So, I believe junior year is the first year that people are feeling particularly “couplish.” I mean, in years past, people certainly went out and rated people on scales of hotness. But this year. This year things are a bit different. People are actively venturing out to seek their “soul mates.”

I wonder why. A friend of mine conjectured that perhaps the added stress of this year, what with APs, SATs, and honor societies, people feel the need to stretch outward for support, someone to lean on. Another peer scoffed and said that junior year stress was just a coincidence, that we’re all really just a behemoth of hormone-charged teenagers. One of my more, er, acerbic teachers muttered that this was yet another ploy by my crazy generation to accrue attention – nothing better than PDA.

And of course, the situation has only become even more heightened in this funny period between Valentine’s Day, that day-long tumult of expensive gifts and candy hearts, and the upcoming prom. Now understand this: previously, students openly flouted prom as a silly, costly waste of time – maybe even a sort of primitive mating ritual during which we wore gaudy outfits and rocked back and forth to bad music. But, now, at this point, these very students sheepishly shake away those ideas and seem to embarrassingly admit that maybe there’s some “warmth” that they’ll derive from prom night anyway. Perhaps someone will notice them looking snappier than usual, or laughing more prettily than usual.

So there’s a definite change of heart -- literally. Disregarding all of their own previous anti-serious-relationship mantras of the past, students are officially beginning to feel incomplete without a significant other.

How unfortunate.

Whatever the cause is for this entire heightened foray into the amorous, I can honestly say I’m not a fan. It’s not that I’m a curmudgeon who grumbles discontentedly about couples being all over the place. It’s not that I’m a loner who feels that she’s missing out. It’s not even that I’m a cynic and don’t believe in love.

It’s honestly just incredibly worrying when people seem to lose their minds. The beauty of the individual is just that – the individualism. That each of us has opinions, volition, autonomy, and potential to strive and win – alone. But this recent couplism seems to be absolutely devoid of all of this. Together, a couple seems to melt into a meaningless pile of gooey grins and melting gazes. People lose track of all else and become lost in the labyrinth of love. How cute. Even the most sparkling personalities seem to dim and flicker in pairs.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe all couples are like this. After all, love is supposed to make us stronger, accentuate the being. People are supposed to make each other better, learn, and enhance.