Valentine's Day Is Nothing But A Commercialized Spending Orgy

Ah, Valentine's Day, that special time of year when every grocery store has at least one aisle so saturated in various shades of pink and fuchsia that prolonged exposure could make one believe they are in Barbie's dream house. The explosion of colors and all of the related retail insanity are enough to make you resent the holiday.

I'm definitely not against love, affection, or even measured doses of sentimentality; those are wonderful abstract concepts to celebrate whenever the mood strikes. What is so objectionable about the overtly saccharine holiday is the one-day emphasis on material gift-giving rituals.

Contemporary lovers do not exchange expressive poems or perform genuine acts of passion for their loved ones. Instead, the holiday has been condensed to just a few commercial purchases. From ornate floral arrangements to oversized stuffed animals, the focus of the holiday is on what you buy.

In fact, a 2011 survey by the National Retail Federation reports that the average person spends $116.21 on merchandise for Valentine's Day. Last year, total spending reached $15.7 billion.

For that one day, the sweetest thing you can do for your sweetheart is to spend money on them, and, in our material culture, more is generally better. But spending money to express affection is a tricky affair.

Expectations can be high on both sides, and partners can differ on how they perceive the affection of a gift. Does a lavish purchase equate to genuine romance? Does a minor gift like a card represent lukewarm feelings toward the lover or toward the holiday?

In the end, though, assigning a numerical value to such profound emotions like desire and passion only serves to cheapen them. You might as well hand over a wad of cash and say, "This is the price of my feelings for you."

Love, admiration, and even friendship are not earned through purchases and expenditures, so they should not be commemorated with pointless merchandise. How many roses will needlessly wilt before we realize that a Valentine's Day gift comes from the wallet and not the heart?

But every year, the holiday somehow obligates anyone in any sort of relationship to buy romantic trinkets in the doldrums of winter for no greater reason than that the stores are telling them it's the right time of year.

But the fat cats at Hallmark and Hershey wouldn't have it any other way: candy and greeting card companies enjoy some of their biggest sales on Valentine's Day. Well, the party poopers can be consoled with the fact that at least candy will be on sale the day after.