I really hate valentine's day. It's just a con. I must declare right now that I don't have a girlfriend at the moment so my comments are obviously tinged with bitterness. I won't be getting any cards and I won't be sending any.
Basically, it's a day designed to make you spend money (like christmas). It's a day about being in love which makes everyone who is not 'in love' feel inadequate. If you're not in love it's a day to hide.
I have searched the internet to find out a bit about the origins of valentine's day. Apparently it was created by the Catholic church as a way to integrate a pagan fertility rite into christianity. The pagan god Lupercus was replaced with the christian martyr St. Valentine.
The first recorded Valentine's card was sent in the 14th century. Over the years the sending of Valentine's card became more and more widespread. Many were banned by the US post office in the late 19th century for obscenity. In the past century the practice of sending Valentine's cards has become epidemic. Now, you can't escape them and if you don't have a partner you feel a bit inadequate. If you do have a partner you feel obliged to spend lots of money on stuff that you don't really need.
So what's my point? I'm lonely and bitter and not in love. Well, yes, but more than that. Is Valentine's day really that special? Shouldn't you have your own special day to tell your partner you love them? An anniversary, a birthday or just at random. Why do you need a reason? Why not just be spontaneous?
If I have a girlfriend next year I'll probably delete this post.
Phunky
Reference -
http://grove.ufl.edu/~leo/val.html
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4 comments:
i'm not lonely
i'm not bitter
i am in love
i am spending tomorrow night with my favourite valentine - me.
cats, wine, dvd's and chocolate.
and i can't wait.
completely agree with you, phunky.
thanks for your solidarity
N
yep, you're right. the only card I got on valentine's day was my new sim card.
I'm not bitter. Me and t'other half have an agreement - we don't do commercial holidays.
romance and spontaneity go hand in hand. I'd much rather receive an unexpected bunch of lilies for no apparent reason in the middle of may, than have to deal with the usual valentine's day palaver.
in fact I spent the 14th running about like a blue-arsed fly, at work that day. at 6pm I stopped off on my way home, to tell a man he has cancer (I fuckn hate this job sometimes). I got home at 7.30pm and had a glass of wine and a good cry.
My past 3 weeks have involved near-constant on calls. I've done 10 out of 16 days as on-call with only 3 days off in between. My own fault due to swaps/prospective cover. My place of work is going absolutely mental right now with a crazy number of punters arriving each day. One more long day then weekend off. thank god.
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