Post-Valentine’s Day fallout

There are three distinct groups of people who exist on Valentine’s Day: those who have “someone,” those who feel bad about not having a Valentine, and the people who don’t care too much about it all. The first group is the lucky ones: They have someone who will put up with them and when they can, give candy and flowers

There is a growing anti-Valentine’s Day backlash, as can be seen with the rising sales of merchandise mocking and berating the day most associated with relationships and romance. Valentine’s Day is overly commercial and streamlined, indeed. But artificial or not, there is an overall spirit within the holiday that is worthy of having its own special date.

Love, romance and relationships all together form the greatest drives within mankind. We will kill, cheat, lie, beg, sacrifice and die for even the most miniscule taste of the affection and validation from the ones we love and desire. Does the fact that love brings out these behaviors indicate to us that love itself is fundamentally ugly? That would be ridiculous – it simply shows how essential such feelings are to our beings.

To me, Valentine’s Day is a look at the lighter and positive aspects of romance, love and affection. A major problem with the holiday, however, is that its very existence seems to be a reminder of a sense of lacking one may feel when single. Frankly put, it sucks to be single for a lot of people on Valentine’s Day. But I think that’s because some people take it personally – that is, they don’t have a Valentine because they are somehow defective or lacking. And that’s totally untrue. One shouldn’t define oneself through relationships, or lack thereof- that is a path that leads to dependency and insecurity.

Ultimately, a few people need to stop being bitter about the holiday. It has nothing to do with any individual. It is the celebration of an emotion, a state of being that not all of us, at one time, possibly could have. It wouldn’t be special if everyone immediately had it, and because of that we can appreciate the importance of relationships and partners in our lives. Besides, being single means you have a lot more money for going out this weekend. Those of us who shelled out for gifts on Wednesday probably got hit really hard in the pocket.