Listen, it’s not that I don’t like the idea of Valentine’s Day.
I love the idea of a day where couples can simply enjoy one another and bask in
their love for each other, I really do. But that isn’t what Valentine’s Day is
about anymore. Like all holidays, corporations take a hold of it by the hair
and steer it in whatever direction they choose. And what direction is that, you
ask?
Corporations are run by money. People who think they run
corporations are deluded. They don’t run corporations, they are run by money as
well. The corporation cannot survive without three square meals a day. Those
meals are money, money, and money.
But how does a harmless corporation go about getting this
money to appease its raucous appetite? Through trickery? Through shrewd bargaining?
I believe they do it through strong-arming people against their will, and this
is why: people are concerned with their image. A person’s image is everything.
It’s what other people see, and it matters to the image’s owner. So how does a
person’s image correlate with Valentine’s Day? I’m getting there.
Modern day men are expected to buy their significant other
some sort of gift to present to her on Valentine’s Day. This is necessary
because men are complete buffoons and putting up with us is unbearable. To
appease our girlfriends, wives, fiancés, or whatever, we are expected to buy
them some frilly gift, which for a paltry fifty dollars, can be acquired via
corporations. Candy? Flowers? Love notes written for those of a non-artistic breed?
All of these are resources which
corporations are more than willing to provide us with, so long as we have the
money to pay for these things.
Overly dramatic? Possibly. I embellish. I do do that
sometimes. But there’s more truth to what I preach than you might think. Hear
me out, because this is the part where I get all hot under the collar. These
corporations need our money to thrive, so they imbed it in society that if a
man does NOT buy a gift from these corporations, he is a lowlife scumbag who isn’t
worth the time of day. He is the stupidest of idiots, and the slobiest of slobs.
He isn’t worthy of the woman he claims to love.
And all because he merely didn’t fuel a corporation’s greed.
He didn’t say he didn’t love that woman. He didn’t claim his
feelings were not the same as his words. But his actions said enough. He didn’t
buy cheap (Read: stupid expensive) chocolate or a dozen roses or a sappy card
of pink, white, or red… so he doesn’t really LOVE anyone. That selfish
fish-head! What a complete, utter, waste of humanity. Thankfully he’ll live out
his days in single… ness… and not break anyone’s frail, little heart.
A cheesy holiday, which isn’t even important enough to close
stores or keep people home from work, has become a cash COW for corporations
willing to milk it until it goes dry. And who suffers from that corporate
greed? Merely the guys who are heels for not bending to the whims of said
corporations.
What is the point of Valentine’s Day? To show the one you
love, how you feel. Sure, it’s corny, and mushy, and lovey-dovey, but it’s cute
and sweet. It’s a heart-filled bit of fun and merely meant to bring people
closer, especially in a society where our lives never slow and we’re going so
many places at once.
But the point, has been missed. The reason has been altered
and twisted like only money-hungry corporations can twist things.
So… what’s the point to all this?
Valentine’s Day might have a special meaning to some
couples, and I don’t want to be insensitive to that. But, if you want to show
someone you care about them, show them they’re worth more than fifty dollars
and corporation supplied junk you pick up on your way home from work. Take some
time to make something personal, or if you don’t believe yourself creative; buy
a gift which has more meaning than chocolate and flowers. Something that has a
special meaning to both of you.
But most of all… don’t use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to
show your special someone you love them. If Valentine’s Day is the only day you
show your significant other how you feel, then maybe you deserve the contempt
you might receive by not catering to the corporate greed feeding off the holiday.
If you’re going to celebrate Valentine’s Day, don’t do so
because of obligation. Do it because you actually care and you want to show
that in a physical way. There’s nothing worse than caving in to corporate greed,
and allowing the corporate fat-cats to cash in on your supposed love.
I guess that’s my main beef with the holiday. Sure, I know
corporations are going to use whatever means they can to procure the money they
need to survive… but is it entirely necessary for them to use people’s love of
all things? Seriously!? It sickens me.
So. With Valentine’s Day approaching. You might be planning
to buy that certain someone a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a heart-shaped
card and a bouquet of red roses, but I would encourage you to dare to do
something unexpected, and veer from mainstream society by doing something more
creative and specific.
Use Valentine’s Day to supplement the rest of the
wonderfully sweet and charming ways you show your girl how much you love her,
instead of making it the only day you do that kind of stuff. It should really
just be ANOTHER opportunity to display your feelings, instead of the ONE opportunity.
You have a whopping 365 days. Don’t make Valentine’s the only one.
No. I am not a cantankerous single man, bitter at a holiday
aimed at something I’m not included in. I’m a cantankerous single man who’s bitter
at society and how willingly it feeds corporate greed. I refuse to buy a girl
flowers because someone else thinks I should. The only reason I’d ever buy her
flowers, is so she knows how much she means to me.
(Unrelated… but not entirely: flowers wilt and die in a very
short time. Chocolate is eaten quickly. Cards lose their meaning after a while.
And yet, these are the ways we choose to show our love?)
Disclaimer: I don’t hate chocolate, flowers, or
mass-produced greeting cards. And there is an element of care that goes into
giving such gifts. But they are no substitute for true affection. In the end, it's the thought that counts, right?
