By: Keya Nijhawan
February 14th is a day of pretty pinks and rosy reds, where the smell of love, fresh brownies, and roses is in the air.
And yet, according to our survey, 34% of the Lovett student body wishes it was any other day of the year. Over half the survey takers said they will be single on Valentine’s Day; another 20% say they probably will be single. And 10% actually said they “hopefully” WON’T be in a relationship!
As for why so many don’t like Valentine’s Day? It makes a lot of people feel lonely, their friends are in relationships, and it’s all fake.
As Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, single friends may feel a little left out. One could argue that Valentine’s Day should not only be directed at celebrating one’s significant other but also celebrating the love for your friends. For instance, when students were asked what they do when they are single on Valentine’s Day, many said Galentine’s Day.
Galentine’s Day is a take on Valentine’s day, but just for your girlfriends. It is where all your friends come together in one place and bring yummy foods and dress in red and pink, and celebrate each other. However, this is not necessarily a fix for everyone who hates Valentine’s Day, as 9.4% of people hate the colors pink and red, which are everywhere at a Galentine’s Day Party.
Some students are simply too lazy for this holiday. “It takes a lot of effort to get my significant other something nice,” some said. I suppose it does take a lot of thought to get a gift for your significant other that they would truly appreciate, but it does seem a little sad. Then again, for those in a new relationship around Valentine’s Day, they may not know their significant other well enough to get them a nice gift or may just not want to get them something nice at the beginning of a relationship. So, in these cases, Valentine’s Day is just unnecessary added pressure.
For many, Valentine’s Day is just gross. Walking around and seeing all the PDA simply disgusts some Lovett Students. All the holding hands, kissing, lovey-dovey movies, gift-giving, and just love in general gives the bad vibes.
Based on some feedback, Holden Caulfield would understand those bad vibes: Valentine’s Day is fake. For instance, all the heart cutouts and the giving of gifts are not necessarily real. It is a show put on by people portraying fake love or just saying they love you just to say it.
There is always uncertainty around whether someone is being serious or not when they say they love you; Valentine’s Day makes this uncertainty rise as everyone around you is talking about love.
The idea that Valentine’s Day is all fake makes me wonder if fewer people would think it was fake if we were still in elementary school. When the now high school students were in elementary school, Valentine’s Day was an enjoyable day for everyone. At least, that’s what I remember. We decorated shoe boxes. Our peers would fill them with candy and, many times, nice notes as well. The idea of getting a love letter was magical. However, now, if you get a love letter, it is most likely that it was a joke and candy is given from one significant other to another or from a friend to a friend.
So did we outgrow the magic of Valentine’s Day in the same way that we outgrew Santa Claus? Maybe the outgrowing of the magic of Valentine’s Day is what led to some Lovett students to say that they’d prefer celebrating the other February 14 holiday: Safer Internet Day.
