Valentine's Day

[breakinglight11]

Today is Valentine's Day, and I know it's not the fashion, but I've always really liked this holiday. Yeah, people go on about the commercialization of love and the artificiality of shoving any and all gestures onto one day, and yeah, those are pretty tacky, but I don't see things that way. I see it as a day for the gestures of love you can't do any old day. You could get your love a ton of their favorite candy any day, sure, but it's a lot healthier to save candy only for special occasions. Maybe there's a fancy restaurant you like that it way too expensive to go to often, so you save up so you can go on Valentine's Day. I'm not so good a poet, so I can't write a really good poem just any day, but if I plan to have one ready for Valentine's Day, I can come up with a decent one. And I like those special little gestures, they're fun. God knows it's not the gift-aspect of it; it really is the thought that counts with me, and I'd rather have you tell me reasons why you love me than spend money on something that doesn't really matter. And since Jared's birthday, Hannukkah, and our anniversary are all within a month of each other just before now, I'm kind of burnt out on gift-giving anyway. But I still find the whole business pleasant, and I think it's nice to have a day you can plan for things you can't just do any day.

Comments

[v-cat.livejournal.com]

As much as i agree with you that it is nice to have a day dedicated to expressing your affection in the most silly ways possible, I have always been a bit uncomfortable with holidays that can only be celebrated by a select group of people while everyone else is just reminded of the things that they are somehow supposed to have and don't (I also really dislike Mother's Day). Now I didn't grow up in this country and even when here was in a community that didn't even recognize that Valentines day was happening (Jewish Orthodox), so I never really got invested into it. I remember the one year that I was aware of V-day and single, freshman year of college, and I remember sitting in my room with my girlfriends, and being really creeped out by all the moping and bitterness. I think that any holiday that can make people feel that bad needs to get re-thought.