February 14th rolls around every year and the masses flock to the nearest store to find the best box of chocolate, bouquet of flowers, and a card. But what if all of that was unnecessary, and showing the person that you are interested in or love every day of the year and not just limited to a media marketed holiday?

According to our society Valentine's Day is the perfect day to show the person that you are interested in and invest in. Buying the most expensive chocolates, the cheesiest albeit cute cards, and the dozens of roses that seem to be associated with the holiday are the supposed best gifts to give your significant other. But in reality this is not what the real Valentine's Day is supposed to be about.

The History of Valentine's Day

Before becoming Valentine's Day, it was known as Lupercalia, a Roman Festival that was held in mid-February.The festival celebrated the forthcoming Spring time, fertility rites, as well as pairing women and men off by using the lottery. Yes, the lottery. It sounds disgusting, but that is how things were done during that time. But around the end of the 5th century Pope Gelasius I ended up changing the name, and making it more appropriate for the time. Lupercalia became known as St. Valentines Day from then on, and by the time the 14th century it became celebrated for romance. And soon enough valentine's made their appearance in the 1500's in the form of formal messages that were sent to significant others. By the late 1700's commercially printed valentine's appeared, but the first one didn't make its appearance in the United States until the mid-1800's.

Modern Take

Welcome to 2020 where there are aisles and aisles of chocolates, cards, flowers, and jewelry being displayed for the holiday. And once you turn on the television we are bombarded with commercials telling us that we have to go to the jewelry store right away to buy the most expensive necklace or earrings. It is literally being shoved in our face right after January 1st, and for some unknown reason many people seem to think that we are obligated to buy these things to make others like us, or at least like our wallets. Valentine's Day has become a holiday that is fueled by greedy people and by those who think that buying inanimate objects will make someone love them instead of putting in the valuable quality time that is actually needed to build a relationship.

Show Me the Money

Go to your grocery and walk down the seasonal aisle and look at the bags, bars, and boxes of chocolates. What are the prices? A ridiculous amount of money to pay just for a heart shaped box of chocolate that only has ten pieces in it. Basically you are paying for the box with the chocolates being an added bonus. Now head on over to the florist, and ask for a dozen of red roses...what is the price for that? At least $50. Flowers are indeed beautiful and they do deserve to be put in a vase where they can be admired by many, but they die pretty quickly, especially if they are not taken care of properly. And that $50 that you threw down for just a bouquet of roses will be all for nothing when they die within a week or so. What about the jewelry department? How much for the specialized earrings or necklace? Starting at $150, but there are others that end up going into the thousands range. What about booking a table at the restaurant that you and your significant other may like? Either you are not going to get it, or it is going to take some "convincing" at the hostess stand. And once you do get to the table, you are handed the menu, in fact, you are handed the special valentine's menu where the prices are extravagant. Many people do not have that type of money, and the pressure from society to buy these things increases as the holiday approaches fast, making people go into debt for buying something they didn't have the money for.

Another Day