Long distance relationships can work

Ben Kaufman
Presentation Director

Most people think that long distance relationships are not something that should be done. The first thing I used to hear in my head when I’d think about long distance relationships is the line from “30 Rock” when a character is complaining about her boyfriend being in a different country and Liz Lemon says, “Long distance is the wrong distance. Deal breaker.” Now that I am currently in a long distance relationship, this negative outlook seems more distant.

Just as it is nice when I am with my girlfriend, long distance relationships are actually nice.  Clearly if we didn’t really care about each other, we would not be doing this. Plus there are some benefits to being in a long distance relationship.

One benefit is that we both clearly have our own lives. I get annoyed when couples do literally everything together, no matter what the case may be. I give them a lot of credit because I don’t think I can spend that much time with anybody regardless of how much I love or care about them. So the fact that we don’t go to school together means that we are able to do our own thing when we want to as well as do things with each other when we are together.

That being said, as ridiculous as this may sound, the 21st century and the massive advances in technology and communication makes a long distance relationship pretty easy. We both have cell phones and therefore are usually texting each other throughout the day. We are also able to videochat every once in a while, which even though it is not as good as physically being with each other, it is still better than nothing.

Although there are some benefits to being in a long distance relationship, the only thing that is truly that bad is that we aren’t able to see each other very often. Being that Lewisburg is literally in the middle of nowhere and annoyingly far from everything makes transportation and commuting very difficult. However, we at least make the effort to see each other at least once a month, which is nice and definitely better than longer, extended periods of time.

The point of all my rambling is this: while most people view a long distance relationship as a bad idea and not something that should ever be done, I disagree. I think if you are with somebody and are committed enough to them to be apart from him or her for extended periods of time, then by all means go for it. I understand that it is difficult, but it is worth it. As much as I love Liz Lemon and everything she says on “30 Rock,” I’m going to have to disagree with her on this one and say that long distance is not always the wrong distance.