentine’s Day Column (yes, all of those words are capitalized), I turned to my foremothers in Features column-writing for inspiration. There is the route of writing about how frustrated you are with the campus dating scene while lifting up the wonderful, talented and beautiful ladies and gentlemen who all too frequently check their phones for a text that never comes (but if it does, it is way past midnight and usually way beneath them). There is the columnist who writes about “deal breakers” in terms of student behavior at Middlebury — channeling Tina Fey while watching someone at the walk-up computers in the library blatantly Facebook stalking himself.

Yet after perusing old columns, it turns out that it is not the ideas of the columnists I looked up to as a first-year staff writer that have mused their way into this column (though I do find the list of “deal breakers” still incredibly relevant). When I think of what needs to be said about this Hallmark holiday, my source of inspiration comes from my first-years.

While chatting with one of them, she told me that she plans on leaving notes in the mailboxes of a few seniors she thinks are wonderful. “It’s not even a complete I-want-something-to-happen crush, you know, it’s just — whenever I see him, I smile,” she said.

There is something so much more special about that — an anonymous, heart-felt note. So, it isn’t a rhyming card. So it isn’t a Sharpied name on a piece of cardboard outside of Proctor. It is intimate; it is true.
We decided to take this idea and run with it on our hall, and my co-FYC and I hung up brown bags with all of our hall mates names doodled in the front. They are called our “Warm & Fuzzy” bags, and the purpose is to leave anonymous truths.

Comments can range from “you inspire me,” to “I loved your outfit today — you’re always so fashionable,” to “I can’t tell you how great an impact you have had on my life and how much I value your friendship.”
These notes may not be love letters, but they are tiny appreciations and compliments that mean more than their weight in construction paper. But what if we did leave anonymous love (or “like”) notes?
There is no chance of embarrassment or rejection, and even if it is for a person with whom you know things won’t work out, it’s a great feeling to see someone smiling, someone walking taller — just with the knowledge that someone smiles whenever that person is around. It’s a pick-me-up for both parties involved.

I’m glad my friend told me about her note-leaving scheme, because it is a nice reminder, especially at this time of year, to not just think of who matters to us — but to actually tell them.

If I have learned two things while considering what to write about as this foil-wrapped holiday approaches, they are these: don’t forget to be inspired by anyone. A revelation does not have to be professor-induced; it can simply come from a peer, a classmate, a stranger. And don’t forget to tell people what you think. Not necessarily in a political, opinionated, or life-shaking way — just tell them what you think of them, what they mean to you, what they have taught you.

Even if it is just: “You make me smile every time I see you.”

In my opinion, that says it (whatever your “it” may be) a lot better than a Hallmark card ever could. Even if it doesn’t rhyme, even if it’s not in cursive, the truth is enough to make you feel warm and fuzzy.