Valentines Day

Of all the holidays I have seen the US celebrate, this holiday ranks in the top 5 of the weirdest holiday celebrations ever. 

Reasons why Valentine's Day is strange:

1) It isn't a real holiday.

2) This entire day is dedicated to alienating single people.

3) People who are in relationships, especially men, feel guilted into buying crap.

4) Women feel the overwhelming desire to receive crap that they don't really need, from men.

5) Too much emphasis is placed on material objects as expressions of care and love. (Even more so than Christmas. Disgusting.)

6) There is no unifying "faith-based ritual" or "historical tradition" to justify its existence.

7) There is no clear concept about what is celebrated on Valentines Day. I mean, some say this day celebrates love, some say it celebrates friendship, others say its a day of passion and lust, others use it as an excuse to gorge on chocolate and wear pink. Which one is it? Is it all of these things? Is it nothing? What the hell is love anyway? Its all up for grabs. 

8) On this day, ordinary feelings for people who you care about are exaggerated and idealized. And this exaggeration, this fantasy of emotions, this world of perfect love and expressions of affection (based on consumerism), is inevitably compared and contrasted against every day life. This has the effect of making every-day life seem less than adequate.  And, it encourages people to have unrealistic expectations of what being in a real relationship truly implies. 

9) Not to say that I don't appreciate spontaneous demonstrations of affection and lots of chocolate. But, I don't like having  a day when I know I should expect spontaneous demonstrations of affection and chocolates. Because, guess what, its not spontaneous if I'm expecting it! Duh.

So in conclusion, Valentine's Day is a day when people who care for other people feel the need to buy presents for said people who they care about, and wear red/pink, for no clear reason, because on this one day they can delude themselves into believing they are involved a relationship based on the purest feelings of mutual love. Except, the concept of what love consists of is not quite clear. And, the people who they care about expect them to buy stuff and act spontaneous about it. 

At the risk of sounding like a bitter old woman who doesn't understand "love" to al the brain-washed Valentine-believers out there, I stand firmly in my belief that Valentine's Days is weird.