Valentine's Day Apathy

     I seem to be a bit late to the party (a day to be exact), but Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope you had a wonderful celebration if you chose to celebrate. I spent my Valentine’s Day learning about parasitism and diseases in my Ecology class and cleaning my house, which was a peaceful way to spend the day, especially since I don’t really like this particular holiday. My dislike of this holiday does not stem from any real angst from being single or forgotten by my partner, in fact, we celebrated early with takeout and catching up on TV, I just think the holiday is a little arbitrary with no real substance. 

     I find this holiday to put too much pressure on couples to be the most romantic and almost compete with others on social media for the imaginary title of “best couple”. Personally, I don’t think that a single day should carry so much importance that feelings are hurt if the appropriate romance level is not met and little acts of affection should not be overshadowed by a single event where grand romantic gestures are expected. Now if you do enjoy Valentine’s Day and make it a big deal, there’s nothing wrong with that, I just don’t think that so much cultural importance should be put on one day to show affection and love. My partner and I go out of our way every day to make each other feel special and loved, so a day dedicated to that feels a little redundant.

     The idea of showing affection to loved ones and participating in the festivities is nice, but the importance of being in a romantic partnership seems to leave out those who are not part of a relationship that fulfills that requirement. It seems like a holiday that is all about love should also include platonic love and the beauty of those relationships that are just as meaningful as romantic partnerships. After all, everybody deserves to receive chocolates and flowers every once in a while.

     At the end of the day, take it or leave it, Valentine’s Day is embedded in our modern culture, but little acts of affection should permeate all of your relationships throughout the year. Maybe get your spouse some flowers for no reason or get a friend some candy out of the blue. Just don’t wait for a day marked on the calendar to tell people you love them.