V-Day is artifical suckiness

By Jen McShane
Collegian Staff
February 13, 2008

Pink and red fill the stores, candy hearts flood grocery carts and the scent of roses linger in the air. Yep, it’s that maddening time of year again: Valentine’s Day.

Now, before I start getting hate mail about being a lonely, cynical individual, let me clear the air by stating that I have spent many a Valentine’s Day sitting across a candle-lit table from a significant other. Therefore, I have experienced first hand the rituals of Valentine’s Day. No, my abhorrence of this day of love and of devotion to Venus does not stem from a lack of love within my own life, but from my own disbelief at the craziness people wear in the name of Cupid.

First of all, the amount of time and energy that people dedicate to preparing for Valentine’s Day sickens me, to be frank. Why spend hours and days preparing for the perfect Valentine’s night? A romantic at heart, I believe that we should spend every day showing how much we love a significant other, rather than once a year. Treat every date with your lover like Valentine’s Day, because it will be appreciated more, as well as show your commitment and devotion to the relationship. I just don’t understand why love is emphasized so much on Valentine’s Day, but ignored other days of the year by card and candy companies, restaurants and stores.

And how many of us have been in the dog house for forgetting Valentine’s Day? Or forgetting to buy the biggest heart-box of chocolates in the CVS aisle? Or the most expensive half-dead roses in the florist’s shop? How about for forgetting to make a reservation at that really chic restaurant in Center City? It seems to me that there is too much emphasis on how much one spends rather than appreciation of the actual gesture. However, what irks me most about the amount of money spent on Valentine frivolities is that many of us college students are on limited funds and cannot afford to get extravagant. I mean, how many of us eat Ramen noodles for dinner, yet are expected to go all-out one night, to spend so much money on one date when we could probably use those same funds on 10 dates? It is ridiculous to expect college students to buy two dozen red roses, the big box of Whitman’s chocolates or the teddy bear almost the size of ourselves.

However, the one I just cannot get my mind around about Valentine’s Day is the date on which it occurs. I mean, it’s in February, that dreary month in the middle of winter, when the winds chill us to the bone and the days are short. Valentine’s Day would be better suited in the springtime, when new flowers are in bloom and the days are warm and long, not to mention “love is in the air.” Why is Valentine’s Day in the middle of winter, when we cannot take romantic walks in the moonlit park, dine under the stars or even have a picnic in the park?

Perhaps my annoyance is not directed at Valentine’s Day, but more at how it is celebrated and when it occurs. Either way, I won’t be dressing myself up in red crepe paper or handing out Valentines this year, or any.

As for the chocolate… That’s a different story.

mcshanej2@lasalle.edu