Pass on the pink
Valentine’s Day. A day that arrives each year swathed in a sea of red and pink, sprinkled with heart-shaped confetti and coated with a heavy layer of expectation. As someone happily married, I should presumably be swept up in the wave of love-induced euphoria, right? But, I find myself feeling quite the opposite.
It’s the forced nature of the occasion that irks me, the relentless commercialism that pulsates beneath the veneer of romance. It’s as though love, a sentiment so profound and personal, is suddenly boxed, priced, and put up for sale on supermarket shelves. The genuine emotions, the authentic expressions of love are drowned out by the deafening noise of marketing campaigns.
The spontaneity of affection, the ordinary yet extraordinary expressions of love that are woven into the fabric of everyday life, seem to be overshadowed by grand gestures demanded by this day. A shared laugh over a morning cup of coffee, the comfort of a familiar hand in yours, the warmth of a smile across the room – aren’t these intimate moments the real embodiment of love? Yet, on Valentine’s Day, love is reduced to roses, chocolates, and clichéd cards.
And then there are those who find themselves alone on this day, single individuals who are made to feel conspicuously unattached amidst the fanfare of coupledom. The overemphasis on romantic love can make Valentine’s Day an alienating experience for many, fostering a sense of exclusion that seems contrary to the very essence of love – unity, acceptance, and togetherness.
I yearn for a world where love is celebrated in its authentic form, in all its individual quirks and gestures, free from commercial manipulation. A world where love is not confined to a calendar date or a scripted performance, but is expressed spontaneously, in the everyday moments that truly matter. Now, that would be a Valentine’s Day worth celebrating.
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