I Hate Valentines Day: The Anti Valentines Day Anthem

I hate Valentines Day.

I know. I know. I. promise. I. know.

When it comes to Valentines Day, it’s my default to be a hater.

February 14th can be brutal if you’re grieving a lost love, empty if you’re single but don’t want to be, disappointing if the one you’re committed to neglects to cherish you.

And, let’s face it, even if you’re head-over-heels in mushy, movie-worthy romance, the Hallmark-ization of the holiday–the merchandising of an ideal as pure as love–doesn’t give anyone good butterflies in the stomach.

So yes, it might be an educated, sophisticated, well-reasoned stance to hate what this day has become (unless you’re like…a florist…and you’re too busy counting cash to be bitter).

But, but, but…

At the risk of being accused of being trite, I would like to suggest a small Valentines Day philosophy that can be relievingly detached from the Greeting Card industry as it can be applied to any day of the year.

The Anti Valentines Day Anthem

Pumping cynicism into the world doesn’t improve it.
Speaking bitter words doesn’t stir real love any more than purchase-able chocolates.
Hate doesn’t make us feel more loved, less alone, or more optimistic.

The best thing to do to stand against fraudulent love is to find a practical way to show a more authentic kind.
To speak genuine care, comfort and blessing. To act out of compassion and unselfishness. To love extra generously today, not allowing your heart to be snuffed out in a half-hearted effort to spite Target’s overblown candy section.

The best way to correct the myth that love is spelled B-U-Y P-R-O-D-U-C-T-S is to resolve to practice living love today even more than you do the other days.

Instead of sucking more love from the world with our disgust, Valentines Haters of the World, lets unite…and “celebrate” this day by living in a way that does the concept of love justice.

• Speak well of people in their presence today. Share meaningful compliments freely.
• Focus on what you do have. Reflect on the things you are grateful for. Make a list and post it for your own benefit if you feel like it.
• Write a thank you note to someone who has embodied real love to you–a parent, a grandparent, a mentor, a friend, a co-worker. (You don’t even have to break your boycott to deliver it today.)
• Deliver a small gift to someone you know is widowed, orphaned, or otherwise alone or grieving.
• Spend time with someone you enjoy. Time, for a lot of people, IS love.
• Call someone who you always walk away feeling better for having talked to. Call someone who walks away better from having talked to you.
• Read passages or listen to music that reinforce God’s love to you.
• Visit a nursing home or hospital.
• Do something good for someone in need–donate money or items, shovel snow, support a charity.
• Pray for the people you love. Pray harder for the people you don’t love.
• Put something positive into the world in the name of love–a blog post, a Facebook update, a tweet.
• If this post and all of these suggestions still seem trite, commercialized or empty to you, then show me and the world what love really is by being it in your own way today.