Valentines day has come around again, and it is amazing how polarised peoples view on Valentines day is. Some people see it as pure capitalism, an excuse to make money by the companies that provide dating related services. On Valentines day, the cost of dinner in a restaurant spikes, the sales of flowers for delivery spike upwards in a way that is only surpassed by the increase in flower sales by mothers day, and there is a whole industry of greets cards that only exist because of this day. One of my more cynical friends once said to me “happy hallmark day” – in a direct reference to the fact that the people that seem to gain the most from the presence of a Valentines Day seems to be the card creators! They get a trickle of work ongoing from birthdays and weddings, but the rush periods without a doubt are Christmas and new years… what better way to create an extra rush day than by supporting an arbitrary day which puts social pressure on people to spend money on cards? Can’t be too bad for the postal service either, I do wonder how much extra postage work that Valentines day creates for them.
The counter to this is always made that this is an excellent time to celebrate love, that it is all about cherishing the one you are with, and reminds you to never take them for granted. Pardon me for a moment whilst I throw up in a corner! I have noticed that all of these people tend to be in long term relationships. Some of them are newly entered in it and are in the loved up phase of things, and for those people it is all roses and sunshine! The other person can do no wrong, and actually I truly believe that for them they are buying their own sale pitch, so I don’t mind it. Others however, have been in relationships for a much longer period of time, and for some of these people they are using it as a way of trying to fool themselves, to try and convince themselves that things are better than they actually are, that all is well in the world. It is a way of glossing over the dead relationship, and the lack of sex life. They play it in the hopes that when that get laid that one night of the year (after so long a break of not) it will be like everything is as sparky as it was when it first started.
No matter which camp you are in, whether you see Valentines day as a good or bad thing, I hope that you have as good a one as possible.
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