Cupid’s Markup

Hello Valentine’s Day, or shall I say the holiday that starts on December 26^th when the Christmas decorations are put away in the stores.  Yes I’m mocking it, mocking a holiday we celebrate to show our loved ones we appreciate them, on a day where 7 gang members were murdered in Chicago.  I don’t quite see the similarity there.

Anyway, when we were in grade school it was neat to go out and get the assorted Valentine’s and secretly or not so secretly give them to your classmates.  You were heartbroken if your box didn’t contain as many as your classmate sitting next to you.  As we got older society started to make it more commercial, more advertisements to get us to buy things, cars, jewelry, dinner reservations, chocolates, flowers, flowers and more flowers.  Flowers which are marked up almost 50% by retailers on one day of the year.  Do we need one day during the year as a reminder to show our love and appreciation?  I’m not opposed to the day at all, but I do not think one should not waste their hard earned money on a $50 bouquet of a dozen roses, when the following week they are normal price.  I won’t deny that I did buy a card, I think of it as I donated to Hallmark and after standing in that card aisle reading all the sappy, pathetic cards that we choose to buy to say the words we should be saying everyday I left the store puzzled.  We spend $2.99 on a pink or red card that says “I love you, Happy Valentine’s Day” with a nicely printed design on the cover.  It doesn’t cost us anything to say that to our loved ones, it doesn’t cost money to show our love and appreciation whether it be that day or any other day.  I guess what I’m grappling with is why we need to be reminded, are we that one sided where we need society to tell us what day to express our feelings?  I doubt that, but some are stupid, insecure and shy, they need that yearly reminder to dish out $$$ because they can’t be creative enough to do so.

I wrote a similar blog back in college called “Down with Cupid”, it was indeed one sided, and my views are quite the same.  Yes, I love flowers, I’d love to get flowers, I’d love to get a gorgeous pendant necklace but it doesn’t have to be on the 14^th. 

So I challenge my readers to do something else, be creative, spend the entire month of February doing little acts of love and appreciation, because it’s the simple things that mean the most, that could put a smile on your loved ones face, a memory forever in their heart.  One can’t put a price on love.