Valentine's Day was invented by greeting card companies to make single people feel lonely. So it is said. But guess what? The roots of this holiday are very old, and the original point was not what we think of today. Valentine's Day now represents, more than anything else, a ploy by companies to get people to buy stuff. Whether the holiday is new or old, selfish or selfless, our gripe is mostly that form eclipses substance when it comes to the Day of Love. It's another sacrifice on the altar of Holy Commercialism. And we have a problem with that.
You've seen the ads. They all relay the same message: screw this up and your woman will leave you. Let's admit it, those television Valentine's Day delinquents are all heterosexual men. Thank God for culture clash. But get the Valentine's Day thing right, guys, and you'll be making sweet, sweet love by sundown.
And who doesn't want that? It's almost as exciting as having someone respond to your column with an op-ed piece.
An aside: Mark Devries, "Op-Ed: 'Shiny Objects' Column isn't in on PETA's Joke," Feb. 2, 2009. Mr. Devries, we appreciate your criticism and enjoyed reading your well-reasoned response last week.
But our culture of manufactured material wants has got us not feeling the love. It's like we never got a Valentine.
And no, these aren't the musings of two bitter single people - we're both in happy, loving relationships.
To understand the present, it's best to look to the past. And more than most other nationally recognized holidays, Valentine's Day has a somewhat evasive history.
There are a number of different theories about Saint Valentine and his claim to fame. The most popular theory casts him as a Roman priest who illegally preformed marriages after Emperor Claudius II outlawed them. When the priest's actions were discovered, he was beaten to death with clubs and decapitated. Not very romantic. Another theory posits Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love with the jailor's daughter. He sent notes to the daughter and before his execution, sent a final one signed "from your Valentine." Wow, now that's a Valentine to remember.
Anyway, fast forward to 1850, when Esther Howland, an American printer and artist, became one of the first to sell Valentine cards in the United States. Later, in the early 1900s, a card company named Norcross started manufacturing Valentines in earnest. Enter Hallmark in the mid 19-teens, and Valentine's Day exploded. Today, Valentine's Day is huge business. The Hallmark Company reports that more than 191 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged industry-wide every year. Second only to Christmas, that's the biggest card sending day of the year.
Darn, and we thought all the mail we receive about our column took that honor.
Following the lead of the greeting card giants, other companies have been hit by cupid's arrow as well. Only instead of hearts, they see dollar signs. For example, U.S. flower companies raise their prices and about 30 to 50 percent in honor of the holiday and a number of restaurants we called offered only expensive "for two, prix fixe menus" on that day. Though we understand the law of supply and demand is hard at work here, we just don't think that's very nice.
Now, just because we condemn Valentine's Day as an artificially commercial, corporate-exploited holiday doesn't mean we think people should be off the hook. Quite the contrary. The spirit of Valentine's Day - love and friendship - should be present all the time. We suggest this: give someone you care about chocolate or flowers on a random day in April. We guarantee the randomly-timed gesture will mean more, particularly because you didn't have ten commercials a day reminding you to do it. It'll also be cheaper. Everyone wins.
Ben Moss and Brittany Meyer are students in the Washington College of Law and columnists for The Eagle. You can reach them at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
