A holiday worth celebrating

Valentine’s Day offers very different experiences depending one whether one is single or in a relationship.

To the former it might provoke slight feelings of bitterness, or perhaps the motivation to ask out a crush.

To the latter, it might be an excuse to spend a little more on a date night, or perhaps an obligation to splurge on a gift. Universally, however, Valentine’s Day is a distraction, and like most Western holidays, an excuse to spend money, as opposed to more constructive ways in which to celebrate the legacy of St. Valentine.

You only need to watch television for a few minutes to see advertisements exploiting Valentine’s Day by equating love to buying something extra expensive for that special someone—jewelry immediately springs to mind.

In a society that is reluctant to accept homosexuals marrying one another, and whose leaders are constantly patronizing women by toying with the definition of rape or defending Planned Parenthood, it is farcical that we would pretend to celebrate romance and love with what is essentially a commercial holiday.

We would be better to celebrate Valentine’s Day by showing substantive acts of love—volunteering in ways to help the less fortunate for instance—than by being obliged to spend money on arbitrary things that are meant to show affection.

It’s a cliche, but it also happens to be true. If Valentine’s Day truly became a day for recognizing love in the broadest sense—including love for thy neighbor, brotherly love, human solidarity, etc.—it would truly be a holiday worth celebrating.