Valentine's Day Is Overrated
The Only Day in the Year Where Everyone Shows love
Pink and red roses, oversized stuffed animals, boxes of chocolate, and lots of people. That is precisely what I saw as I walked into Walmart today. I have been putting off getting Valentine’s day cards for two of my girls currently in school. It’s Sunday, the store shouldn’t be too busy, but I was utterly wrong. There were men everywhere stuffing their carts with Valentine’s day gifts and even fighting over some of the items as there wasn’t much left on the shelves. My girls love Valentine’s day, so I walked back towards the girls’ clothing section and found outfits for all of them to wear, and I must admit they are actually adorable! Once I discovered their outfits, I started looking for the cards and found out quickly there were none left. I left the store with the outfits, markers, construction paper, a few small boxes of chocolate, stuffed animals, and a premade gift basket for my husband. For context, I ended up standing in line for almost an hour and had a panic attack listening to the person in front of me complain about how busy it was. On the way home, I got to thinking, I noticed more men than women in the store, and their baskets were stuffed with gifts for their loved ones; I also noticed it was harder to get to other things that weren’t related to Valentine’s day. I started questioning myself, why do we have one day out of the whole year where we feel obligated to tell somebody we love them? I was raised by having respect for people, showing people that you love and care for them, and helping them in any way you possibly can, which I have lived by these “family rules” for as long as I can remember. This also got me thinking, how many men and even women show their partners they love them apart from Valentine’s day? As a wife, I constantly surprise my husband with little things or simply tell him that I love him and am proud of him. If you love Valentine’s day, that is great, but, in my opinion, I think it is overrated and even lazy, “let me throw a bunch of random things in a cart to show somebody I love them. “Also, let’s keep in mind that not everyone is in a relationship, and not everyone has a family that shows them love; how do they feel? Again, my opinion, but as somebody that has depression, if I was alone on Valentine’s day, it would just make my depression worse. If you are somebody reading this and will be alone during this “love day,” just know you are not alone, loved, and even cared for. Overall, if we normalize showing love and compassion more than just one day a year, this world we live in would be less bitter!
