The St. Valentine’s Day Grinch

First of all, I don’t have anything against love, or being in love, or showing love or affection.

Secondly, in my opinion, “Valentine’s Day”, as it’s commonly referred to, has nothing to do with love, or being in love, or showing love or affection.

So to me, today isn’t “Valentine’s Day”, it’s February 14.  Let me tell you why.

• Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with love.  Who the hell is Valentine?  If it’s to celebrate love, why not call it Love Day?  i.e. Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day, Christ-mas.
• Love and affection should never be obligatory.  Love is an act of will but from elementary school, celebration of this pseudo-holiday is bashed into our brains.  My friend Erin tells it best:

“Back in the day, [and those of you who attended SJS can verify], we were all FORCED to hand out Valentines. Everyone in the class got one, or NO one got one. Damn. That’s kind of harsh, right? Who wants to be commanded into expressing their feelings? What if I don’t like everybody in class? What if I just wanna give one to Jonathan and not to Troy? Why is it such a big deal??”

• Valentine’s Day is about M-O-N-E-Y.  “It’s all about the Benjamins baby”.  Now I’m a capitalist and I’m all about business and making money.  However, something as sacred as love should not be pimped out and bedazzled for profit…EVER… let alone once a year.
• February 14 is just a day on the calendar.  If you are in a relationship where you have to wait until a certain pre-designated day to give or receive signs of affection, exchange gifts, and have good freaky sex…. ABORT MISSION.
• I saw this on Facebook and thought it was pretty epic:

Someone suggested on Twitter that perhaps I am bitter about “Valentine’s Day”.  I simply replied, “How can one be bitter about something that does not exist?”

P.S. It’s not personal just logical. And in case you were wondering, I am FAR from lonely. I’ve got plenty of love in my life to go around. :)