Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is coming up soon! When most of us think of Valentine’s Day, images of colorful candies, long-stem roses, and romantic evenings out on the town with that special someone generally describe the ideal scenario. The origin of Valentine’s Day is said to be in honor of a priest named Valentine who lived in the Roman Empire during the reign of Claudius II. The tale goes that Claudius outlawed marriage in order to create stronger soldiers with no wives or children at home to stay alive for. Outraged at the selfishness of Claudius, Valentine secretly continued to marry ardent young couples. Claudius eventually caught wind of what Valentine was up to and promptly put an end to Valentine’s life. Thus, Valentine’s Day was born as a way of remembering Valentine and his noble actions of love.
In modern times, however, Valentine’s Day has seemingly lost some of its romantic spirit. In fact, the Tuesday before Valentine’s Day has been dubbed “Red Tuesday” due to the large number of breakups that occur on that day each year. When ABC News interviewed some of these “Dump Day” participants, they cited commitment troubles and the cost of being in a relationship on Valentine’s Day as the main reasons for splitting from their significant other before the day of love. According to AVVO.com, Valentine’s Day also sees a 40 percent increase in divorce filings from the rest of the calendar year. As if being dumped before Valentine’s Day wasn’t bad enough, technology has only exacerbated the problem. One survey found that the number-one breakup method before Valentine’s Day is over text or email. Romantic, right?
For those who are in successful relationships, Valentine’s Day has made a costly transformation from the original legend. The modern celebration of Valentine’s Day requires a lot more than love and appreciation. On average, every Valentine’s Day participant spent $142 adorning their loved one last year. Prior to the 1400s, love was truly in the air as many Europeans associated Valentine’s Day with the start to the mating season for birds. Verbal greetings were the popular form of gift giving to go along with the ancient practice of spending time together. Today, Valentine’s Day’s materialistic makeover has appropriately earned the title of a "Hallmark Holiday." In 2015, Americans spent $1.7 billion on candy, $2.1 billion on flowers, and a whopping $4.8 billion on jewelry to demonstrate their love on Valentine’s Day. Although they say money can’t buy love, Valentine’s Day would suggest money is required to get love.
Perhaps the darkest effect of Valentine’s Day is the spread of "Broken Heart Syndrome" among those who have nobody to love. Don’t be fooled by the cheesy layman terminology: takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or Broken Heart Syndrome, is a real medical illness that many suffer from. Symptoms of this condition include depression, chest pains, irrationality, and potential fatality in rare cases. Clinical studies show that this syndrome is generally contracted from high levels of stress and loneliness, two uncomfortable emotions that often come along with being single or heartbroken on Valentine’s Day. Feelings like these have caused the number of calls to suicide hotlines to spike sharply on Valentine’s Day in a number of states.
For a day about love, Valentine’s Day seems to be associated with all things but love in the modern era. Money, depression, jealousy, and anger have clouded the sunny joy that Valentine’s Day was meant to create during the month of February. This year, whether you’ll be spending Valentine’s Day with a spouse, family member, close friend, or just yourself, don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is all about spreading the love, not the hate or the material goods.
