When you’re a kid, everybody gets a Valentine’s Day (V-Day) card–little cards with perforated edges and pictures of overly cute cartoon kittens that say things like, “You’re my Special Friend!” But where’s my special friend now? While couples are exchanging the clichd valentine present of red roses and chocolates, why isn’t anyone patting me on the back saying, “Way to go! You avoided another loser this year!”
Single’s Awareness Day (SAD) is the one day a year when people in relationships feel the need to rub their social superiority in the faces of those of us who are single.
This year I’m abstaining from V-Day, for my own motives, and following are the reasons I think you should join me.
In 1969 the Catholic Church eliminated V- Day as an official holiday, because of its purely legendary origin. So technically it’s not even a holiday!
Another reason why I refuse to celebrate V-Day is that after working at a large corporate card shop for a year, V-Day has become synonymous with procrastination and consumerism. Now when I think of V-Day, all I can remember are the desperate guys trying to convince themselves that they could make up for a whole year’s worth of being a bad boyfriend by buying a teddy bear the size of a Newfoundland dog, or that they could ruin a whole year’s worth of being a great boyfriend by not getting the same bear.
You should know that the price of those giant teddy bears is ridiculously inflated, and for V-Day the cost honestly doubles. I can’t tell you how disgusted I was to see a guy spend $250 on something most girls will relegate to a closet.
But the number one reason is that love shouldn’t be just one day a year, and it shouldn’t be about selling things. It should be every day. After all what’s more important than loving someone?
I’m not just talking about your significant other by the way; the more people you love, the wealthier you are. If a few people would just get that through their heads, the world would be a better place.
I don’t know how an obscure Catholic feast day turned into this excuse for the non-single to gloat, but I do know it can be stopped. This Single’s Awareness Day I’m calling for reform: celebrate and enjoy the fact that you aren’t hampered by anyone. Give gifts to your single friends! When you see someone not coupled up, smile at them in camaraderie over your mutual freedom!
Or if that doesn’t sound appealing, how about having a respectful memorial in memory of February 14, 1929, the day Al Capone and his gang gunned down several members of Bugs Moran’s gang in the famous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre?
Even better, buy yourself a bag of those Sweethearts with the little messages on them and realize that being single isn’t so bad: you can eat whatever you want, dress like a hobo, and feel free to act like a self-indulgent fool.
However you celebrate the day, just know that you aren’t alone, so have fun and realize that love is fundamental, but dating someone isn’t.