It’s been less than two weeks since Valentine’s Day.  Everyone has a love/hate relationship with this holiday.  I definitely do.   I’d like to acknowledge some recent trends on different social networking sites and the positive outlook for single people on Valentine’s Day.

Remember the good old days when everyone in the class would get a Valentine’s Day card?  Then things got complicated in middle school when experimenting with each others’ private parts which became a part of the adolescent culture.  (Way before being a teen mom was cool and could land you on a reality show.)  A few years back, I heard that children from my town were having rainbow parties and different competitions. For those who do not know what a rainbow party is, first, get with the program!  It’s the hottest way to get a STD at age 13.  Basically, the girls wear different color lipstick and impress the boys in the dark.  You find out who did whom once the lights come on.  I wonder where kids they get these ideas. It’s absurd.

Nonetheless, Valentine’s Day is a complete “Hallmark” holiday that makes single people feel bad.  Being that I am single, I figured out a way to avoid self-pity by viewing this holiday in a realistic manner. Thus, I view V-Day as such:

1. Valentine’s Day and the Economy:  For all the people who give into V-Day, I must praise them for making 2012 gift-giving the highest, ever since National Retail Federation started the survey ten years ago.  Since last year, people have spent 8.6% more than last year on their significant other (total spending= $17 billion).  Without people contributing to this holiday, V-Day gift-giving wouldn’t play a huge roll in our economy.
2. Valentine’s Day and Social Networking: For single people, it is the worst when you have to watch the Newsfeed on Facebook repeatedly host pictures of your friends’ V-Day gifts.  First, no one cares.  I am not saying this out of spite, it’s just the truth.  I would get it if people were posting pics of out-of-the-box V-Day gifts.  But if it is flowers sent to work or a teddy bear with chocolates, girl, we’ve seen it before.  You are no different.  Now, I must say, this is a girl trend.  It’s worst than posting  a picture of couples kissing.  We get it, you guys are in love!  Secondly, here is where I derive my question.  Shouldn’t you be excited to be with your lover at least 3/4 of the year?  Because you know you have those people who have a horrible relationship but because it is V-Day, and society has made it a day of love, they pretend that things are okay and that they are in love.  Lastly, just a point of advice:  If you want to tweet, post or blog about how much you are in love, don’t do it on V-Day.  It’s a cliché.  People would find it interesting if you got flowers on a random day of the year, not on the day that is expected.  Single people: don’t feel bad that you didn’t receive flowers to post on Facebook because those people who do are unaware that NO ONE CARES!
3. Valentine’s Day and Couples: When in love, people gush over how they cannot live without their lovers.  Displaying their love and affection for everyone to know only makes them look like a fool when the probability of them breaking up is 66%. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in love, I just feel people are too consumed with themselves and give up very easily leading to un-coupling.  To be completely realistic, people who are so quick to brag about their newfound relationship on Valentine’s Day will not last long.  They are just thrilled that they are not alone on this holiday and that they are happy for that moment in time.  It is obvious no one is happy all day every day, but people are too quick to jump-the-gun so they decide to part ways.

There you have it.  As you can tell, I am not too keen on Valentine’s Day, but that is not because I am single.  I do not part take in any Hallmark holiday.  They have a way to make people feel bad, i.e. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  So those who feel bad on this day, just remember those who are celebrating today will probably not be celebrating it next year.

On aside: I still can’t grasp the fact that Whitney Houston died.  She was the reason that I wanted to be a singer.  I get weirded out watching videos when I know the artist passed like Aaliyah, Biggie, Michael Jackson, etc.  However, I must post one of my favorite songs of Whitney’s.