The idea of a time to celebrate the ones we love. An excuse to shout from the rooftops the extent to which we care for the people in our lives. A time to love and be loved. Love, in any form, drives our interactions - whether it be familial, friendly, or romantic - it connects us and pushes us to be better people. Why shouldn't we celebrate that?
But, what I do hate is the consumerism that surrounds Valentines Day. It is the commodity of the event that has conditioned me to be bitter and roll my eyes at any mention of it. On January 2nd the grocery store turned into a sea of pink. New Years was over and done with and it was time to remind us just how much we need to buy helium filled heart-shaped balloons with teddy bears on them saying "I wuv u!". Chocolate and jewellery sales skyrocket and its those fiery cinnamon hearts are suddenly everywhere.
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| Don't let the pink fluffiness fool you.....He's full of evil. |
Suddenly Valentines isn't about the personal interaction with the people you love, but a public display of buy! Buy! BUY!
Gee doesn't this sound familiar?
Christmas traditions? BUYING THE TREE, BUYING PRESENTS, oh yeah and seeing the family, BOXING
Easter traditions: BUYING THE EASTER EGGS, BUYING CHOCOLATE, something about going to church, BUYING MORE CANDY.
Our traditions have become those that involve consuming these things and have lost the ideals that the stand for.
Yes, Valentine's gifts are ways of expressing our emotions - as are most any gifts - but the sentiment can be lost by competition and the need to 'out-do' each other, or other couples or other years. Everything needs to be bigger and better or else it means nothing.
This is not to say that the entire holiday has fallen apart. I can be a hopeless romantic as much as the next person and sweet stories of love can make me a puddle of goo. But the stories that can reduce me to such a state rarely involve grandiose gifts and elaborate planning. Often they are stories of the small and subtle gestures that get me. Acts of kindness, acts of nostalgia, acts of sentiment. The things that really mean something to us beyond a commodity.
I'm rarely bitter about Valentine's day due to the fact that I'm single. I joke with my friends about "Single Awareness Day!" but never as a cry for attention. I honestly never felt like I was missing out on the roses and teddy bears. What makes me bitter about Valentine's is that the meaning has been lost to all the pinks and reds of store fronts and the constant push to shove the idea down our throats that we need to buy the biggest and best gift or our significant other won't love us anymore. The entire industry is ridiculous, sexist, classist - all to make us feel like we need their product to feel loved.
I know I sound like a Valentine's Scrooge here, but as I stated earlier - I do love the idea of expressing our love.
So, forget the stores and the candies and the nauseating teddy bears, to all the people in my life who are important to me and who put up with me, and who may not hear it enough:
I love y'all, and Happy Valentine's Day m'dears... just don't expect any gifts from me.
I don't own Lotso the bear from Toy Story 3 because I'd prefer not to be murdered in my sleep, but nonetheless you can get him here.
I completely agree about the consumerism. Gifts are great when they mean something personal, but what's the point in getting someone a teddy bear holding a red heart... who needs something like that? It's kind of like getting someone a Christmas sweater. It's something you use/wear one day each year, or it ends up in the back of a closet somewhere gathering dust. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteLove you tons though, lady girl! :)
Eeeeeeexactly. And I'm not totally against seasonal gifts ... but there has to be meaning, there has to be effort and substance beyond the gift itself. Otherwise I'd prefer nothing, actions speak louder than words. Or in this case, actions speak louder than the hot pink evil teddy bear that will never see the light of day again.
DeleteLove you back woman :D