Don’t stress the valentine

Home Culture Don’t stress the valentine

As a child, Valentine’s Day is about candy, maybe a sugar high or two, and that cute boy in the front row. I remember an old childish desire to bring the best Valentine treats to class. Today, the pressures of fitting into that perfect red dress for the big date have brought a new meaning to the word crush.

When did a day that was originally rooted in church tradition make the jump to candy, and then to obsessive singles?

As the story goes, Valentine’s Day originally was meant to serve as a remembrance for Valentine of Rome a, priest martyred in 269 A.D. Valentine served to rescue Christians from persecution.

King Richard II of England put a little romance into the day when he wrote a love poem about birds to Anne of Bohemia. Authors such as William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser noted Valentine’s Day in their works.

The 19th century and the greeting card industry added a new meaning of love and romance to Valentine’s Day. Instead of remembering the brave efforts of Saint Valentine, people started the never-ending quest for a perfect box of chocolates.

Today, failing to find love often results in the kind of cynicism that invented the sarcastic clebration of  “Singles Awareness Day.”

Instead of putting so much pressure on just one day, how about finding a few good friends and sharing the day with them? Why not take it back to the days of giving valentine’s to each other? Valentine’s Day is about love and not just romance. So do not place a limit on who you spend it with, share it with all who are dear to you.

Valentine’s Day shouldn’t have the priority and significance of Christmas or the Fourth of July. The day, if not simply a day of remembrance, should be fun. Don’t sweat it.

The pressure is superficial and overdramatic. There is no better way to ruin Valentine’s Day than to spend it fretting about spending the day sans romance.

It is a day meant to celebrate a person who sacrificially placed their life on the line for others.

Sadly, the days of impressing the cute boy with a valentine or treat are slowly disappearing. The lonely night of Valentine’s Day has a chance to switch to one of excitement with good friends.

 

 

                                              svoyles@hillsdale.edu