Is Valentine's Day Pointless?

Ever since the 1300’s, St. Valentine’s Day has been celebrated every February 14th, being treated as one of the most popular holidays in the United States. But for kids, it is solely an excuse to get a sugar rush from a mailbox of candy filled up by other kids in their class. Everybody talks about how Valentine’s Day is the day to display your love for someone, but why not just do that every day? 

The original Valentine’s Day was held as a Roman festival where a lottery was used to pair up men and women so even before pendulum clocks were invented the Romans were wasting little time trying to get a hookup. For some people now, that is all Valentine’s Day is, an excuse to get intimate with whomever they are with.

In a time where at least 40 percent of marriages are ending in divorce, it can become increasingly harder to enjoy a day like Valentine’s Day. Divorce has become more routine in modern society, than it was even a century ago, where divorce was still restricted to those that had proven they were abused or abandoned. Nowadays people can be divorced if they just don´t feel the same about their lawfully wedded partner.

Returning back to kids on Valentine’s day, not only do they think they are in love with someone they’ve gone to school for six months with, but they celebrate it by having a mini Halloween and gorging on sugary snacks until their tongues can’t take anymore. People who develop a metabolism realize that this is no longer a good idea for anybody over 21.

Finally, the greatest failure of Valentine’s day, all of the sob stories from loners. Anyone who is not in a relationship can’t truly enjoy Valentine’s Day. Sure their wallet is feeling the love, but now they have to sit home, eat chips, and watch rom-coms on Netflix until they are ready to end the day. 

If you go through a bad breakup, and you are alone on February 14th, you will probably be thinking about the girl that “drifted away” or the guy that told you that he would never leave you, and then break up with you over text. If you are not getting the candy hearts on Valentine’s Day when you have before, that is probably what you will be thinking about when you see Carla’s new Instagram post with her boyfriend with the caption "Roses are red. Violets are blue. My Valentine’s date is cuter than you."

Valentine’s Day is cute, it has all the fun hearts and “XOXO’s”, and the people who thought it would be good to make the mascot a petite man that can make people love each other by railing them with arrows. It’s adorable, but really you could turn any day into Valentine’s Day. As long as you have a partner in which you want to spoil and give the whole world to, you can turn any day into one of great memories and endearment to another person.

The day is pointless, the merits are not, because you can show anyone you want how much you care for them any day. Spread the love to others every day and you shall receive the same in turn.

by Drew Best

Published February 24th 2020

Oshkosh West Index Volume 116 Issue 5