Valentine's Day. What's your view?

[Feraud]

Tsk, tsk, romance is dead..

 

[DerMann]

Frankly, it stinks. Seeing all those merry couples flaunt their happy meaningless relationships with massive bouquest, stuffed animals, and candy in front of us the sentimentally bereft is sickening at best (At least that's how it is in a school environment).

Besides, of all holidays, this one's by far the bloodiest of them all! I mean, arrow-struck hearts everywhere? Might as well have gouged eyeballs, severed limbs and smoker's lungs to complete the picture.

I'm about a year late, but hey.

Hahah, at least you have the ability to pursue a relationship with the opposite sex in your school.

Valentines day is going to have no meaning to me or any of my friends for the next four years. Yet one of the many curses, or delights, depending on your point of view, of attending an all male institution of higher learning. With my current situation, it's usually sanity or women - you can choose one. I've convinced myself that girls my age don't exist, so I needn't actively pursue them during my college life (my friend did the opposite and is now suffering from depression).

Oddly enough, I've yet to be in any sort of actual relationship when Valentine's day passes. I'll gladly agree that it is disheartening to see others enjoying it, even if it is false and overly marketed.

I find that Valentine's day isn't just the one day of the year where you show that you can still be romantic with money, but rather an opportunity to do something special for your lady that will show her that you truly value the time you spend with her.

The most romantic thing I've done hitherto is write out a few lines from 'There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding' (wildly romantic song) on nice paper in Spencerian script. Gave it to a girl in my Latin class (well, the only other person in my Latin class) who said she liked love letters in cursive, and would really like to receive one.

Die hard Romantics UNITE.

 

[VintageRed]

The most romantic thing I've done hitherto is write out a few lines from 'There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding' (wildly romantic song) on nice paper in Spencerian script. Gave it to a girl in my Latin class (well, the only other person in my Latin class) who said she liked love letters in cursive, and would really like to receive one.

Die hard Romantics UNITE.

I think that definitely qualifies as highly romantic and sweet to boot. What a nice thing to do! I applaud you and your lovely idea.
:eusa_clap



Cheers,

~Red

 

[Joie DeVive]

Tsk, tsk, romance is dead..

No it's not. I'll bite.

I love Valentine's Day!

Ok, just like Christmas where the season can get out of hand and it becomes a crass ploy for the commercial, Valentine's Day can go overboard. It doesn't have to be that way though. One of my favorite Valentine's memories comes from when my husband and I were first dating and he took me out for hot dogs for Valentine's Day. Not the typical celebration, but it was sweet.

I don't need an excuse to wear pretty things and do something nice for my guy, but I won't turn one away either.

 

[$ally]

My parents were in love and happy together until the day my father died (holding my mothers hand from a hospital bed). They celebrated valentines day and every day with gusto and as a close couple.
I agree that it shouldn't feel like an effort, but rather an ongoing heartfelt expression of admiration, loyalty, and deep respect towards each other. Any excuse to show the world the other was loved, they took advantage of it. So I don't knock it. Be romantic if you feel it! Let it out, I tell you. If you guard yourself from pain, you'll guard yourself from joy as well.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness" - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come" - Matt Groening

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence" - H.L.Mencken

"Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age" - Jeanne Moreau

"Love is an irresistable desire to be irresistably desired" - Robert Frost

Not to mention, "Love is not only blind, it also has attention deficit disorder." - Kinky Friedman


Lee

 

[MrNewportCustom]

But very cute.

I like this rendition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH0r_jIJQCA

And I like this one.


Lee

Off topic: I also love this song (written by Ogden Nash, my favorite poet).

 

[Caity Lynn]

Being directly averse to "sappyness" like, I'll watch chick flicks, and get annoyed with myself for thinking "aww how sweet" check myself, then laugh at how stupid the cheesy lines are, so Valentines day, isn' t my favorite day of the year,

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Everyday is V-day for me and my husband. Those "typical" Valentine's scenerios you see on TV are totally LAME.

 

[Harp]

Romance, who loves to nod and sing,
With drowsy head and folded wing...
That little time with lyre and rhyme
To while away-forbidden things!
My heart would feel to be a crime
Unless it trembled with the strings.

Edgar Allan Poe, Romance

 

[Miss 1929]

... If you guard yourself from pain, you'll guard yourself from joy as well.

:eusa_clap

 

[Emer]

We don't really celebrate it. We were married Feb. 19, so Valentine's Day is more or less just wrapped into our anniversary. [huh]

 

[skyvue]

This is a commentary I wrote and performed on NPR's All Things Considered some years back. I'm married now, but the sentiments herein still stand, mostly:

The Curse of Cupid

As a single man, I find myself viewing the build-up to Valentine’s Day much as I imagine American Jews, Muslims and Buddhists might perceive the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season: much ado, but nothing much to do with me.

It doesn’t help that this is one holiday not merely co-opted by commercial interests, but seemingly created by them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Scrooge when it comes to matters of the heart. Quite the contrary, I’m a sucker for anything romantic. The product of a loving marriage of fifty-four years, I was raised to believe in happily ever after.

In past years, I’ve gamely opted for alternate ways of observing the holiday: gifts to my mother, dime-store valentines for my female coworkers, bowls of those little candy hearts for all to share. But it’s a shallow charade. If you can’t celebrate Valentine’s Day with passion, you really can’t celebrate it at all. I feel like the out-of-work actor who has to watch some Hollywood pretty boy get not only the part, but the money, the fame, and the Oscar. I can no longer pretend to be all that happy for you lovebirds.

For single people everywhere who lack the affection, devotion, companionship, and support--not to mention the physical pleasures--that a romantic relationship offers, Valentine’s Day serves as a rude reminder that they are on the outside looking in.

Look at it this way: Imagine that we had a national holiday that celebrated the state of having a job. All who were gainfully employed would spend the day musing on their good fortune: how much better their lives are with a steady income, how nice it is to have the security, to know where their next meal is coming from. Perhaps we’d even surprise our employers with a bouquet of flowers, a box of candy, or a night on the town. That doesn’t sound so bad, I suppose, but it’d be a little rough on the unemployed--just one more reminder of what they were missing.

Such is Valentine’s Day for the unattached.

So maybe, just maybe, February 14 should be devoted instead to us third wheels. I’m reasonably certain that we’ve not yet been assigned a patron saint, so perhaps we should just co-opt yours.

Here’s what I’m envisioning for an alternative Valentine’s Day celebration: Every happy couple invites over a friend who is unattached, and just for one night, they live out their worst fantasy of what couplehood might be like. She comes to the door with her hair in rollers and cold cream on her face; he’s unshaven and wearing a ratty undershirt. The fare is frozen pizza and warm beer served on trays in front of a blaring television set. The hosts spend the entire evening pointing out each other’s many deficiencies until he finally falls asleep on the couch and she wanders off to bed alone.

That’d be enough to make most lovesick lonely heats swear they weren’t missing a thing, that perhaps the single life wasn’t so bad after all.

So, c’mon on, couples across America, it’s the least you can do. For just one night, convince the rest of us that love stinks.
​

You can listen to it here.

 

[MadelienneBlack]

My friends and I were gruesome in highschool. We celebrated "Massacre Day" and one year I even when so far as to take a white shirt, splatter it with red dye to look like blood and put a little bandaid over where my heart would be.

Some of my teachers weren't so fond of that...lol

But back on topic, I don't really see the point in Valentine's Day. If you love someone, shouldn't you show it everyday?

 

[Foofoogal]

She comes to the door with her hair in rollers and cold cream on her face; he’s unshaven and wearing a ratty undershirt. The fare is frozen pizza and warm beer served on trays in front of a blaring television set. The hosts spend the entire evening pointing out each other’s many deficiencies until he finally falls asleep on the couch and she wanders off to bed alone.

but one must understand that is a lot of the fun of marriage. something worth having is worth waiting for.
then you both look so dashing when you do dress up fancy. and have special nights.

Single people need to buy themselves something special on that day. Collect vintage Valentines or vintage heart jewelry or something. There is a lot to choose from.

 

[Spitfire]

My view on Valentines day? Same as it has always been.
A marketingscam thought up by flowershops, jewelers and chocolatepushers.
If you can't show love every day - why is it suddenly there on one special day?[huh]
I think I will buy my lovely wife some flowers today!

 

[imoldfashioned]

Very well written but my first reaction was: You were on All Things Considered? Wow!

This is a commentary I wrote and performed on NPR's All Things Considered some years back. I'm married now, but the sentiments herein still stand, mostly

 

[skyvue]

Thanks. Yes, I did a few commentaries on ATC and a couple of spots on This American Life, but it's been quite a while.

It was great fun, though.

 

[The Shirt]

Very well written but my first reaction was: You were on All Things Considered? Wow!

Exactly what I was thinking. Now I'm thinking "I wonder how I could send Ira Glass a Valentine." So much for secret crushes. Having been on both sides of it, all I can say is that I used to treat myself on the day so I wouldn't feel so lonely. It was my 6 pack holiday. 6 donuts with 6 good beers. Sugar high followed immediately with drunken stupor and to bed. I hardly noticed the happy couples.

 

[Harp]

Thou wouldst be loved?-then let thy heart
From its present pathway part not!
Being everything which now thou art,
Be nothing which thou art not.
So with the world thy gentle ways,
Thy grace, thy more than beauty,
Shall be an endless theme of praise,
And love-a simple duty.

Edgar Allan Poe, To F,S.O