I am against most manufactured holidays. By manufactured I am talking about ones that were created for the sole intent to promote the sales of cards, candy and generally just bolstering retail conditions. Now before you call me Unsentimental, uncaring, un-romantic and generally un-American, I accept that the easily influenced generally deserve what they get.
Valentines, Mothers, Fathers, and Christmas as the retail phenomenon it has become are all manufactured holidays that are primarily about spending money as somehow a validation for how much you supposedly feel about someone. Before you add “Cheap” to the my list, let’s look at what these holidays have become, particularly Valentine’s Day.
The conceptual idea of having a special day to celebrate our mothers and fathers is harmless in theory. Of course the reality is that our parents lives should be celebrated and appreciated daily, but circumstances, including distance and the complexities of life in general, make the designation of a special day to celebrate them acceptable and warranted. We can understand that they were both holidays initially started by the greeting card, floral and candy industries, but the ends usually justify the means, even if you are somehow forced to pay double and triple for the same flowers and brunch that you could have purchased for your mother any other week of the year.
Christmas was initially a religious holiday. At some point Santa took over. Now whether you are religious or not everyone is pressured to buy gifts for this manufactured holiday. Santa was initially for the kids. Now adults feel just as pressured if not more so to give gifts to family, loved ones, friends and even acquaintances and co-workers. The pressure is real to spend and a significant part of the US population will incur debt just to satisfy the insatiable ideals of consumption and the expectations that come with it.
Kids assess how much their parents love them by the gifts they scored. Significant others and families keep a running tabulation, whether said or unsaid of how they fell loved and appreciated by the level and thought of gifts given and received. It’s not going to get better and people will fight through crowds and traffic to satisfy the long listed demands created by yet another manufactured holiday.
Valentine is the most egregious of them all. Your spouse or significant other should feel loved and appreciated on a regular basis. We should not need and I do not think most people need a designated reminder to do something special for the person in their lives. If you do need a reminder that is called communication within a relationship and it doesn’t need an arbitrarily marked day on the calendar.
Not only should you not need the designated day, it is just silly. Flowers are minimally double the price as usual. People pay inflated prices for balloons, boxes of candy and meals that are all significantly cheaper every other day of the year (other than Mother’s day). Yet people do it cause they feel the pressure if they don’t. It also makes people feel bad who aren’t in relationships. Valentine arrives in the height of the doldrums of the winter blues. In the United States, most have been immersed in long, cold, grey winter days and nights and the reminder that they are single, alone (even lonely) is unfairly lowlighted by this manufactured holiday that suggests something is somehow wrong with you if you do not receive gifts, flowers or have someone declare undying words of love on that particular day.
I am against these manufactured holidays because they make so many feel bad about themselves. Showing love and appreciation to family and loved ones is never a bad thing, but it should not be accompanied by manufactured expectations of spending and pressure to conform to what everyone else around is somehow doing.
I am not anti-love or relationships… in fact I am a big supporter and believer. I am just against forced situations. I think relationships and people should be celebrated and appreciated on a regular basis. I just do not think that people need to be pressured to do it on an arbitrary and manufactured day. And, for those not in relationships, they do not need the pressure to somehow be in one or feel bad about being single.
#valentinesday, #anti-valentinesday, #manufacturedholidays, #love, #presents, #gifts, #candy, #flowers
