Valentine’s Day: Undervalued or Overrated?
Some have been excitedly counting down the days, while others have been dreading this mid-February occasion. Where do you stand on this holiday?
Although its exact origins are unclear to historians, Valentine’s Day has been around in some form for hundreds of years. In the third century, St. Valentine was jailed for marrying young couples, which was illegal due to the Roman Emperor's belief that single men made better soldiers. Valentine was put to death for his actions, but his heroic endeavors were honored after he passed and was named a Saint. The tie between St. Valentine and the commercial holiday we have today is shrouded in mystery, but we do know that the first written Valentine’s Day cards popped up in the fifteenth century.
Evidently, the industry has been flourishing since then: Americans collectively spend $20 billion on Valentine’s Day each year. That’s $2 billion on flowers alone! Whether you enjoy the displays of pink hearts or not, there is no doubt that February 14th is a major consumer holiday. If Americans were to stop celebrating altogether, the markets for flowers, jewelry, and chocolate would all suffer. Conversely, ending the pastimes associated with Valentine’s Day would eliminate an inherently materialistic tradition. Although the purpose of the day is to celebrate love, people often fall into the trap of using gifts to measure the value of a relationship. If you recognize yourself as one of these people, don’t be too fast to blame yourself: societal pressures play a large role in the Valentine’s Day dynamic. Years of commercials and ads have ingrained into our minds the idea that affection should be displayed through flamboyant actions. In reality, individuals express love in different ways, and expensive gestures are not always the key to your loved one’s heart.
As with a multitude of modern issues, social media has factored into this controversy as well. Just as girls compare their lives and bodies to those of online influencers, the seemingly endless feed of Valentine’s Day content oftentimes makes viewers feel inferior. For this reason, the holiday is comically dubbed “Singles Awareness Day.” Ultimately, people’s opinion of the day typically comes down to relationship status. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. This year, whether you are single or taken, make an attempt to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a time to genuinely cherish your relationships with friends, family, and loved ones, in whatever way is meaningful to you. After all, St. Valentine’s goal was simply to bring people together, without letting any societal influence cloud his view.
We wish you day full of love, no matter where it comes from - your partner, children, parents, friends, neighbors, furbabies. Because love by any other name is still love! Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at heyBORO.