With Valentine's Day quickly approaching I've been thinking about how retailers make a big deal out of this holiday and why for some reason this holiday is such a big deal (for couples anyway) in our culture. Why is it that people feel the need to celebrate their love for each other on this one day? What is wrong with all the others days of the year? Are those other days not good enough or something?
I am sure that the retailers airing the ads that they do have something to do with this, but why do people listen to them? Part of me wishes that people would stop listening to what the commercials tell them that they should think or feel regarding certain holidays because then they would realize that the retailers are exploiting them by making them think that they need to celebrate this holiday in a grand fashion or else they don't really love the other person they are in a relationship with.
I just don't believe that there should be a holiday for celebrating the love between two people. Wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate that throughout the year? Or hey, maybe on an anniversary? There's an idea!
So if it isn't clear already I really don't like this holiday much as I think it pretty pointless and just a way for retailers to exploit their customers. Granted I have never had a reason to celebrate Valentine's Day (or, as I prefer, Single's Awareness Day), but even if I did I can't say that I see myself caring much about this holiday. That doesn't mean I wouldn't do something on Valentine's Day if I had someone to celebrate it with, but just that the whole holiday seems quite pointless to me.
Alright I'm done ranting now. Next time hopefully I'll have something less ranty to post, that is if I have time to think about things.
I gotta start reading your blog, cousin...
ReplyDeleteWas that a rhetorical question? Oh well.
People don't refrain from showing love and affection all year just because a day exists devoted to that. Valentine's Day is an excuse to splurge; it's a day for someone to buy that expensive wine that any other day of the year would be out of line. It's an extra reminder to be super-sweet to your loved one. It's something to celebrate. Why do we celebrate Easter? Or Christmas? Or birthdays? We're saved all the time; God exists all the time; we exist all the time. It doesn't hurt to have a reminder.
~Marie
You should delete this when you find that someone to share Valentine's with. Just a head's up. :)
ReplyDelete@Marie: That is a good point. I think we as humans are prone to forget things, which is one reason why I like holidays because the remind us of things that we might otherwise forget. What I don't like about the holidays (at least in America) is all the commercialization that comes with them. It kind of ruins the whole spirit of the particular holiday and turns it into a stress filled day/season rather than a celebration.
ReplyDelete@Dani: Maybe I should. If I did have someone to celebrate it with though I would still celebrate it if it mattered to her; I wouldn't make a big deal out of it because this is one of those things that isn't worth making a big deal out of.
Personally I think the holiday itself is just an excuse for retailers to make more money, but the idea behind it is good I think. I do a lot of things for others that I personally don't care much about because they matter to the person/people I am doing it for, so this would probably be one of them.
Although maybe by the time I find someone to spend it with this post will so far buried in the archives of the Internet that it will never come to light...
Nobody has ever accused me of being a romanitic but I like the concept of Valentine's Day. Sure retailers take advantage of us as do restaurants but trading flowers for a box of great chocolate year after year helps to make marriage a wonderful experience. Someday when you find that special person show her how much you love her on February 14th. Taking the garbage out day after day is not the same thing.
ReplyDelete