Obligatory Post about Valentine's Day

In various Spanish-speaking countries, St. Valentine's Day is also known as "Día de amor y amistad" or: Day of Love and Friendship. (And in many countries around the world, St. Valentine's Day is about more than "love")

That's what I like to focus on, regarding Valentine's Day: alternatives.

It's better to not think about this consumer holiday as an excuse to be excessively romantic by breaking the bank on flowers and sweets and such and thinking that this day out of all days of the year is destined for (a vague but inaccurate idea of) love. This day is actually a pretty twisted day, if you peel back the layers. However, it gets things done... for the most part; so, you kind of have to give it up for this version of Valentine's Day.

Día de amor y amistad. Day of love and friendship.

People get so caught up in making a big deal about Valentine's Day being about chocolate and flowers and one particular version of "love" that they forget (or ignore) that love swings multiple ways: platonic, family, friend, non-romantic. This doesn't mean I'll get my male friends a bouquet of roses but I'll at least make a note of it. Once I explain the friendship part, they should stop raising their eyebrows suspiciously. Of course, they'll still think me weird but that's been the case since I could speak so it doesn't matter.

I don't have a problem with the day itself but more with the people who have warped it into something else, or what it has become: more about consumerism than the original idea. Of course, everything is bound to change so there really isn't much that I can do about it other than not let it bother me. Still, it'll bother me that rather than spread love throughout the entire year, most people focus it on one or few days in particular.

Hmm.

Looking back, I think I've always had this mindset even when I did have someone whom I could call my "Valentine". Of course, that didn't mean that I would ignore her or anything of the sort. I wouldn't piss all over the day and get on a soap box to preach the evils of consumerism and Valentine's Day. It's the people, not necessarily the holiday itself that is messed up. I played by the rules, or expectations, but made sure not to make it about expectations but more about her and us and so forth, and tried to be as genuine and warm and fuzzy as possible.

Even now, I'll continue to do that, the fuzzy part being a bit more possible given that I have facial hair. Oh, bad joke.

Regardless of what I did/do/will do/won't do/etc, I hope you, reader, have a good time all the time. And if you're one of "those", I hope you get candy and stuff. And if you're alone, that's all right.

Don't sweat it.