Valentine’s Day has become inescapable, with cards in the shops since January, countless Valentine related articles – guilty as charged – and restaurants with their special menus.
It’s likely that there a lot of people who look forward to Valentine’s Day but it’s becoming increasingly popular to associate February 14th with contempt. For those who face Valentine’s Day without a significant other, the negative reactions are hardly a surprise. My question however is when did we all become such hostile, cynical creatures, incapable of being happy for our loved-up counterparts? Is it pure jealousy, or genuine disdain at yet another holiday to become somewhat tacky and commercialised? Perhaps Valentine’s Day brings back bittersweet, or just bitter, memories of a previous time.
I’m sure everybody has personal reasons for having such an active dislike of the day, but it is interesting that those who aren’t fans have an explicit dislike, as opposed to simple nonchalance. Nevertheless, if a single person hates on Valentine’s Day you do not question it, you just let them seethe.
There are a number of reasons a person may dislike V-Day, perhaps you’re in that limbo stage of a relationship, in which case it’s understandable why you’re not looking forward to it. So you haven’t had ‘the chat’ yet, and you don’t really know what to call him or her. In fact whenever you mention them, you definitely identify with either Tom or Summer from 500 Days of Summer. My point is Valentine’s Day has the potential to cause all sorts of bewilderment and pressure that you could quite happily do without. If in this situation, you’re probably hoping to simply brush over the day and treat it like any other, without any awkward moments.
Moving on however, it seems that even couples are happier to treat Valentine’s Day with a more casual attitude, instead of the cliché gifts and cards containing heartfelt messages. This reaction is a little more perplexing. If a couple haven’t been together too long, it is fair to go about Valentines in a more fun and light-hearted way? It does seem that even those who have been together for a longer period of time are just slightly more chilled about the whole thing.
In all fairness, the couples I’ve come across are usually early twenties and studying at University, so going to the extreme on Valentine’s Day may seem a little intense. Nevertheless, it definitely is not just grumpy singletons avoiding sentiment.
Maybe Valentine’s actually is just a little bit tacky. Surely if you like or love someone that much, you can let them know whenever you like. It’s a bit like pigs in blankets; it’s exciting to have them at Christmas and everybody raves about them, but in reality you can buy sausages wrapped in bacon all year round.
There is a barrage of reasons why one may not enjoy Valentine’s Day, but fundamentally a day revolving around love and romance isn’t going to make everybody happy. One thing’s for sure, it is here to stay and if it’s really that bad: wine.
