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#Post#: 101--------------------------------------------------
Herricks Compliments: Why My Faith in Humanity is Restored (Mehr
ab Ahsan '13)
By: SharonShaji Date: December 5, 2012, 11:22 pm
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After a particularly glum day of school, we are often in need of
a pick-me-up. Whether it is a warm, venti sized white chocolate
mocha from Starbucks or just a sob story movie marathon, we all
try to cope in our own ways, but to what avail? We all know that
we’ll always wind up texting our friends about how much our
lives suck. But there’s something so mundane about this process;
we subconsciously and voraciously expect to receive such
comforts from our friends. In reality, we are just being
uplifted by our friends whose specific purpose is to help us
during on days when we are “feeling under the weather.”
As a victim of this unfortunately predictable teenage cycle, I
feel as though sometimes a cup of coffee and hugs from concerned
friends aren’t enough. I’ve always yearned for something new.
But that all changed when I received a friend request on
Facebook from “Herricks Compliments.”
My initial reaction to this webpage was very doubtful; when
were people in our school nice enough to actually go out of
their way to compliment each other? I’ve seen it all:
Formspring, Tumblr, Ask Fm. Teenagers are always the victims of
slurs and hate messages on social networking sites, never an
appreciative comment. But, as I perused the contents of this
strange profile, I saw people, even my friends, receiving hearty
compliments from this new friend I had just added. “Johnny
White, Bob Smith, and 20 other people liked this post” headed
each one of these heartfelt posts. It was surreal. Was Herricks
finally putting its right foot forward? It seemed so.
After looking into who created this amazing Facebook page, I
found that this whole system was based upon a system used by
other colleges. From “Yale Compliments” to “Columbia
Compliments,” many highly notable schools had already started
this inspirational page. It tugs at my heartstrings to see our
school following the footsteps of such renowned establishments.
The premise of this ingenious idea is as follows: someone
privately messages Herricks Compliments, and the page (or the
selfless, unnamed person running the page) will publish it on
Facebook for everyone to see. This allows anyone sending the
compliments to remain anonymous and let’s them freely express
their true thoughts about someone, without those awkward,
angst-filled sentiments that always seem to run high school
life.
But the process doesn’t just end here. This completely
altruistic page has inspired many to embark on their own quests
of kindness. I logged onto Facebook just a few hours after
viewing the first string of posts and was pleasantly surprised.
The Herricks Compliments created a web craze of kindness. There
were dozens of people that had “Like My Status for a Compliment”
posts on their walls. I felt as though all I saw on Facebook
were compliments to other people. It’s been unbelievable.
I’ve never smiled cheek to cheek for so long. In just one
weekend, I feel like it’s been one of the first times when our
community has gelled together in a way never seen before. For
the first time, it’s not nasty, stereotypical insults being
flung at people, but rather, it’s genuine, kind compliments
lighting up the days of its recipients. Now the only mystery
left to solve is who the awesome person that made this page is.
I can guarantee that he/she will be making LOTS of friends when
we finally find out.
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