Sweetness

It's that most wonderful time of the Hallmark calender - Valentine's Day. Good Lord, someone set fire to the card displays (or just throw them out, like a co-worker accidentally did!). It's not that I don't like the idea of showing affection for people... it's just that I'm entirely opposed to the idea of Valentine's Day. Looking at the relatively new 'Pinkies Blog', I can see I'm not the only person living in Dublin that has this problem of once-annually limited-love.

It gets worse.

So. Much. Worse.

I go to a religious college. Things are supposed to be... well, religious. Not secular. Not at all secular. Not hanging red shiny banners and love-hearts and balloons and bowls of sweets on the tables.

Oh. My. God.

Really? Giving sugar to students? Pretending Valentine's Day means anything beyond Hallmark? It was disgusting (though the same cannot be said for the sweets...). I mean, it's not even like people were displaying any more affection than normal. They were just messing with the balloons and eating the sweets and generally not giving a damn about the whole thing. It was just a secular celebration bastardising a religious tradition of celebrating the martyr saint who believed in marriage. Marriage. See that word? I know you know what that means. It's not about cards with mushy messages on them on one specified day of the year (that's what anniversaries are for!). It's not about chocolates and romantic evenings. It's not about getting that special someone something shiny.

For people who care about presents and who want an excuse to show they love someone, Valentine's Day can be good. Of course, it's also selfish and an excuse for romance, as if it could save a marriage.

Complete and utter rubbish. More couples break up around now than any other time of the year! And the rest suffer through the process of having to get the other person something new and shiny for them to forget about two weeks later. It's like secularised Christmas, only without the mass that people feel obliged to attend.

As one of the candy hearts said today (yes, candy hearts... hence, 'Sweetness'), 'Bye bye'. (What an utterly romantic and fulfilling sentiment...)