Commercialism at its best

By The Chronicle Editorial Board

Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that makes one wonder why does this holiday exist, is it to make singles feel miserable, or is it there to force couples into some ridiculous tradi­tion of buying each other insignificant crap on a specific day; either way Valentine’s Day is one of the most useless holidays throughout the year.

Flowers, candy, and jewelry companies make a killing every year off of the guilt of well off men deal­ing with demanding women, and sets the scene of how people in our culture are inf lu­enced by advertise­ments and social appe­tites of normality.

Instead of worrying about what dead flowers or overly priced choco­late boxes to get, maybe make something from the heart without spend­ing ludicrous amounts of money, or better yet buy a living plant that will grow as the relationship does with time. Useless love trinkets are just that, useless.

Also, maybe this year take the time to show sig­nificant others love by turning off all devices and giving them undi­vided attention.

Everyone wants to be loved and have emotional intimacy, but it should not matter if a person pro­fesses their love with gifts one measly day of the year, and what should matter is how couples treat one another all year round.

This holiday’s com­mercialism not only obligates couples to spend, but parents are also obligated to buy their children cards to give at school, and can make single people feel badly for not having someone to spend money on.

This year, instead of giving into the hype of Valentine’s Day, close the wallets and open your hearts on this fake holiday to show love by actions and not

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