It seems that every year another holiday falls victim to materialism. The most current victim of this plaguing disease is Valentine's Day. This holiday began as a day simply to commemorate the death of St. Valentine. Saint Valentine was a priest who performed marriages between young lovers in secret. These marriages had to be surreptitious because Emperor Claudius II only allowed single men to join his armies, thus wanting marriage to become nonexistent. Lovers clearly did not stop loving simply because Emperor Claudius II said they should, and thus the marriages went on for those who were lucky enough to learn of Valentine's gracious actions. St. Valentine's actions resulted in his death when he was finally discovered.
Now, Valentine’s Day has simply become a day of bribery, deceit and presents. Many individuals sincerely mean the I love you's they whisper tenderly to their partner as they give them diamonds or candy. On the other hand, many others do not. "According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year," (http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content...) Allowing this holiday to make the fatal shift from sincere to material is devastating. The tons of chocolate, the mountains of diamonds, the forests of cards, none of them mean a thing. We are allowing ourselves to bribe others into loving us. This simply is not the way love should be. Valentine's day should be a day where love is celebrated and glorified by spending quality time with the one you TRUELY love, not a day to give someone a teddy bear and a diamond necklace in order to simply bribe them into (let's face it) having sex with you.
As Valentine's Day has become nothing more than a metaphorical prostitution of feelings for presents, one has to wonder, which loses its meaning next? St. Patrick's Day is quickly becoming a day of becoming inebriated and losing oneself in a mug of beer. Easter- a day to put on a nice dress, beg for a bunny, some candy and search for hidden eggs in the yard that will become festering stink bombs if not found promptly. And unfortunately, one of the most timeless holidays Christmas is quickly spiraling into this pit of materialism. Soon, our children or their children will no longer understand that Christmas is significant of the "birth of Jesus". Soon, Christmas will simply be just another day to plead for presents and send your parents into an endless black hole of credit debt.
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I'm using valentine's day to hang out with my friends. They will be the ones getting cards from me. Also, there were at least four different St. Valentine's. the story you told is in fact one of the most common ones associated with Valentine's day.
Jaquie 13
I hope you don't really think that a gift from someone you care about is meaningless or they have only given you it to have sex. For most people life is so busy and we get too little time off work. Valentines is a reminder that there are two people in a relationship and to take time out to do something nice for eachother. I'm not saying we can't do this at any other time during the year and i'm not saying this should cost a fortune. It is usually the most inexpensive thing people want the most (time together).