Valentine's Day

On my way to writing group last night, I got to thinking about all the anti-Valentine’s Day sentiment I’d seen on social networking. I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly “pro” Valentine’s Day. That is to say, the husband wouldn’t have spent the night on the couch if he’d forgotten to give me flowers and chocolates. However, I find the strong “anti” movement a bit perplexing.

A lot of people seem to think that Valentine’s is a “made up” holiday, an assertion that I find amusing. I am aware of no holidays that pre-date human existence. Therefore, all of our holidays were “made up” at some point. Despite what many think, Valentine’s is among our oldest holidays, first established in 496 A.D. Lovers have been giving each other flowers, chocolates, and cards on this day since at least the 15^th Century (all factual data collected from wiki). So although Valentine’s, like most holidays, has suffered from rampant commercialism in the last 50 years or so, it’s not like it was a recent invention by the greeting card industry.

I also hear people complaining that love should be celebrated every day, not just on one holiday. Isn’t this true of all of our holidays? Ideally, we would be grateful for our blessings every day of our lives, not just on Thanksgiving. We would celebrate our freedom throughout the year, not just on 4^th of July. We would give the people we care for meaningful presents whenever we felt like it, not just on Christmas. But that’s not reality. The truth is that life is complicated and messy and busy. We don’t always do the things that we should, like appreciate it and the people who make it great.

What’s so wrong with setting one special day aside to make sure that we do just that?

I suspect that when people express discomfort over Valentine’s, they are often really saying one of two things (or perhaps both): 1. I’m distressed by rampant commercialization in this capitalist society and 2. I find our society’s emphasis on romantic love distasteful (i.e. that old Sinatra song, “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You”). Personally, I find these points a great deal more valid than the ones I normally hear.

I don’t have any good answers to these charges. Essentially, I agree with them. However, I don’t think it’s an ancient holiday’s fault that our society has spun so oddly out of control. Fight the disease, not the symptom, I say. But I think maybe that’s a conversation for another time.

2012 Goal Update

Goal 1: Let’s just say that A LOT of writing is going on these days.

Goal 2: In light of my decision to pursue writing as a career, I think that I’m going to have to abandon starting a non-profit for now.

Goal 3: The husband and I are working on the same project now. Oddly, however, given that there are video game programmers in our house almost constantly (our house is serving as the studio for now), we spend very little time alone together. I’m working on ways to remedy this. I recently started watching one of his favorite shows with him, even though it’s a show I haven’t particularly liked in the past, because it pleases him. I’ve been enjoying it.

Goal 4: Now that I’m working from home, I’m having a hard time sticking to a schedule, so my eating has been thrown way off. I’m trying to get my act together. I went on a hike over the weekend and also took a walk in the park last week.