Conflicted feelings

[liv]

Reasons to hate Valentine's Day:

• It's ridiculous over-commercialized nonsense
• It's a ploy to get people to spend money on junk they don't need
• It makes people who don't have a partner feel miserable and inadequate
• It's sexist and heterosexist
• There's a really nasty set of assumptions behind the concept of men giving women cheap chocolate and expecting sex in return
• You should express love for the people you love all year round
• It's annoying, expensive and crowded to go out for a romantic evening at the same time as everybody else
• It makes pair-bonding, sexual love more important than all other kinds
• Anonymous messages lead to drama and DOOM
• What she said, big time!

Reasons why VD has some redeeming features:

• The awesome anti-valentines at meish.org
• Friends who send me really touching friendship-valentine cards
• mirabehn and others subverting the occasion to affirm people instead of cutting them down
• My nosy side really enjoys the annual Valentine post-box

Reasons why I succumbed in spite of all those objections: I can't resist the prospect of spending a weekend with my Beau, and having the excuse to devote the whole time to being romantic. We've planned a random trip to Chester, and the VD weekend is convenient but I really couldn't say no to exploring a pretty, historic town and going out for a nice French meal. Sorry, VD haters, you're right and I'm wrong, but I was weak.

Comments

[nanaya]

I utterly loathe VD and am specifically not doing anything to celebrate or even acknowledge it. However, I don't think it's "weak" to take the opportunity to spend time with your other half when you're some way apart! That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Have fun!

(I'm quite a soppy bugger really, and will almost certainly get squeeful about our 4-year anniversary next month. But VD sucks all the joy out of romance, IME, so I reckon I can find plenty of alternative ways to shout "WUV!!!" instead.)

[daharyn]

OK, must say this: "VD", as acronyms go, is rather easily misinterpreted. :) I saw the context for all this and nonetheless thought one meant something rather different.

[monanotlisa]

I forgot to comment, I think, but your thoughts made me smile. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, Valentine's Day is great. Just because romance isn't a once-a-year thing doesn't mean you shouldn't set a day apart to celebrate it: does having a day for World Peace mean that we don't want it the rest of the time?

And I don't see why single people shouldn't enjoy the celebration of romance too. I'm single, I love romance, and I love Valentine's Day.

I'm glad to hear that you made the right call in the end, just sad that you felt you had to apologise for it.

Don't apologise! Stand up for romance!

S.

[(Anonymous)]

I have never received anything on that day. I don't really care. I don't need cheap chocolate.
However, if someone gave me a million I would take it buy a warm spacious house and the pets I always wanted, travel around and stop worrying about health issues and unemployment.:)