Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. It’s a true moment in time filled with flowers, chocolate and heartfelt poems. Stores are filled with purple, pink and red decorations, and hearts are hung up where Christmas wreaths used to be. Boys and girls are hoping their crush notices them or maybe they’re actively planning how to surprise that special someone.
Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for people to tell the person who makes every single heartbeat worthwhile that they in fact make every heartbeat worth it.
On the other hand, it’s a day that those who are single become painfully aware how single they are. It always seems like the day spotlights every couple on the face of the planet and the sudden urge to punch lovers holding hands comes up every three seconds.
Gone are the days when every person gets a valentine in their homemade box at school. Every decoration and every piece of chocolate makes stomachs turn, and those heartfelt poems bring tears of disgust instead of tears of happiness. Nowadays this so-called Hallmark holiday has a side name: Singles Awareness Day.
While many people do celebrate Valentine’s Day for what it is for, single or taken, many others look at the holiday in distain. But there are a few who consider themselves on the fence about the holiday. They see the point about celebrating it, but at the same time, why limit love to just one day?
Bethany Kelley, a sophomore pre-medicine major at Gannon University, is not against celebrating Valentine’s Day, but she isn’t necessarily in favor of it either.
“I think it’s nice to acknowledge feelings for your significant other,” she said. “But I don’t feel it is necessary to buy gifts and such as a way of ‘showing’ someone how you feel. Specifically because I think you should show the person you love them every day, and not necessarily with gifts.”
Nick Keller, a junior mechanical engineering major, has a unique situation: his birthday is four days after Valentine’s Day. Celebrating the holiday does not seem as important to him.
“I feel like there should not be a special day for you to tell someone you care about them, just because everyone else is doing it,” he said. “If you tell a girl that you care about her and buy her flowers on any other day, it’s more special.”
Sarah Lewis, a sophomore chemistry major, said that even though she likes chocolate-covered strawberries, she would like them on another day.
“I think all the hype kind of cheapens some of the sweet things that people do on Valentine’s Day,” she said. “It is almost as if they feel like they need to go above and beyond just because the day has a title.”
She also said that she would be more moved if a guy did something unexpected to show how he feels on any day, not just because it’s Valentine’s Day.
For people who want to spend money on their loved one, consider ideas that won’t easily break the bank.
Make each other food, or order in instead of going out to eat. Every restaurant is sure to be booked, and staying home will be easier on the wallet.
Consider having a movie night. For those who are taken, bring on the lovey-dovey movies. Singles Awareness Day supporters, stay away from the chick flicks. Either category you fall under, be sure to make hot chocolate and lots of popcorn.
Go out and do something fun to get your mind off the holiday, like playing in the snow, going sled riding, building a snowman or having a big snowball fight.
Steph Gottron, a junior social work, major sums up how she feels about the holiday very simply.
“Other than the fact that one of my friends’ birthdays falls on that day, I don’t like the holiday much,” she said.
“I don’t really see why you need a special holiday to show someone you care. Every day can be special. You can say, ‘I love you’ and give a gift any day. There’s no need to be so predictable.”
