I Was the Helga to His Arnold

Friday, 04 December 2009

I Was the Helga to His Arnold

Growing up, I loved watching Hey Arnold on Nickelodeon only to see what crazy stunts Helga Pataki would pull just to keep her passionate admiration for Arnold a secret. But is that kind of love healthy? As much as I loved seeing Helga act selfless and caring to Arnold in ways he will never know, I never stopped to think that her love for him was odd. She had shrines of Arnold’s head, a locket with Arnold’s picture, a lock of Arnold’s hair, notebooks filled with poetry about… well, Arnold. To most people, Helga’s love for Arnold was true love. But what kind of example was Nickelodeon setting for kids watching? What kind of example was it setting for… me?
This kind of obsession happens with many kids in high school and junior high every day. When I was in high school, it happened to me.
I wrote this letter about a boy I barely knew but loved more than any other boy in the world:
Dear Stephen,
I don’t know who you really are. But I really like you. And I don’t even know why.
I’m crazy about you right now. You’ve been my eye candy for the longest time and I get so excited and happy when you talk to me or just look my way. You make me forget about everything else because you’re just so cute. There’s just something about you that makes me weak in the knees. The way you talk, walk, and even run or laugh. You make me smile without having to say a word and whenever I see you just standing after Cross Country practice, I’m going crazy wanting you to talk to me or just notice that I’m there.
Yeah, this sounds extremely lame, but I can’t help that I really like you. You’re so amazing and like I said, there’s just something about you that I can’t point out. But for some reason, you make me want to love life. For some reason, just admiring you makes me happy. It motivates me to go to school or to Cross Country practice. I love the way you run by the way. You kind of hop when you run and you stand funny sometimes. I love it. And when you do simple little things like lean against my back when we’re both sitting down. I don’t necessarily get nervous but I just feel so safe and so good.
I am in such a good mood when you’re around which is amazing. It makes me forget about how mad I am about a long run and it makes me forget that there are other people in the world besides us.
You probably don’t like me back since we barely know each other but I just wanted to let you know that I am crazy head over heels in like with you… scratch that, in LOVE with you.
I never showed him that letter. But at the time I was sure that I was in love with him. I even caught myself doing insane things that I could see Helga Pataki doing for Arnold. And even though we barely spoke at the time, he made me extremely happy. He changed my life without even knowing it. There was that something about him that I fell in love with. But was it even love?
Is there anyone else who has fallen in love with a person without really getting to know them personally and was absolutely SURE that it was love? ...And what is it really that defines love?

recommend
recs 3
share
email
sent 1

Comments (42)

browse comments:
next ›
last »

I had a moment like that once. When I was in middle school, I was 13 years old when I met this boy. I wrote poems about him, villifying poems about the girls he hung around with, and I use to watch him a lot. I had gym with him and we sat in the same cafeteria (my middle school has 3 lunch rooms.) It was so weird. I use to write his name everywhere and I had my mind set that I loved that boy but I didn't know why. I honestly thought he was probably a horrible person but he was so nice to me. That crush faded when high school started. But evntually this boy came back into my life and I got to know him so in my junior year of high school we both wounded up dating. It never got any farther than that though.

But as for love. There aren't any words that can trult define it. It's what we percieve I guess. But the closest definition I like is I Corinthians chapter 13.
- 12/4/2009 6:13 PM
- RaquelHiggins005@xanga (message)
- reply
helga and arnold forever! did they even end up together?
- 12/4/2009 6:13 PM
- Lilyofdavalley84@xanga (message)
- reply
Just teenaged attraction, based mostly on looks.
- Kunoichi
- 12/4/2009 6:16 PM
- PervyPenguin@xanga (message)
- reply
I think love is a mutual feeling. If you think you LOVE someone and that person doesn't love you back, that's just infatuation, tinted with a bit of sadness (who doesn't want to be loved by the person they think they love?).
I've never loved anyone, so maybe that's why I can say that ^.
I've had a fair share of 'liking' someone though.
- 12/4/2009 6:21 PM
- deep_ocean_of_sorrow@xanga (message)
- reply
@Lilyofdavalley84@xanga - NO! That's something that really bothered me about the show ;(
- 12/4/2009 6:24 PM
- shillykins (message)
- reply
Actually, Helga was pretty mean to Arnold also, so that could have dissuaded him into the arms of Lila
- 12/4/2009 6:37 PM
- brianbsquared@xanga (message)
- reply
Haha no, I've never "fallen in love" with someone I barely knew.
- 12/4/2009 6:39 PM
- FallenReign@xanga (message)
- reply
Great infatuation, perhaps? It happened to me. A biiiiiig crush on this jerk for 3 years.
- 12/4/2009 6:50 PM
- Meowmeowkimmaee@xanga (message)
- reply
it sounds like what you experienced was a big infatuation. i did the same thing: wrote a letter, never sent it. i kept it for a few years after graduating from hs, but a few months ago, i shredded it for good. i have never felt better.
- 12/4/2009 7:06 PM
- wyrdkismet@xanga (message)
- reply
its called infatuation..
- 12/4/2009 7:21 PM
- crazedhobbit@xanga (message)
- reply
I have that effect on all the ladies.
I must say we are a rare bunch.
- 12/4/2009 7:59 PM
- ElusiveSecrets@xanga (message)
- reply
That's an interesting way to look at it. I think when we're teens we tend to feel things at a 210% capacity because our hormones are running so intensely. Not to say that your admiration for him couldn't be valid; I just think it's a trend that runs with the young, for the most part. When we get older, we fall in love with people as we get to know them.
- 12/4/2009 8:11 PM
- Keeping__Karma@xanga (message)
- reply
I think that's building your own image of the person. That's obviously how most people perceive celebrities. Many of these people dont know who they are, but the "think" they know what kind of personalities they possess. If you dont know the person, but like/love them solely by their presence and/or appearance, I couldn't call that love, even though my interpretation of love cant be described with words. I'd have to agree with the rest, and consider that an infatuation just as most people have infatuations with celebs.
- 12/4/2009 8:13 PM
- DeathzDezign@xanga (message)
- reply
haha this makes me feel better cause i used to do the same type of things in middle school, but i was SO shy... afterwards i realized what a total creeper i was lol

life gets better HS and up.
- 12/4/2009 8:40 PM
- Insomnia_Pickles_XtraTomato@xanga (message)
- reply
oh god one of my favorite pairings of ALL
TIME
- 12/4/2009 8:47 PM
- cavernouskid@xanga (message)
- reply
lol, seagull unibrow.
- 12/4/2009 9:44 PM
- cornyonacob@xanga (message)
- reply
Hahahaa. It's better than the relationships depicted in TWILIGHT!

I liked that show. There were plenty of OTHER good life lessons to take from it...
- 12/4/2009 10:11 PM
- HowILiveNow@xanga (message)
- reply
@Meowmeowkimmaee@xanga - On a jerk? Tsk tsk heh.
I think it's good you never showed him the letter heh. I used to be like that a lot in high school. Would write poems to girls I would fall in love with. Usually I'd be dumb enough to give them to the girl and then I would never talk to them again because they'd be freaked out heh. There was only 1 or 2 girls in HS that I really really had a big crush on that lasted years though. Older now I don't think it's possible to really fall in love with someone without knowing them really well.
- 12/4/2009 10:18 PM
- JusticeCho@xanga (message)
- reply
i fell in love with someone like that for my entire middle school experience (i was 12, 13 and 14 HA) it was more of an obession than anything. i knew when he'd be around so i'd try to look my best at that moment.. i spent nights dreaming of what things could be like. we ended up being friends about five years later and still talk to this day but i realized he never gave me a reason to fall in love with him. i picked him and liked him but real love is hard. real love is work and a give and take and isn't just about happiness (although that insane infatuation does exist) it's work. true love has to be worked for.
- 12/4/2009 10:19 PM
- dont_let_it_go2_ur_head@xanga (message)
- reply
@Imp_is_lurking@xanga - I TOTALLY AGREE! I recently started watching all the episodes again and I wondered, did I really watch this when I was in elemetary school? Because I can still learn so much from it.
- 12/4/2009 10:26 PM
- shillykins (message)
- reply
never watched that show, the characters are too ugly.
It's happened to me twice now.
- 12/4/2009 10:43 PM
- goblinsinthemirror@xanga (message)
- reply
haha not love but insane attraction. ive never done these things you said middle/high school girls do. rarely am i ever infatuated by a person. and if i ever was, they were just eye candy.
@shillykins - it's better off the show didn't put them together. affection is not always returned.
@DeathzDezign@xanga- thats a very good point. =O
- 12/4/2009 10:57 PM
- LilyTheBunny@xanga (message)
- reply
@goblinsinthemirror@xanga - it's a damn good show. >:o
- 12/4/2009 10:57 PM
- LilyTheBunny@xanga (message)
- reply
@Lilyofdavalley84@xanga - i think the show is stil going on LOL.

hmm probably extreme infatuation imo.
- 12/4/2009 11:11 PM
- UnopenedSuitcases@xanga (message)
- reply
My God you're odd.
But then again,
aren't we all?
- 12/5/2009 12:39 AM
- SlackerSociety@xanga (message)
- reply