Romantic love isn’t necessary for having a rewarding Valentine’s Day
Readers, especially men, beware: The clock on the bomb is ticking and pretty soon an explosion of candy hearts and love will fill the land. Valentine’s Day is coming and its arrival is as inevitable as indigestion from the D.C. food.
This day has grown to be quite the sacred holiday. Sure, no saviors were born or resurrected, candles didn’t burn for eight consecutive nights and maybe the greeting card and gift industry has had something to do with its immense popularity. But that’s no acceptable explanation to give to a girl after she hands you an enormous teddy bear, proclaiming, “I love you!”
What started all of this mania, anyway? What happened on Feb. 14 so many years ago that makes girls pine over and pray for a rose or box of candy?
The holiday has its roots other than in elementary school parties when it was mandatory to hand out Power Rangers or Barbie-themed valentines to every person. This holiday of love-dovey feelings first appeared in a poem written in 1382 by Geoffrey Chaucer called “Parlement of Foules” to celebrate the marriage of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer associated the holiday with St. Valentine, a Catholic martyr who wrote a note to his beloved before being executed for trying to convert a Roman emperor to Christianity.
Chaucer’s poem calls Valentine’s Day a day when every bird chooses his mate. Therefore, by not being birds or people living in the fourteenth century, we should send paper hearts and teddy bears to each other. Makes sense, right?
So let’s think of some ways to find a mate and get some action on Valentine’s Day: jewelry, flowers, wine (or beer, whatever blows wind up your skirt), candy or a note saying “Do you like me? Check yes or no.”
The point is that while I don’t want to say that girls are especially easy on Valentine’s Day, talking about casual hook-ups or waking up after a one-night stand is much less guilt-inducing if you’re able to say, “Well, it was Valentine’s Day! And he told me he liked my shoes!” Totally justified.
Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be scary, repulsive or depressing. Many people get sad or feel left out because they don’t have a special man or lady in their lives. But there is no need because everyone loves a Valentine’s gift.
You don’t need romantic love for someone to give them a gift or to send them a card. Think how happy your best friend would be, or a sibling, or maybe a professor who tends to grade based on how much time students spend making googley eyes at them. Or leave a bouquet and a giant balloon for your ultra macho roommate for kicks.
The point is that everybody likes presents, and giving them really does make you feel happy — even if you don’t get any booty out of the ordeal. But if it does get you a little something, what a memorable, worthwhile Valentine’s Day it will be! You can thank me when you see me.
Karah Lucas is a columnist for The Nevada Sagebrush. She can be reached at editor@nevadasagebrush.com.
This entry was posted
on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Perspectives.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
