Valentine’s Day is here to stay

By Michelle Koyanagi

In a month filled with cold weather, office colds, and midterms creeping up, there is at least one thing to look forward to.

Valentine’s Day.

You gotta admit—it was a pretty clever idea to put Valentine’s Day in February.

And so even with all the talk on the web about the commercialization of February 14th and the excess spending it spurs, Valentine’s Day is simply one holiday that will not die out.

Sure…it is not as big of a deal as those December and January holidays, but even in these economic hardships, people will still take the time to buy those pink, heart-shaped candies and make their deep declarations of love to friends and family.

I am not saying that those cynics of Valentine’s Day do not have a point though. In fact, of all the blogs I read about Valentine’s Day, my favorite piece was the one (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-blanchard/attention-k-mart-shoppers_b_168273.html) that just ripped at the absurdity of buying greeting cards and wrapping presents.

Yes…the dive in our economy brought some changes as to how we spend our money. Spending, especially during holiday seasons will (and has seen a) drop.

But I do not think all this focus on finding more ways to blame ourselves for these economic times is doing us any good. It is always best to look on the bright side.

I enjoyed those blogs which commented on how to be creative in expressing your love without spending a fortune on Valentine’s Day. They focused on the little things which people did to show their love and that is how it should be.

I think there is a lot of good to be had with a day like Valentine’s Day.

This recession may be showing us that we do not need to spend a lot to show our appreciation for one another, but even with all the complaints and critics, I think Valentine’s Day is here to stay.