It's a holiday that half of our population obsesses over and the other half dreads. A day where we celebrate love for our friends, family, and significant others. A day where stores across the country make millions off of selling flowers, chocolates, jewelry, and teddy bears.
Yes, I'm talking about Valentine's Day. As the holiday was approaching this year, I couldn't help but constantly think about it. I remember hating it all throughout my teenage years because I was single and I thought that it was overrated. 2017 was the first year that I actually had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day, and I expected to feel more open to the holiday and everything that comes with it because of this. However, I came to realize that I still think many of the aspects of the holiday are pointless and over-the-top.
Valentine's Day is supposed to be a holiday dedicated towards reminding everyone in your life how much you love them. However, society has taken this idea and used it to make people believe that they are required to spend hundreds of dollars on your loved ones in order to prove this to them. In today's world, it seems as though material belongings are a way of measuring how much someone cares about you. There are so many people who feel as though they are not important or loved if they aren't flooded with gifts on Valentine's Day. For example, I saw a woman's Twitter post the other day where she stated how she was upset that her boyfriend only got her a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day. Even though there were many responses of people telling her how ridiculous she was, it should still be noted that she is not the only one who feels this way.
For Valentine's Day this year, my boyfriend gave me a punny card and a box of assorted chocolates. Even though I told him I didn't want anything in the first place, this simple gift was perfect and made me feel special. Since he's not crazy about the holiday either, I paid for dinner that night and gave him a funny card in return. We both know how much we care about each other, and we were perfectly happy with our minimalistic Valentine's Day gifts. However, when I told some of my friends about our gift exchange, some of them responded by saying, "that's it?" Yes, that was it, and we were both happy with it. I don't need my boyfriend to spend a ton of money on me to prove that he cares about me. I wish more girls in society felt the same way.
Personally, I think that receiving flowers or chocolates feels a million times more special when I get them "just because" rather than on Valentine's Day. Sure, Valentine's Day should be a day dedicated towards showing someone you love them. However, the idea behind going over-the-top for the one day of the year that everyone else is doing the same thing kind of defeats the purpose. At the end of the day, I would be blown away if someone I loved bought me a gift on a random Tuesday just because they were thinking of me. In my opinion, that shows me that they care way more than if they were to do this on Valentine's Day just because society made them feel obligated to do so.
Some people argue that there's no reason to dislike Valentine's Day because it serves the same purpose as other holidays that we celebrate. For example, Mother's Day is dedicated towards thanking your mom for everything she has done for you. We don't love our mothers any more on this holiday than any other day, but we simply use this as a way to remind her how much we care. Most people choose to buy things for their mom on Mother's Day as a token of appreciation for raising them. However, the media does not focus as much on Mother's Day as it does on Valentine's Day. For some reason, Valentine's Day is one of the few holidays of the year that companies focus on peer pressuring customers into spending hundreds of dollars on presents. Valentine's Day is simply supposed to be a day dedicated towards reminding someone you love them, right? Why is there never this much hype for Mother's Day? The fact that Valentine's Day is considered to be so much more expensive than other holidays which serve the same purpose proves that society has truly blown it out of proportion.
At the end of the day, you can show someone you love them in various different ways. You can show someone you love them by buying them a $200 necklace, or you can can show them you love them by giving them a hand made card. You can show someone you love them by taking them to a fancy restaurant, or you can show them you love them by cooking them a homemade meal. Regardless of the money you spend, it is important to take the time to remind the people you care about that you love them. THAT is the true meaning of Valentine's Day. We can't forget that.
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