Think for a second. How many scenes during the series — hell, per episode — simply feature one character encouraging another? Or how about when Leslie votes for herself for councilwoman in the fourth season finale? The show simply lets the moment play out, as we watch her softly cry in the voting booth. We know how hard she’s worked, the decisions she’s made. It’s a rare, beautiful moment to watch someone get even a fleeting glimpse at a moment she’s been imagining her whole life, and we share in her triumph, awaiting the day that that will happen to us too. If, like those studies say, we need at least eight hugs per day, then any given episode of Parks and Recreation fills at least half that requirement. […]

In a general sense, ‘the American Dream’ is an impossible ambition, a vague concept of your ideal life, but it’s often sold as an achievable end goal, something to spend your life working toward. The brilliance of Parks and Recreation is that it both stuck to that ideal and made it infinitely more grounded. It re-characterizes the American Dream as something simple but true: being surrounded by those who love and support you, while you do what you love to help your community.