Thoughts on Valentine's Day

As Valentine’s Day rolled around, there were plenty of mixed emotions. Those who had significant others of course looked forward to the holiday and were busy planning romantic outings for that special time spent with their lover. As I read various blogs pertaining to the holiday, the majority of them were positive and offered ideas of dinner recipes or suggested places to go out for the holiday. However I came across one particular blog that said “I’d rather think of Valentine’s Day itself as a massacre of another sort: hearts, relationships, and unrequited love slayed as easily as gangsters with guns hanging in a garage on a February afternoon.” I understand that this quote may be radically biased as its source is Lauren of Feministe who titled the blog Don’t Send Me No Flowers, I Ain’t Dead Yet. But why the extreme contemptuousness?
Personally, I don’t understand why people detest the Valentine’s Day so much. I have never had a significant other to celebrate the holiday with but to me it is so much more than only acknowledging your relationship with a lover. It is about appreciating all of your loved ones, including family, friends, and significant others. Some people become so bitter and angry when they don’t have a significant other to share the holiday with that they will go to such extreme measures. For example, a friend of mine said she was going to wear black on Valentine’s Day. The holiday should be a celebration of the people whom you love and who love you, not the “Singles Awareness Day” that some make it out to be.

Layal Brown