It’s the fourteenth day of February and “love is in the air.” You are surrounded by red hearts and chocolate candy, and someone is trying to sell you roses on the side of the street. Every store within eyesight is overstocked with freakishly huge teddy-bears that seem to stare at you creepily wherever you go. It seems like a wonderful day—minus the creepy bears. What else would you expect on Valentines Day? It’s “l’amour:” The day of love. But for single people, it’s more like the day of being stuck in the middle of a massive swarm of PDA.
Some people may think that being single on Valentine’s Day is sad: we have no one to bring us flowers or candy or an over-stuffed bear and we eat alone. But it really isn’t as bad as you would think. If you’re single out there, you know that Valentine’s Day doesn’t really make us feel sad. It makes us feel sort of free…but also a little awkward. Nothing says “uncomfortable” like witnessing a couple making out right in front of your locker.
But despite our disgust, we try to remain positive. For example, single people are not obligated in any way to purchase any Valentine’s merchandise for a significant other, or receive any said merchandise. Why on earth would anyone want to carry around a bear that’s bigger than she is? It would be a blow to my self-esteem if a toy were taller than me. It would also make me broke, because those bears are not only over-stuffed, but over-priced.
We singles also find it humorous to watch people as they exchange lovey-dovey gifts and messages…that is, after we get over being grossed out at the enormous amount of PDA. There’s just something funny about watching people who are much too young to fall in love express their naive feelings for each other. It is touching, in a way, to watch the exchange of cards and heart candy promising eternal servitude. We respect those who do it, but we still find it funny…not so much as that they are doing it, but how they do it.
The exception would be expressing love within a family. There is absolutely nothing wrong or funny with giving your mother a rose and card, or your father a bear, and vise versa. After all, love is amazing and good. But love at this age is, well…much too young. There is a line, a very distinct line, between love and lust, and this line has been crossed one too many times with the youth of our generation. We single people just want to make sure that we are in the holiday mood for the right reason: to show true love to those we love.
Not everyone who is dating or married creates a problem for single people. Really, it isn’t the number of people who have dates on Valentine’s Day that bothers us. It is mostly the lack of modesty that some people have and the fact that people are feeling bad for us when there really is no need…unless, of course, they are apologizing for rounding first base right in front of us.
Single people really have nothing against Valentine’s Day. It’s a day dedicated to love, after all. We would just prefer those who have a significant other to express their love in private, because that’s when it gets uncomfortable. We ask only that people who are dating or married to just please, please, with a cherry on top, respect yourselves and those around you. Because, really, no one wants to see how good your love life is.
