CREDIT: DEZEIN ON THINKSTOCK
Valentine's Day: Capitalism at its finest.

Valentine’s Day is a joke. If you need to wait for the capitalist overseers to tell you it’s alright to convey love and affection then you need to seriously rethink your relationship.

At its heart, Valentine’s Day had no actual affiliation with love or affection. It was a feast day to celebrate one or more martyrs by the name of Valentinus. Their martyrdom has since become exaggerated with romantic prose and embellishments over several editions of martyr compendiums.

Valentine’s Day only came to have romantic associations in the modern day when Geoffrey Chaucer published a poem in 1382. It wasn’t a Valentine’s Day card; it was simply to commemorate the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. What was this grand romantic reference to Valentine anyway? Chaucer referenced birds mating. Yeah that’s right, you’re only showing affection on Feb. 14 because this Chaucer fellow made a mention of birds getting it on this one time in 1382.

I’m not necessarily condemning anyone for wanting to show affection on Valentine’s Day. I’m simply calling attention to the fact that you can do this literally every day of the year. You can plan grand romantic gestures and breath-taking dates whenever the hell you want. Go for a picnic, climb a mountain, organize a trip to Peru, go out and do whatever you want, don’t sit around waiting for mid-February for that. In fact, booking a reservation sometime in July would not only be warmer but the restaurant wouldn’t be packed to the freaking brim with people trying to salvage dying relationships. Valentine’s Day has almost become a competition of sorts. It’s a benchmark whereby people have to prove that they love each other which is twisted and messed up if you think about it. Just because someone didn’t spend a certain amount of money on you

Feb. 14 does that really negate the months or years of love that they’ve given you prior? Feb. 14 actually causes more hardships and trouble than happiness or warm fuzzy feelings. People are so pressured to get it perfect that when things go askew, the added stresses can cause a disagreement or a let down to blow wildly out of proportion. It’s not like arguments or sour tastes from Valentine’s Day stay in the past either. If you think you’ve put that to rest then you have a lot to learn about life, buddy. Give it a few months’ time and something from that Valentine’s Day will resurface. It could be out of the blue, it could be something to strengthen their side of your current fight or it could even be about something you were blissfully unaware of. Some unknown minute detail of the day that you didn’t think twice about, while your partner has sat for months and months brooding over it. Analyzing it. Playing it back in their head and working on the perfect words to vilify you beyond all hope in hell.

It’s the unrealistic expectations of Valentine’s Day that lead us to these toxic situations both on that day and down the road. Let’s face it, high expectations are a dangerous saboteur of reality and I think if we all knocked Valentine’s Day down a few pegs it would be far more enjoyable for everyone. I’m not just referring to you and your partner( s) either. I’m talking about everyone.

If people aren’t worrying and pulling their hair out over getting Valentine’s Day absolutely perfect for their beloved, then most likely they’re feeling pretty crappy about being single on Feb. 14. Maybe if retail companies and Hollywood weren’t so focused on idolizing relationships on Valentine’s Day the world would be a better place.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.