Meaningless Meanderings

More Holiday Madness

Today is Valentine's Day. Yet another superficial holiday that has little to no significant meaning that the masses still celebrate. We go to the store and buy chocolates, make reservations at elaborate restaurants months in advance, and plan out the “perfect” day. Or, for the sad lot, we find ourselves in a bar or in our darkened homes, drinking the remnants of this depressing day away.

I am always one to question the holidays, especially those such as this. It's not the I question the feelings behind it, or the desire to be with those you care for during the holiday, but why do we need a holiday for it? Do we actually need a holiday to remind ourselves that we care for someone, and do they need the holiday to be reminded that someone cares for them? Must we always go through such elaborate gestures every year for fear that we may upset those we love?

Valentine's Day has become one of the more “sickening” holidays for this very reason. It's not only the fact I have a bad habit of being alone for the holiday, but because of how people treat the holiday. The couples I stumble into during my day tend to make it painfully obvious of their relationship, and you can only hear about the gifts purchased for each other so many times until you begin to notice the redundancy. Those that I run into that are dating but not physically with their “other half” will gripe about it while wondering if that person truly cares for them. And why do they wonder?

Because it is ingrained into us to believe that Valentine's Day is this magical holiday of love. Those of us who do not have anyone to spend the day with find it to be one of the most depressing days of the year, and for good reason. Just look around you today, during this holiday, and think about it. Perhaps after we break through the consumer-based, superficial “romantic” dinners and long nights in bed, it may be a holiday of love.

Until then, I'll enjoy the myriad of mocking names given to this day for the lovers who cannot see through this veil.

With that, I wish you all a Happy National Depression Day!