I’ve known several people over the course of my life who’ve boycotted Valentine’s. They’ve had several different reasons: it’s too commercial, it’s turned into a show of money, or you should show love to your partner all year long and not focus on one day.
My S.O. and I do celebrate Valentine’s Day, but I guess my thoughts on the matter are pretty simple these days:
I don’t buy my S.O. flowers, candy, and an expensive dinner so I can get sex at the end of the night. If you can give your S.O. present(s) and/or a nice dinner and not expect something in return, then fine. If you expect sex for it, then what you’re really engaging in is prostitution, and Valentine’s Day is a bad idea for you.
Of course, another argument is that Valentine’s Day rubs pain into the faces of people who don’t have a partner. I think there’s some validity to that argument. Christmas and New Year’s are hard on people who don’t have families to celebrate them with, and we know that the suicide rate in the U.S. is usually highest around Christmas.
That might not mean taking the holiday away from everyone else, but some simple respect on the issue is warranted. Not everyone is in a relationship, and not everyone wants to be.
The truth is that love should always be love, regardless of the day of the year, and love doesn’t need presents, even if they are nice. So if we celebrate Valentine’s Day, we might as well do it right and maybe even find a more custom-fitted way of showing love to our partners, like hiking for nature-lovers. That only makes sense, right?
Comments