Dreamer's World February 13, 2018 - A Cynic's View Of Valentine's Day

    Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. That means the day when people run around looking for a gift that symbolizes love to that special someone in their life. At least that is the commercially accepted version of how things work. In reality, people are running around trying to find a special card or gift that somehow demonstrates that we accept the notion that the lack of a card or gift tomorrow indicates that we just don't give a shit about that person we supposedly love. The only people who will end up happy are those who will make money off of the holiday. A card or gift signifies nothing if the other 364 days of the year haven't already demonstrated love and passion for someone else. If a person can be so shallow as to believe that the lack of a gift or card means a lack of love, then I question if that person deserves the attention in the first place.

    I am a passionate person. I wear my love on my sleeve, and I rarely make any attempt to hide it. I am lucky to have Hal in my life, and I let him know this every day. We share the same feeling about Valentine's Day. For us, celebrating our love is a daily occurrence. I have never been happier, and it has nothing to do with exchanging cards or gifts. To imply that our love needs an annual marker to celebrate cheapens what we work for all year long.

    Valentine's Day has become a sad caricature of what it proclaims itself to represent.  People now suffer from loneliness and depression on this holiday, just like every other holiday when they don't fit into the preconceived notion of what everyone should be. People are conditioned to feel that they are defective or incomplete on Valentine's Day unless they are participating in some approved ritual. The day is made to isolate those who are not in relationships. It shuns them and discards their feelings in the pursuit of profits just like every other major holiday. There is a deep psychological pattern to this. Those who are "normal" are rewarded for following the herd in the pursuit of corporate greed and mass media approval. Those who cannot or do not participate are seen as malcontents or defective in some way. Is this approach supposed to demonstrate love?

    If you choose to give a card or gift to someone tomorrow, make sure that it is what you want to do and not what you have to do. Make sure that you celebrate the love in your life every day as if Valentine's Day never existed.