Last Tuesday, the nation danced in unity and in celebration of a time honored and Constitutionally-required event. No, not President Obama’s State of the Union, though I completely forgive you for thinking such. Because hey, it’s always fun to see our highest elected representatives and leaders gather together as a crowd and attempt to execute a successful wave… just like at a sporting event! (Unfortunately, they never quite got it right. Half the crowd was following Biden’s signals, and the other half were busy counting how many times Pelosi blinked.)

But no, I’m referring to the anniversary of “The Voice,” one of the most endearing, comforting, visionary episodes of the television show Seinfeld. It’s only been 4,500 days since its first airing, yet it seems like only last week when everyone was greeting their friends with, “Hellooooo! La la la…”

But as we celebrate this 4,500^th (day) anniversary of indisputable genius, let’s remember why we celebrate. This episode, in essence, was about a choice: Would Jerry choose to stop using the voice and continue to date his girlfriend, or would he choose to keep using the voice?

In hindsight, it seems downright uncanny to believe that Jerry would even consider anything other than the voice. The voice was, and still is, a goblet of truth. A sign of universal peace, happiness, and triumph. It’s like the stack of pancakes that keeps on giving, or the hungry goat that keeps on eating. A never-ending representation of communal comfort, courtly love and comfy blankets. In a world where the lion and the lamb lay down together—this is a world where the voice will reverberate for the ages, and rightfully so.

And yet, last Tuesday, I attempted to greet my dear colleague Adam Toth with the famed Seinfeld expression, and I all received in reply was a sonorous “MEH.” When I asked him for his reason of reply, he delved into a 14-minute lecture about the antithesis of hope, the diminishment of dreams and the inevitable devaluing of our beloved expression, the voice.

It was a well-executed episode of Illinois rhetoric, and yet I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated, and a bit disheartened. Is there no way to show a man like Adam the beauty and simple virtuosity of such an expression? Perhaps not, perhaps not… but will this stop me from opening our every conversation with a hearty HELLLOOOOOOO! LA LA LA…? For the sake of all those hopeful souls who inhabit the world round, I dare not. Oh no, I dare not.

"Yeah, I like Windows 7 more than Seinfeld."