Post Modern Piss-off

For those of you that know me, every year I tend to have a rant about Valentine’s Day. This year is no different. In fact this year I decided to get the upper hand on that inevitable day, so here, without further ado, is my Pre-Valentine’s Day rant! Be prepared...

Ok, so which fucking jackass decided that there was supposed to be one solid day in the entire year that is supposed to represent romantic love in all its forms. I’m sorry, maybe its just me, but I’d like to imagine that if you love somebody you don’t need some annual day to throw a little kick into the relationship. I mean sure it’s fun to get together with that lovely doe of yours, go sit in a romantic restaurant or have a candlelit dinner and be enamoured in your feelings for him/her. But shouldn’t this type of romance be randomly incorporated into the relationship as it is? Shouldn’t love be allowed to flourish on any other day just as much as it does on Valentines Day?

Furthermore, why is it that every year around this time we start to see jewelry companies promoting ‘THE accessories for that lovely lady of yours’ or some perfume company (such as Calvin Klein) promote that masculine scent that will drive the women wild and make you smell like a ‘real’ man. Let me tell you something... I’ve smelled ‘real’ men, and let me tell you that they do NOT smell like that. And then you get restaurants and greeting card companies trying to incorporate their next mass-marketed opiate of the populace that is too enamoured in this holiday to realize what is really going on. It’s consumerism people! Its one of the holidays that sees the highest sales (besides Christmas of course) for this multinational conglomerates that causes insane amounts of pollution due to production, and slave labour wages to kids in U.S.-run Maquiladora’s and institutions in other countries. Furthermore the ‘minimum wage’ they pay to employees here is rarely enough to actually live off of. Prices keep going up but wages stay relatively similar.

Then there is the idea that people who don’t have dates or are in relationships during Valentine’s Day are somehow inferior in some manner to everybody who does have a date:

“So what are you doing on Valentine’s Day?”

“Not much, probably just studying and watching a movie. How about you”

“Well my boyfriend, (boyfriend is always exaggerated as if its some triumph that s/he has conquered), and I are first gonna go to such and such a place to have a romantic dinner for two, then we have tickets to see the next hot movie, and then we’re going to walk home and have a bottle of wine and yahda yahda yahda...”

“Well that’s nice...”

And people always make such, a big deal about how Valentine’s Day is the one day out of the year that them and their boyfriend/girlfriend get to do something they don’t have time to do on a regular occasion. Really? A candlelit dinner is too hard to accomplish during your hectic schedule, or a walk through the park? I’m sorry maybe its just me, but if I were in a relationship I would try my damndest to do something random everyday to demonstrate how much i cared for the person, even if it was something as simple as leaving a note saying “I love you baby, have a good day” on the table before I go to work. For those of you who are deciding to win over that crush of yours by having your first date on valentines day, let me just tell you that a majority of the population would rather do something new, exciting, unusual, and unexpected as a first date rather then a dinner-movie-romance combo.

Romantic gestures don’t have to be something as grande as a ring or a necklace, or something as exciting as a new movie or dinner out. Hell the best way I have of showing people I love them is by giving them a back massage or a foot massage... and maybe that makes me weird but if I loved anybody I wouldn’t want to demonstrate it by pushing out massive dollars. Don’t get me wrong, buying the random gift is a great way to remind your partner that you love them, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to break my bank account for something as frivolous as a commercialized holiday.

Now that, that rant is over with however, I must make one further note. I can understand how this day holds some special meaning to some people, and how the prospect of a day filled with romance and gestures of love can give a fulfillment to a relationship. It is understandable, and I can respect that.

However, I will not buy into it and i hope that future generations can learn to put intimacy and romance on the front burners of their lives instead of relegating it to places hidden by the drudgery of work or the stress of school.

I’d like to leave you with one last note, and one that I hope can be taken from this rant. Romance and intimacy are not something you should feel obligated to put money into in order to receive. Romance is of the heart and intimacy of the mind, but neither should be relegated to simply one day of the year.