Red and pink. Hearts and Cupid. Cards and chocolate. Resentment and torture? St. Valentine’s Day is in exactly two weeks, so for those of you in a relationship, book your calendars for that special Friday. For those of you who aren’t, you can sulk in your bedroom over being forever alone…..or should you?
In addition to forgotten anniversaries, this may be one of the biggest causes of breakups because of the disagreement over Valentine’s Day. What is this disagreement exactly? It’s a multitude of things: whether or not it’s really a holiday, how it should be celebrated, what to do, who loves the other more, how the significant other doesn’t love someone anymore, etc.
Skeptics argue that Valentine’s Day was made purely for the greeting card companies to make money. According to the Greeting Card Association, approximately one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent every year. This “holiday” is rooted back to before the Middle Ages to a man named St. Valentine. Although no person can clearly say which of the three Valentines began the holiday or what theoretical story is true, it can be said that it has been around before a printing press. These people don’t find Valentine’s Day to be a true holiday, so why should they buy cards for someone they will see in an hour or the next day?
On the other hand, Valentine’s Day is not restricted to those of us “fortunate” enough to be in a relationship, but also for anyone who loves someone else. Mothers and fathers have a specific day of the year set out for them, but what about your brother? Your sister? Your aunt? Your nephew? Your imaginary friend Sam, who nobody knows about but you? They, too, should know you love them, so use that day to tell them just how much you love them and how they have impacted your life.
Then again, it’s just another day, so shouldn’t you always tell people you love them? Shouldn’t you be thankful every day for the loved ones you have with you? Besides, that is what Thanksgiving is for, right? Christmas and New Years too, for that matter, so why this specific day? There is absolutely no reason why you should go around telling everyone you love them on this “special day.” It makes you sound fake if you go around telling everyone you love them over and over.
At the same time, if it weren’t for this completely random holiday, little kids all over the world would get withdrawal side effects. From what? Holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years and religious holidays all in two months, all receiving its own party in classrooms. Then all of a sudden, it stops. Just like a nicotine addiction, the kids want more so they need weaned off this drug we call holidays. Besides, remember all those little Valentine’s cards we used to give each other? Weren’t they nice? We should bring those back.
Although this idea may sound great in theory (like communism) in practice it won’t quite work. Because some people may now know they have secret admirers , this may just turn out to be very creepy. When you have secret admirers, it may seem nice at first, but then reality strikes: someone is watching you — a lot—and you don’t even notice. Next you get paranoid. You think people are following you everywhere you go, you see someone standing in your yard, you can’t sleep at night and you go psycho. Now what?
Really, there is no answer as to whether or not St. Valentine’s Day is an actual holiday, or whether it does more good than bad or how many cards you need to buy. You can, though, use this day to tell a few specific people that you care, but it is up to you to figure out how.