Single Awareness Day

I was just thinking about Valentine's Day (which has just passed in my time zone). I noticed my good friend Steve had the title "Happy Single Awareness Day" on his MSN today and it got me thinking. There are a lot of issues I have with Valentine's Day.

Here they are in no particular order.

1) It has very little or nothing to do with Saint Valentine. It seems the closest link was that he was martyred on the 14th of February. Rather than remembering someone who really loved God to the point of surrendering his body to whatever end, people now buy dodgy cards with sexual messages and we have a day more focussed on sex than anything else.

2) It's a social obligation. Everyone in a relationship HAS to buy something for their significant other on Valentine's Day. If they don't, the world at large would agree that they are an unromantic whatever and the other person is better off without them. What happened to spontinaity? I think a lot of people don't really receive their gift at Valentine's Day because they know it's being given out of obligation. Hey, here's a thought. It's become religous. It's people doing what they're meant to do when they're meant to do it, regardless of whether they really want to.

3) It emphasises the solitude of those not in a relationship. As you get older and friends start pairing off it gets more noticeable. Trying to arrange anything on the 14th of February is pretty tricky because everyone (thanks to point #2) feels obliged to fulfill their social duty, national service or whatever you want to call it. In the end the "left overs" have to either sit and feel sorry for themselves or pretend that it's not really Valentine's Day and it's just another day (while checking the mail again just in case.)

4) It's a commercial rip-off. Everything is more expensive, such as flowers, chocolates and so on. First we have the social bullying to force you to buy things on a fairly un-special day and then we have the entrepreneurs cashing in on everyone's plight.

I'm going to stop at 4 because I don't want to appear completely heartless. I will say this. I am a romantic person. Really, I am. I just don't like being told when to be romantic. I'd much rather pick a random day each year to surprise that special someone in my life:

"Hey, happy Valentine's Day!"
"But it's September"
"So?"
etc...

Something as simple as choosing a different day would show that you are thinking about the person and being creative and maybe even spontaneous. Now isn't that so much better than being religious?

Another thought is that maybe if people were generally more romantic the rest of the year, there wouldn't be the same pressure to produce the goods on Valentine's Day. I think a lot of people cling to Valentine's Day as a lifeline of the last hope they have of receiving some kind of affirmation because their significant other will at least do something on Valentine's Day. Let's rise above this, people! Let's be romantic ALL YEAR ROUND! It doesn't need to be expensive, just thoughtful.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. I just need to check the mail. I think something might have got stuck behind the door...