It’s a common stereotype that every girl who does not have a valentine on Valentine’s Day spends their evening crying over a movie between mouthfuls of chocolate and wine in their beds. I’ve never spent this love filled holiday with anyone, but I’ve never disliked it because I was single either. I have hated Valentine’s Day for so long because of how it makes everyone act. It’s cuffing season pushed into two painful weeks. People start to get attached easier, they complain about how alone they feel, while they’re surrounded by their friends saying the same thing. Maybe it’s the unromantic romantic in me but the whole thing about V-Day is love and we all have people we love.That’s not what this piece is about though, the whole love your friends thing is for before Valentine’s Day. However, can we focus on the idea that this holiday pisses everyone off.
If you’re a part of a couple, you stress about what to get the other person, about how to make the night perfect, and ultimately spend hours of your life making it special so you can go (maybe) get laid when you’re back home. If you’re single you spend weeks surrounded by hearts watching chocolate and jewelry commercials, putting your amazing life down because some ad execs told you that on the fourteenth of February you need to be in love to be worthy.
I understand the argument that people need to take time to show how much they love the people around them. However, if your significant other isn’t constantly showing you how much they love you then they don’t deserve you. Also that’s what birthdays are for because the people who remember without checking social media are the ones who really love you. Plus you’re the only one who receives gifts that day! There is an argument that the holiday was made to celebrate Saint Valentine and his death, however the day started being associated with love centuries after it was declared St. Valentine’s Day.
In college, most people aren’t seriously dating. They’re just seeing who’s out there and what kind of person they want in their lives, which is fine. But then we’re all alone and drunk together on the fourteenth feeling bad for ourselves. Why do we continue to celebrate something that makes the majority upset? If we insist on observing tradition, we can at least make some good come out of this very hated holiday.
Thousands of people spend their Valentine’s day in hospitals and across seas, away and unable to even see or talk to the people they love. Next year or even now, take some time to make notes to the hospital patients for your local hospital, write thank you notes to the people who are serving across seas, or keep with the heart theme, and see what you can do for the people suffering from heart illnesses.
Or, we can just all ignore the holiday. Let’s make the fourteenth just another day in February. That’s my plan.