I totally give credit to Grace (what a beautiful muse she is!) for this...
Valentine's Day is officially over, and over all, it hasn't been a bad one at all. Lessons learned kids. Any way, one of the things that I personally did not need to learn today is something that I think a lot of people ought to think about: the commercial aspect of Valentine's Day.
At least five times today I've heard someone comment about how Valentine's Day is a marketed holiday, made up by greeting card companies. A gimmick, a ruse, another way to reach into your pocketbook. And haven't you heard the same thing about Christmas? It's all about money, all about the economy, nothing real there.
Well, my dears, I beg to differ. Yes, Valentine's Day is a great way to sell cards and chocolate and condoms, but the fact is that Hallmark is always trying to get you to buy cards, Godiva is always trying to get you to by chocolate, and Trojan is always always trying to get you to buy condoms. And rightfully so. The main difference between the commercials of February 14 and the commercials of any other day of the year is that instead of trying to convince you to buy things for yourself, companies are trying to convince you to buy things for someone else.
Apparently, this rubs you the wrong way.
But the reason is not that it cheapens the holiday; that's not logical. Maybe the fact is that we have some sort of underlying guilt in the first place for not thinking of others first, for not showing the people that we love how special they are to us, for not spending money on flowers and candy and poetry. SO, when we are bombarded with advertisements that tell us that we are obligated to do these things, we are offended.
I've been as bitter as anyone about Valentine's Day, but, truth be told, I like the idea of it. Corporate America is begging you and tricking you and seducing you into doing things every day of the year, at least today's message is rooted somewhere in the concept of love.
And, like Genevieve says, any holiday that turns everything red and glitter and coated in chocolate is ultimately a good idea.
In other news, Detachment vs. Pain: Is emotion worth it?
Six months ago, I would've told you absolutely not. Now, it's debatable again, and, I am so thankful to have thawed in that way, and in a way that if it wasn't worth it, I'm still incredibly taken care of by everyone remotely involved.
Also, in a way that it really comes to my mind on a day when chocolate is more than abundant.
Valentine's Day is officially over, and over all, it hasn't been a bad one at all. Lessons learned kids. Any way, one of the things that I personally did not need to learn today is something that I think a lot of people ought to think about: the commercial aspect of Valentine's Day.
At least five times today I've heard someone comment about how Valentine's Day is a marketed holiday, made up by greeting card companies. A gimmick, a ruse, another way to reach into your pocketbook. And haven't you heard the same thing about Christmas? It's all about money, all about the economy, nothing real there.
Well, my dears, I beg to differ. Yes, Valentine's Day is a great way to sell cards and chocolate and condoms, but the fact is that Hallmark is always trying to get you to buy cards, Godiva is always trying to get you to by chocolate, and Trojan is always always trying to get you to buy condoms. And rightfully so. The main difference between the commercials of February 14 and the commercials of any other day of the year is that instead of trying to convince you to buy things for yourself, companies are trying to convince you to buy things for someone else.
Apparently, this rubs you the wrong way.
But the reason is not that it cheapens the holiday; that's not logical. Maybe the fact is that we have some sort of underlying guilt in the first place for not thinking of others first, for not showing the people that we love how special they are to us, for not spending money on flowers and candy and poetry. SO, when we are bombarded with advertisements that tell us that we are obligated to do these things, we are offended.
I've been as bitter as anyone about Valentine's Day, but, truth be told, I like the idea of it. Corporate America is begging you and tricking you and seducing you into doing things every day of the year, at least today's message is rooted somewhere in the concept of love.
And, like Genevieve says, any holiday that turns everything red and glitter and coated in chocolate is ultimately a good idea.
In other news, Detachment vs. Pain: Is emotion worth it?
Six months ago, I would've told you absolutely not. Now, it's debatable again, and, I am so thankful to have thawed in that way, and in a way that if it wasn't worth it, I'm still incredibly taken care of by everyone remotely involved.
Also, in a way that it really comes to my mind on a day when chocolate is more than abundant.
1 Comments:
that was a lovely post- you should definitely go into feature writing, i could see that in a magazine in a heart beat. you really are a fantastic writer, mindsey.
and emotion is always, always, always worth it. no question. being numb is destructive and painful, and emotions, even when they hurt, are beautiful things. no matter positive or negative.
one thing that jeremy said that was actually insightful was "if i'm feeling good or really down in the dumps, it doesn't matter, the point isn't what the feeling is, but that we're feeling at all. having the joy of feeling, of being alive, is enough to make it okay to be sad sometimes."
besides, you without emotion would be super boring.
like in garden state: "so you alright? [slap on the back] of course you're alright- you're alive."
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