An open letter to Valentine’s Day: Forget the greeting cards, candy hearts

Kayla Byler
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 05:37:46 +0000
Opinion, love, open letter, opinions, student voice, valentine's day

According to the National Retail Federation, the average person was expected to spend about $130 for Valentine’s Day last year. Courtesy of MCT.

An open letter to Valentine’s Day from a single girl who’s not bitter:

Oh hey Valentine’s Day,

Here you are again. I see you’ve come back faithfully unlike my ex-boyfriend. I see you in the grocery store, manifested in your delicious heart-shaped cookies, bottles of discounted wine and in the banner ad for Tiffany’s atop ESPN’s website homepage. You’ve made yourself unavoidable.

However, it seems like you’re all appearances and commercialism, and that’s not really my style. I don’t need a heart-shaped cookie to tell someone I love him. I certainly don’t need someone to send me a dozen roses to be reassured that I won’t die alone. Greeting cards with lots of sparkles and hearts have to be some of the most expensive pieces of paper I’ve ever seen. Spending money to show your affection is what Christmas is for.

Furthermore, why should I have to confine my romantic or plutonic love to just one day? I have feelings all 365 days of the year and I enjoy expressing them as I wish in all seasons.

So no, I’m not salty because Prince Charming isn’t coming to pick me up at 8 p.m. At the same time, I wish all those loving couples at their tables for two at Olive Garden many happy years together. I’m not trying to overthrow Cupid or anything.

I just feel like it’s 2014 and maybe you need to modernize a little. Love isn’t about that perfect couple on the perfect date anymore. It’s not about having one love that completes you.

We should be spending every day of our lives recognizing the multitude of people that we love in any number of ways, showing affection in ways that don’t require spending money on chocolates, flowers or greeting cards.