valentine's day

it's rare that you find a holiday that people hate. though they generally vary from country to country, i'm just going to use the u.s. as an example here...who can honestly say they hate the 4th of july? or halloween? thanksgiving? st. patty's? or religious holidays where everyone gets together like christmas or hannukah? yeah... somehow though, always around feb. 14, a bunch of hate starts going around about valentine's day.

people will say that it's commercialized and made up by hallmark and godiva so that people will buy cards and flowers for their loved ones and blah blah blah. and maybe my view is a little different since i'm currently in a relationship, but honestly, i've spent many a year without a boyfriend on valentine's and i still could never bring myself to hate it. why? well, it's supposed to be a holiday celebrating love, but i've never considered it specified that it has to be love like romantic love.

i love my parents, i love my siblings, my friends, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, my cats, etc. why can't valentine's be an excuse to show the love i have for them too? i do realize that maybe the stores and media have made it seem like you need a boyfriend/girlfriend on valentine's to really celebrate the holiday, and admittedly, i spent mine with my boyfriend. in all the years that i didn't have one, though, i spent it with my friends and family, just differently, and that was cool too :)

and by the way, for people that feel like this phenomenon is limited to the u.s. because we like to commercialize things or whatever, it's most definitely not. i was in brazil during "dia dos namorados" which happens to fall in july, and i hung out with some friends and my host family that night. and it was still awesome :)

in a world where lots of hate goes around (unfortunately), i just think it's kind of weird that people hate a holiday that's trying to celebrate love. :(