It's been a while now since my last post. Not to mention that the subject of this post is a day late. What can I say? I've been really busy and plus, I'm celebrating Valentine's Day tonight anyway so it's just in time for me. As the title suggests, I'm talking about Valentine's Day in this post. Most guys my age hate V-Day. They think it's girly or too sappy. They hate spending money and trying to make over-the-top plans for a fabulous date night. My best friend so cynically calls it "obligatory show of affection day." These guys say it's forced affection and all about spending extra money for no real reason.
On the other hand, Girls love Valentine's Day! That is, unless they are single. Then they get either depressed or desperate. Girls act crazy when they don't have someone to show them affection on this special day. They either mope around watching Nicholas Sparks movies and living vicariously through the couples in the Notebook, or they madly run around looking for a date so they can get in on the action and not be left at home like the above girls. For single women, V-Day is called "singles-awareness day."
I can see where a lot of this comes from. Valentine's day has been taken over by our consumeristic, material society which has sucked the vitality out of the day. I could go on about that for a while but it speaks for itself and that isn't what the post is about. I'm here to say that despite all the naysayers, I still love Valentine's day. Granted this is easy for me to say. Like my dad, I'm a bit (maybe a lot) of a romantic. Furthermore, I've been in a blissful relationship with my girlfriend Staci for five years. * (insert question about when we are getting married here.) But I see valentine's day for what it really is. It is a special day set apart to recognize, honor, and celebrate the one we love. It's a day for us to remember our commitment to these people through special, significant shows of affection.
But here come the naysayers. "I don't need a special day to appreciate my girl/boyfriend. I do that everyday." Even if this is the case, these people miss what a holiday is all about. Holidays are celebrations of the things that are important to us. For example, we all try to honor our father and mother everyday, but we still have Mother's and Father's day. We should be thankful everyday but we still have Thanksgiving. We should always reflect on the birth and resurrection of our Lord Jesus but we still have Christmas and Easter. I've never heard anyone say, "I'm thankful for Jesus everyday. I don't see why we have to have Christmas." But Valentines day gets this treatment all the time.
I wish people would begin to see Valentines day for what it is. It's a celebration! It's not only a celebration of our love for our significant others. But for all those single people out there, it's a celebration of love itself. We humans are hardwired to love and be loved. The idea of love permeates every aspect of our lives and our cultures. I'm choosing to celebrate that love today. God gave us love because he first loved us. By loving others, we honor God. I'm not trying to make Valentine's Day a religious holiday, although its origin is quite religious. I just want all the cynics and haters out there to realize why days like Valentine's Day are important.
I guess the rest of you can pout about why Valentine's day is so dumb and be miserable on this happy day. I for one will be enjoying a romantic evening with my favorite person celebrating the love we have for one another. It may be sappy and I will probably spend way too much money. But when it comes down to it, she is worth it, and our love is more than worth it. Happy Valentine's Day!!! A day late...
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