It is not necessarily Valentine's Day our culture needs, but it is everything Valentine's Day represents.
Everyone knows February 14th comes with the flowers and the chocolates, but what about the intangible items like the respect and effort?
Our culture has gone aloof to many "old-time" dating traditions like effort and respect. Valentine's Day is the very symbol of going on a nice date to spend time with your significant other. This special day is not even about the date, but rather the effort that is put in. Yes, everyone still loves when our significant other shows effort in some way and it is the "effort" put into the relationship that sometimes shows how much we care.
So why does our generation try to water down the effort put in sometimes?
We all, if you have a date, look forward to Valentine's Day for the sweet effort that comes with dressing up and going out or creating a romantic dinner in and spending time with the person you care most about. Well, this same idea does not have to happen just on February 14th, but can happen with anything. Maybe not the romantic dinner, but showing more effort in your work life, school life or simply finding time to hang out with friends. Sometimes as a society we forget the effort and have a more relaxed approach.
Another thing that comes with Valentine's Day is respect for one another. This is not just for couples, I mean for everyone (strangers and all). Our society needs to take this aspect of Valentine's Day way more seriously. Our culture has been slacking more and more of showing respect for one another. This is shown in the hallways at school, in relationships, especially on social media, and sometimes even our own President lacks it. So instead of making Valentine's Day a sweet, smiley tradition, we should try to practice the customs of Valentine's Day more. We need to take the teachings of February 14th like showing more respect and effort and start applying them to our ever-growing culture.