Ryan ChartrandI have a love-hate relationship with Valentine’s Day. I love the overpriced flowers that everyone complains about. I love the chocolates because it’s a sign that all of those New Year’s resolutions have been forgotten, and the excuse to wear pastels in the winter, but mostly, I love to love.
There is much to be happy about with a day dedicated to love, but frankly, it’s all a little overwhelming. The cliché Hallmark holiday reputation that follows this day is just so true. Why do we need to have one day out of the year to express something that people in healthy relationships should feel all the time? Have our daily lives become too hectic to express love regularly? This holiday just reminds me of troubled middle-aged couples scheduling annual time to have sex, when really it should remind me of all the happy couples I know, and the good friendships I enjoy.
My main beef with Valentine’s Day is that any Valentine’s Day gesture would be appreciated so much more if it were done any other day of the year. If a guy brings a girl flowers on Valentine’s Day, I think no more of him. It’s expected. America has done an excellent job of hyping up this post-Christmas holiday. So now people are pressured to make some sort of romantic gesture, sincere or not. But think about it – how much better would it be to get flowers on March 14? The flowers will be cheaper, and if you really want to go there, restaurant reservations will be easier to get. This gesture says, “I love you and I want to show you and not because society says I have to do this today.”
Reason No. 2 Valentine’s Day sucks: All of a sudden, everyone who is single decides they want to complain about it. I know that glittered hearts patronize everyone at every store, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to be grumpy. The day is intended to celebrate love, and not just the romantic kind. There is nothing wrong with being single because you’re not the only one. Someone loves you, even if it is only your mom. So you want to wear black to make some grand point about how upset you are that you’re single and how you hate the idea of Valentine’s Day? Original. That’s attractive and uplifting. I wonder why you are single when you are beaming with such positivity?
In reality this holiday is decorated with good intentions, even if corporate America has led it slightly astray. Embrace the day with friends you love, it would be better then spending it with a date you can’t stand.
Even with my complaints and woes over this holiday, I can’t help but love to hate it. I’ve done the romantic dinner and even received a heart shaped box of chocolates, but these things didn’t make me love the person more or make the relationship any better. What makes a good Valentine’s Day is doing what you want to do, not what you are expected to do. If candle-lit dinners and chocolate covered strawberries are your thing, then go for it, but that’s not for me. This year I’m going to do Valentine’s Day right: I will wear pink, order pizza, drink beer and enjoy good company.
Denise Nilan is a journalism senior and the Mustang Daily’s new sex columnist.