Love and Valentine's Day:

a short Valentine's Day post, in honor of the holiday.

If you're single, the knowledge that the swiftly approaching holiday is for couples may be somewhat sickening. All those hearts and chocolates and flowers and dates being planned just makes a single person's aloneness come into perspective, whether you like it or not. Despite all of this, I feel that Valentine's Day isn't that bad. People complain about it being a corporate holiday just for greeting card companies to make money, or question why we need a holiday to show our love when we should show our love every day - and while both these things may be true, valid points, my argument is, why not have this holiday? No one forces anyone to do special events on say, Easter, so no one is forcing you to do anything on Valentine's Day. And at the same time, why not take the opportunity, in the spirit of the holiday, to show love toward, well, those you love? Valentine's Day doesn't have to be all about romantically involved couples - I assume you're not just a hollow shell, and that you do have meaningful relationships (or at least one) with friends or family members, so give them some love too. For some reason, friendships are often put second to romantic relationships, but I think they're just as important (if not moreso) and should also be celebrated. Platonic love, y'all!

Another thing that irritates me about this time of year is the collective group of (usually teenagers - sorry, teenagers) people who see Valentine's Day as an opportunity to bitch and feel sorry for themselves because they are alone. Now that I'm no longer one of them, I really do pity people who don't have enough self-confidence to not be happy without having someone to reassure them that they're worth loving. It's sad that so many people can't see themselves as a genuinely good person without someone else telling them that they think so too. Romantic partners never equal self-worth. Be happy with who you are, because I'm sure you have lots of nice qualities! Just because you've met a lot of assholes, or just because no one has happened to ask you out or express their interest in you, it doesn't mean that you're completely unappealing, it just means that the right person hasn't shown up yet (as cliche as that sounds).

So, this Valentine's Day, make an effort to show those you love that you love them - whether they be a friend, a parent, a grandparent, or a girl/boyfriend. Love of all kinds is what holds us together as people and gives us happiness, and I think that we owe it to ourselves to be able to celebrate it.