Madison Burnam
Staff Writer
Valentines Day, a day seemingly filled with love and passion. Though those aren’t the only sentiments held on this special day especially regarding how utterly stupid the holiday is.
Valentine’s Day was a day practically engineered by capitalism to make emotions worth a monetary value. Nothing is more sexy than an overpriced bouquet of flowers, of chocolates, jewelry, reservation or plushies-literally I could go on and on about how many businesses are making a quick buck on the holiday.
It’s no wonder why couples seem to think objects can make each other happy. The total spending cost of $18.2 billion on Valentine’s Day is being funneled back into commercials and ads that are made to engineer thinking just like this. Though apparently America is willing to throw their money at these charms and jewelry, with the average American spending $133 on Valentine’s Day according to the National Retail Federation.
What’s up with all these high standards for gifts anyways? If Valentine’s Day was truly about showing your love to someone else, why do you have to blow your bank account on some stupid necklace called “chocolate gold”. Wouldn’t a homemade gift from memories shared together be worth more than any Pandora charm.
Speaking of Pandora and other jewelry companies their shiny trinkets are usually overpriced, with their cheapest charm $40 being a hedgehog called Nino which is only .524 inches high. Speaking of over priced, ‘chocolate gold’ necklaces sell at their lowest value for $80 on Amazon which is, ludicrous considering that you’re just buying brown gold.
Isn’t the purpose of Valentine’s Day not built upon goofy gifts to appease a status quo that your relationship is working but a day filled with soft moments between a couple instead of a preening contest of who can have the biggest gift for their significant other.
How does one say no to all this Valentine’s Day fervor without coming off as a Scrooge yelling “Bah Humbug!” This surrounding mentality has intoxicated the very relationships it promotes, forcing couples to become something else to appear as a ‘good couple’.
Society is so obsessed with playing matchmaker they don’t realize all the negative stigma it begins to create towards those they can’t idolize in being in a fairy tale perfect relationship. The singles appear bad because unlovable to people who think no one wants to date them and any couples not competing for the biggest mirror to admire their ‘perfection’ in are seen as not seen as happy as those who decide to burn themselves out on said lush gifts.
It’s about high time society butts their head out of other people’s relationships. Leave couples to their own devices, they don’t need a day to celebrate themselves if they are really happy in their relationship, everyday feels like what Valentine’s Day should be.
Therefore Valentine’s Day should be the equivalent of a weird national holiday, like National Hot Dog Day where it would be a pleasant acknowledgement to how much work and dedication a relationship takes, not some overpriced social media post that is skipped over with the flick of a finger.
I will close out with only two sentiments; one, Valentine’s Day as of now is a holiday that puts a price tag on love; and two, Netflix is the best part of Valentine’s Day.
