If there is one holiday that can heat people up, it’s Valentine’s Day. Whether it’s a sweet, pink feeling of love or a red-hot angry feeling when it comes to spending the holiday alone while surrounded by Hallmark cards, this holiday is one that has the world divided.
Valentine’s Day wasn’t always chocolates, flowers and candle-lit dinners. Ancient Romans originally reserved Feb. 14 for the feast of Lupercalia, where animals were slain, drinking was abundant and women were whipped in the streets to promote fertility. The holiday changed direction during the Middle Ages when it was promoted as a day of love by Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer. Handmade cards and romantic poetry became the focus and a happier day in the lives of the poor and rich alike.
In recent decades, it’s been more of a romantic sentiment between lovers, but ultimately I believe Valentine’s Day celebrates love in all forms.
Every year since I was a child, I would race home from school to flowers, cupcakes and a small gift from my parents. Our dinner table would be spread out with various cards from my parents to each other, my grandparents to all of us and people we knew just spreading love and appreciation. We would go to dinner as a family, enjoying time spent together and bonding. To this day I still get giddy when thinking of Valentine’s Day, knowing that I am loved and have others to love.
The problem that most people have with Valentine’s Day is the commercialized mess that society has created. You can’t go anywhere a few days after Christmas without seeing the pink hearts and decorated cards lining the shelves.
In grade school, most children are told to pass out valentines to their friends, and perhaps there is one child who won’t get one from a certain someone they hoped. This starts a hatred for the holiday, which can get worse depending on how the teenage years go. Not having a special someone on a holiday that is so filled with love and romance can be hurtful and make a person feel isolated.
I think society needs to start looking at the holiday in a new way. Love is all around us, and it is something most people spend their lives searching for, even when it is right there. We all have at least one person, animal or thing that we love deeply. If you find yourself alone on Valentine’s Day, call a friend, call up your parents or a family member, and tell them how much you appreciate and love them. Give your pet a treat or a small toy. Watch your favorite show or reread your favorite book.
Most importantly, love yourself. Find something about yourself that you admire, and give yourself the present of spending time with you.
Valentine’s Day can be a lovely holiday. It doesn’t have to be a commercialized capitalist event that we dread once a year. It should be something that is celebrated, a chance to find a new love and appreciate the old – a chance to give yourself a fresh perspective on all the good things you have around you, and a promise that they will never be forgotten.
View the “other side” of the debate’s perspective here.
