Valentine's Day

It's true today invokes the need to share love and desire with another, and therefore brings more resentful and callous emotions where necessity and loneliness bore into the longing for joy, but people who understand beyond this fictional holiday have the opportunity to succeed in appreciating attempts made to stimulate love, happiness, and the economy (dare I even mention).

St. Valentine was murdered for rebelling against the church and marrying soldiers to their beloveds. This is where we find the roots of this ceremony, is it not? Though Saint-hood, in the Catholic tradition, requires the practice of three miracles, somehow Valentine (I'm not sure what his Italian/Roman name actually was, but we all know of St. Valentine so we'll stick with that) achieved this title and thus we know him as a martyr who stood against the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. A man who stood for love, who thought the laws of the church were oppressing the rights of love in the arena of marriage. But then again, the idea of marriage in Valentine's day was not necessarily about love... But maybe he was overcoming that stigma as well. I can't say for sure.

Regardless, the modern day Valentine's Day is based of a Hallmark tradition started within the last century, correct? A method in which to force women into making men feel guilty for not celebrating the day of love. Make men feel guilty and they'll buy lots of chocolates and cards and take their woman to a nice restaurant or buy food to make a fancy meal at home. Maybe they'll make babies that night and stimulate the medical economy (or create more debt which must be repaid overtime ensuring the continued success of the medical field). But the contemporary idea of V-Day is seemingly negative because of its origin.

I would like to propose that people neglect the card giving, the chocolate buying, and the need to take our loved ones out to a fancy restaurant (though who doesn't like a nice French/Italian/Expensive meal?). Lets realign the intentions of this day so it truly symbolizes the appreciation of love, either amongst friendship, family, or significant others. And since this Valentine's Day has landed on a new moon, as a symbol for new beginnings, I think it is the perfect opportunity to foster this new habit.

Here's to love! Now take a sip of your cocktail, grab someone, kiss them, and tell them you love them!