People bitch and gripe about St. V's Day, variably choosing to publicly announce their plans to ignore it, to espouse on how much they despise it, or to conspicuously "celebrate" the always-has-struck-me-as-sadder-than-even-it's-acronymical-name-suggests Singles Awareness Day (SAD).
The general consensus among these V-Day-Haters is that Valentine's Day is a commericialized sham, nothing more than an opportunity for jewelers, chocolatiers, and card companies to make a buck. And they're partly right. Yes, V-Day is a commercial holiday, just like almost all holidays are. But it's also a day set aside each year to make sure that you celebrate love. And you know that can't be bad. Yeah yeah etc.
The closest relative of Valentine's Day I can think of is Christmas. Commercialized, consumer-driven, emotionally manipulative wintertime orgy of spending and worry? Sure. And for many, definitely yes. But it is also a time to celebrate generosity and togetherness. And the people who get that won't be found bitching on the internet about how Christmas is a rip-off.
Is Valentine's Day a cynical invention of various companies and corporations made to swindle people out of their money using their tenderest of feelings? Partly, yes. But it is also a day to celebrate love in all its forms--romantic love, familial love, friendly love, abstract love, religious love, past love, present love, potential love, etc etc etc. And to choose to ignore that would be way more cynical than any card company exec could ever be.
So I implore you to celebrate love in however you see fit today. The one thing there will never be enough of in this world is love.
Love love love
Love love love
All you need is...
PS.
A Happy Day to my Valentine, Jenna. I love you so much, sweetheart.
I find that as you grow older (like me haha, and time starts to speed up like a bullet train you need a special day set aside a couple times a year where the focus can be on your relationship. 1) an anniversary (Paul and I don't have one) and 2) Valentines Day.
ReplyDeleteAfter 5 or six years together, it's nice to have a special day to celebrate / appreciate the romance in your life!
Plus? Chocolate.
Nuff said.
Beautifully articulated. As I've always said, take the raw materials of this life and create your own magic. That goes for holidays too. Maybe every day should be celebrated as a special day, sans commercial interests--but life doesn't always make that possible. So a sprinkling of holidays that we can aim our efforts at...that we can do. In whatever way we can do. What the world needs now is love, sweet love...
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