It Celebrates Love

By Emma McDowell


“They do not love that do not show their love.” -- William Shakespeare


Valentine’s Day is a holiday you either love or hate. Many of us see it as an opportunity celebrate romance by giving chocolate, or flowers, or some other token of love to the man or woman who makes our heart skip a beat. Others, however, write it off as a cheap, cynical celebration invented by commercial interests to rake in tractor trailer loads full of cash at the expense of gullible suckers who stand in line, wallets open, waiting to worship bad poetry and the greeting card industry.

There’s room for everyone in this debate, but let’s take a moment to examine the arguments.

Does business benefit when people celebrate Valentine’s Day. Um, yeah. The U.S. flower industry takes in about $1 billion in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, making it florists’ second-most profitable holiday after Mother’s Day. But does that demean the act of giving your lover a dozen red roses? Of course not. Do jelly bean sales stop us from celebrating Easter? Should the champagne industry prompt us to write off New Year’s Eve? Of all our gifts, what better one to celebrate than our power to love and to be loved? What better holiday to celebrate than the one that celebrates the eternally human need to bond with another, to form a life partnership?

What other emotion, when it arrives and when it leaves, is powerful enough to take away our appetites?

There’s no question in my mind – Valentine’s Day is an essential holiday.

Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, and even birthdays, are surrounded by a sea of cards, and gifts that are available for purchase, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Chocolates, red and pink flowers, and heart shaped sugary confections are a common place. Most people think that Valentine’s Day has lost all sincerity and meaning because of the commercial industry.

However, aren’t all holidays somewhat commercial? Take Christmas for example. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ; however that is completely overshadowed by Santa Claus, coming down the chimney to deliver presents. What does a bearded man in a red suit, riding on a sleigh pulled by reindeer have to do with the birth of Jesus Christ? I don’t think a day like Valentine’s Day, which is designed for showing love and appreciation for loved ones, strays as far away from its origin like Christmas does. Valentine’s Day is a day that recognizes the people that we love in our lives and what better way to demonstrate our love than than to do something small like a card, or a thoughtful bouquet of flowers? . And showing your love for someone on Valentine’s Day doesn’t even have to do with purchasing an expensive gift. Simply showing someone how much you love them, by telling them, or just spending time with them is the purpose of Valentine’s Day.

And who doesn’t like to get gifts and flowers? I for one love to give and be given thoughtful gifts, and I think that Valentine’s Day is a great excuse for doing something nice for others. True, I don’t think that we need a day designed to show that we love someone; we should be doing that all the days of the year, but Valentine’s Day is a great reminder, just like Mother’s or Father’s Day.

What is wrong with a day that celebrates love? It’s not a day dedicated to solely couples; it is a day about showing love for everyone in our lives, and recognizing the special people that make our lives worth living. Valentine’s Day makes sure that people remember the importance of love in their lives, and celebrates the amazing feeling of love.

I think that Valentine’s Day not only is a fun holiday, it is an important one. Without Valentine’s Day, when would people have the opportunity to show that special someone how they feel? Or demonstrate how much they value someone? Valentine’s Day is a day dedicated to appreciating the love in our lives, and why I ask, is that so bad?



It Makes People Miserable

By Louis Lessing

I hate Valentine’s Day. Why? Because it’s a crappy holiday. For starters, it has none of the things that make a holiday fun. A day off? Nope. Presents? Nope. Kindness or good will? Definitely not. An interesting or entertaining ritual? Hardly. Valentine’s Day pretty much exists to sell greeting cards and make otherwise happy people miserable.

I probably ought to elaborate on that point. Surely Valentine’s Day is romantic, right? Surely romance makes people happy, right? I don't entirely disagree on the second one. However, it is irrelevant, because Valentine’s Day is not romantic in the slightest. A box of chocolates and a sappy card aren't sweet or romantic or anything of the kind. More cheesy, really. Which doesn't tally with people’s expectations of Valentine’s Day at all.

Which is the core of the problem, of course. Valentine’s Day always gets couples' hopes up. One or both people build it up to expect some grand romantic gesture, and then the other person comes through with a box of drug-store chocolate, and it's not enough. It's never enough, because the ideal of romance is a nigh-on-impossible ideal to live up to, and the traditions of Valentine’s Day don't even come close. Reality comes crashing down on somebody's dreams, and it leaves that person feeling disappointed; the other person feeling inadequate; and neither feeling happy in the slightest. It's even worse when both people manage to get their expectations up and mutually disappoint each other. Valentine’s Day causes fights in otherwise stable couples, and on the whole does more harm than good.

But at least you get chocolates, right? After the disappointment wears off, at least there are chocolates to eat? Well, yes. But in the great ranking of things that are supposed to be delicious, Valentine’s chocolates are only slightly above bloody fruitcake. If you want to get somebody something nice, get them a Toblerone or something. Something that actually tastes good. It might not come in a heart-shaped box (which isn't shaped like a heart at all. Why do they do that?) but at least it is actually edible and doesn't have any nasty cream fillings or nuts that taste like they've been stale since the eighties.

And that's just what it’s like for couples. Single people suffer too, but for a much simpler reason. Apart from the cultural pressure to feel bad on Valentine’s Day because you're single, there seems to be some mistaken impression that everybody else is having sex and you aren’t. To all the singles out there: don't buy it. I'm pretty sure they're making it up.