Season
one and two of “Parks and Recreation” showed how a fairly simple task has a mile
of red tape to go through, but Leslie’s innocence and against all odds
determination is what slowly makes the red tape disappear. Suddenly, everyone
is in motion and the government workers that have lost the enthusiasm or never
had enthusiasm, have to pay attention to this little dynamo. Her spark is what slowly helps all of her
stagnant comrades to become involved and loyal to her impressive optimism. She
describes town meetings where people yell at her as “people caring loudly at
me”.
Wisely,
“Parks and Recreation” stays away from many political disputes and tries not to
venture into sides. Although a comedic show about a local government is not
complete without throwing in some big names as well as making a character join
a party (Ron Swanson is a libertarian). When budget cut time comes, he is
willing to give it all, even his job, but when Leslie’s job is threatened, it
is one of the first times we see Ron stand up in order to keep any form of
government. He claims that the government needs her, if anybody, because she
does the work of three people. Leslie Knope definitely does not have a “nope”
in her, as she will do whatever it takes to help her town.
Although
the Parks Department may seem like an extra unimportant branch of government,
Leslie sees its value in raising the morale of the people, and making Pawnee
great. Some of the accomplishments of Leslie Knope include making the smallest
park, putting on a Freddy Spaghetti concert for children, getting the hole
filled, successfully launching the harvest festival again, giving a golf cart
for a park ranger, creating a baseball field, organizing a li’l Sebastian
memorial, and stands up for herself and coworkers. Although local citizens may
be slow to acknowledge her contributions and the local media tries to look for
the scandal in all things, it seems satisfactory to her that at the end of the
day, she knows someone enjoyed her hard work, and she does not need the praise.
She is the eternal optimist.
An ordinary workforce’s day to day life can
seem dreary and non-productive but “Parks and Recreation” challenges this by
instructing the viewer to cherish the little things that is learned about
people, to take hold of the small victories, and rejoice over some of the
simple pleasures such as eating waffles at JJ’s. Leslie Knope leaves a spirit of hope and a
note of triumph that could do wonders to the nation if this sit-com were to
explode beyond the scope it has now, and if we all decided to adopt a bit of Leslie Knope.
