By Claire FitzSimmonds When I first started watching Parks and Recreation, April was my favorite character and Leslie kind of annoyed me. Prone to panic, a lot overbearing, tunnel-visioned like nobody’s business. Now I hardly even remember feeling that way. After seven seasons, I am convinced the key to a successful life is being more like Leslie Knope. She’s all in. No matter what the project is – planning a birthday party for a parrot, bringing back the Harvest Festival, getting more women employed in government – Leslie is ‘insatiable. Like a dog with a chew toy.’ (Thank Ron Swanson for that apt simile.) She stands at windows and makes eloquent speeches, and you’d think she’s discussing reversing climate change or eliminating poverty world-wide, but she’s talking about building a park in a small town in Indiana. She reminds me not to downplay my dreams or believe my life is small just because I’m not President of the United States of America. Yet. She’s the friend of your dreams. When she decides she cares about you, there’s no escape. Leslie is in your life for the rest of your life. Her best friend Ann Perkins comes before absolutely anyone else, though, including herself. It might take Leslie a little while to come around when Ann wants to date her ex-flame or move to Michigan. But she will. Really. Yes, she’s making a scrapbook-slideshow-graph about why no one should ever leave Pawnee ever, but soon-ish she’ll calm down and support you no matter what. Just give her a few more minutes. As good a friend as Leslie Knope might not exist in the real world, but I’d like to try. She has varied goals. Leslie wrote in her kindergarten dream journal that she wanted to be governor of Indiana, but she also really, really wants a husband, and one time she bought a body pillow shaped like Daniel Craig. When Marcia Langman, the woman from the Society for Family Stability Foundation, asks her if she’s married, she stutters, “No, not… yet…Marcia. I have a plan.’ Leslie validates all the different choices women make and never acts like one is better than, or excludes, the other. She’s transparent. I never distrust Leslie. I may roll my eyes at her; I may still – very occasionally – get a little annoyed with her steamrolling, but I always believe her. She won’t apologize unless she’s actually done something wrong and then she absolutely will. She stands up for herself, but she also skips her husband’s birthday party to filibuster for Eagletonian’s right to vote, even after she finds out Eagleton’s citizens are going to vote her out of office. She talks herself through the issue, in front of lots of people, and comes to a conclusion quickly. She knows herself well enough to know what to do, and she’s too messy (in a fantastic way) to ever be preachy. She’s not afraid of her dreams. Often, when I’m starting a new book or applying for a job, I’m filled with dread. What if I can’t write anymore (or more likely, I never could)? What if a random man in a random office laughs at my cover letter? What if, what if, what if? My constant question. It’s Leslie’s too, but she’s asking it with a goofy grin and a binder full of next steps. ‘Confident’ is not the first word I would have used to describe Leslie in season one, and when the show ends, she still doesn’t know everything. But you wouldn’t know that from looking at her. Her smile reaches her eyes, and her eyes are looking ahead. --- Leslie’s spent seven seasons showing us how to make a big life out of little things. We’ve watched her unashamedly declare her passion for everything from whip cream to gender equality to responsible government. Sometimes we’ve watched her do something she really didn’t want to do because it was right, and perhaps more often we’ve watched her not do something she really did want to do because it was wrong. We’ve watched her internal struggles – often exhaustively spelled out for Ann or Ben or Ron – and we’ve seen her come to honest, never political, conclusions. We’ve watched her believe the best about other people, the world and herself. Most importantly, we’ve watched her define success as happiness. Her lessons are simple and, maybe, all we need to know. Check out more of our Favorite Female TV Characters!
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