Thursday, February 15, 2007
Valentine's Day
Before I begin, I would just like to wish all the happy couples out there a Happy Valentine's Day. May you find true joy and bliss in your relationship.
That being said, I would like to say my piece concerning Valentine's Day. I know that we have grown up knowing that Valentine's Day was a sacred occassion for couples to come together, bask in each other's warmth and affection. Ok, that was overdoing it, but you get my point. Generally, it's about love. I've been doing some reading on Valentine's Day. There seems to be several interpretations on it, but the popular belief is that a young priest called Valentine went against Emperor Claudius by marrying couples in private even when he decreed that the sacred communion be abolished for his selfish reasons. Valentine was found out and thrown into prison. Subsequently, he died in prison. Hence, the birth of Valentine's Day in his honor.
Ok, so we've seen some basis for this celebration. I have no quarrel with the celebration of Valentine's Day, just the WAY it's being celebrated. I've read in an article that the burgeoning retail industry is partly due to Valentine's Day. US consumers spend $17 billion alone in 1 day per year! That's $17 billion! Think of the extravagence one goes through to put that sort of statistic on the chart. The point I'm trying to make is that Valentine's Day seems to be waning in meaning. A gift for your significant other is mandatory, as such we find it necessary to purchase the most dazzling jewellery, or that prada hangbag she has been eyeing as a gesture of your love.
Have we actually understood the meaning of our actions? Let's analyze a scenario. Let's say Guy A knows that V-Day is coming up, and gets Girl A a pair of shoes. Girl A ends up happy and Guy A ends up happy. Anything wrong? Of course not! Both parties end up happy and as a result enjoy their companionship for the rest of the day. But in the future, how do you think Girl A will remember this Valentine's? Is it because she's able to look deep into Guy A's actions and sense his deep affection and regard for her or because she's got that pair of shoes?
In my personal opinion, Human Beings are materialistic. When we get things we like, we're happy because we've basically satisfied our inner crave for STUFF which feels good and thus makes us happy. A large part of our population does it unconsciously without realizing anything at all.
I'm not speaking for the general population here and I'm also obviously not qualified to speak from experience. This is just my view on the current matter. Just being able to think about such issues gives me better insight in today's world.
Heh.
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