It seems like everyone is very strongly on one side of the fence or the other about Valentine's Day:
Love it or Hate it!!!
I am one of the very few that sit on the fence. I love what the holiday represents, but hate what it has become.
Every person, especially males, think that it is a "Hallmark Holiday" "created by companies to make more money off of the hopeless consumer."
Here is what I think...
I am 100% and advocate for a holiday that celebrates love. I have said before that there is more to it than being in a relationship and buying each other pink and red things and making the world know for 1 day a year how much you love that person....
That is what it has become, but that was not how it was intended.
The same could be argued for EVERY single holiday. Birthdays are another good example. Why for ONE day a year do we make that person feel special and loved? Why do we only celebrate their birth on that one day? Why not make them feel special EVERY day, or once a week... month.... year..
oh wait!
Life has a tendency to get away from us. One day we wake up and realize we are back at the holiday we thought we just got away from. We HAVE to have holidays to remind us to celebrate certain things. We have anniversaries to have a date to reach landmarks by, not so we can remember we are in a relationship. If that was the ONLY day you appreciated you loved one then you probably wouldn't reach your next anniversary, but that is no reason to not celebrate the day you officially committed yourself to another person.
We celebrate things like Abraham Lincoln's birthday, not because that was the only day that mattered to him, but because he had a lifetime worth of actions that deserved being honored. Holidays are meant to be just one day that signifies something much more than a single day can contain. It isn't the holiday's fault that we are lazy by nature and forget celebrate daily. But it is not our fault that we are too stressed to let ourselves...
To me, the fact that in a society that loves to prey on negative attention, controversy, hate and strife, we still have a holiday that is based around celebrating LOVE... is amazing. And somehow people want to try to prevent me from enjoying it... I don't think so.
Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate love. Not just your boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife.... or even your crush. What you should be celebrating is the fact that you are able to love, and are then loved in return. Whether it is friends, family, kids or someone you just met... you have the ability to love and that is something to be celebrated with the people around you.
Does it mean you go out and spend oodles of money on crap that doesn't last and you won't remember after the terrible day you are going to have at work tomorrow? Does it mean that you love your significant other more on that day simply because it is a holiday? Does it mean that you make it more than it should be simply because a commercial sets a certain standard?
NO!
I am not saying any of that!
Not even close!
What I am saying is this... I go out of my way to make sure the my boyfriend knows how much I love him. Little notes on his windshield, cards or little crafts "just because", or mid-week bubble baths just so that we can spend some quality time together. But I know that I make a conscious effort to do so, and I also know that life is busy, stressful, and full of surprises both good and bad. Sometimes we forget to let the people we love know how much we love them. Sometimes we forget to make them feel special or tell them how much they mean to you. Valentine's Day is a day when you are given the opportunity to do it... You are given a chance to do just a little bit more, and constantly reminded of it.
You can't walk into a local store of any magnitude without being blasted in the face with Valentine's Day cards, flowers and a plethora of other knick knacks and thinga-ma-jigs. But if you really want to do something special you will skip it altogether. If you want to do something special... make a memory, and celebrate the ones you have already made. There are a million different ways that you can show someone how much you care, and only you know the ways that will impact the people around you.
So you could avoid this day completely, and be bitter that you HAVE to succumb to a holiday that society skewed without your permission. Or you could take the power back into your own hands, and make it a holiday you are happy to celebrate because you get to do it your own way, and on your own terms.
So what will you do?
Cause I know what I am going to do...
And I know deep down you know too.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!
We celebrate things like Abraham Lincoln's birthday, not because that was the only day that mattered to him, but because he had a lifetime worth of actions that deserved being honored. Holidays are meant to be just one day that signifies something much more than a single day can contain. It isn't the holiday's fault that we are lazy by nature and forget celebrate daily. But it is not our fault that we are too stressed to let ourselves...
To me, the fact that in a society that loves to prey on negative attention, controversy, hate and strife, we still have a holiday that is based around celebrating LOVE... is amazing. And somehow people want to try to prevent me from enjoying it... I don't think so.
Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate love. Not just your boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife.... or even your crush. What you should be celebrating is the fact that you are able to love, and are then loved in return. Whether it is friends, family, kids or someone you just met... you have the ability to love and that is something to be celebrated with the people around you.
Does it mean you go out and spend oodles of money on crap that doesn't last and you won't remember after the terrible day you are going to have at work tomorrow? Does it mean that you love your significant other more on that day simply because it is a holiday? Does it mean that you make it more than it should be simply because a commercial sets a certain standard?
NO!
I am not saying any of that!
Not even close!
What I am saying is this... I go out of my way to make sure the my boyfriend knows how much I love him. Little notes on his windshield, cards or little crafts "just because", or mid-week bubble baths just so that we can spend some quality time together. But I know that I make a conscious effort to do so, and I also know that life is busy, stressful, and full of surprises both good and bad. Sometimes we forget to let the people we love know how much we love them. Sometimes we forget to make them feel special or tell them how much they mean to you. Valentine's Day is a day when you are given the opportunity to do it... You are given a chance to do just a little bit more, and constantly reminded of it.
You can't walk into a local store of any magnitude without being blasted in the face with Valentine's Day cards, flowers and a plethora of other knick knacks and thinga-ma-jigs. But if you really want to do something special you will skip it altogether. If you want to do something special... make a memory, and celebrate the ones you have already made. There are a million different ways that you can show someone how much you care, and only you know the ways that will impact the people around you.
So you could avoid this day completely, and be bitter that you HAVE to succumb to a holiday that society skewed without your permission. Or you could take the power back into your own hands, and make it a holiday you are happy to celebrate because you get to do it your own way, and on your own terms.
So what will you do?
Cause I know what I am going to do...
And I know deep down you know too.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!
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